[MUD-Dev] Unique items

[Jon A. Lambert]

On  9 Jan 98 at 15:51, Richard Woolcock wrote:
> Vadim Tkachenko wrote:
> > 
> > I've been playing with a different idea - make unique/restricted items
> > change their properties - an example:
> > 
> > - There's a door, you really need to open it to get some big reward.
> > - There's the key, and the only one.
> > - You accidently found it, or killed somebody who had it in possession,
> > [optional] you found the door.
> > - (to simplify) the further you from the given door, the heavier the key
> > becomes, so you either are forced to go in a right direction (btw, not
> > nessessarily, thus it becomes more compelling to solve the quest of
> > finding the right door), or drop the damned no-good thing.
> > 
> > 'course, there are exceptions like above - one-way actions like dropping
> > into ocean, which should be resolved separately.
> 
> (Hmmm this reminds me of Lord of the Rings :)
> 
> But the Key had a will of its own, and way of slipping from one person,
> only to be found by another.
> 
> Two friends were fishing in the ocean one day...
>

Funny, this reminded me of _the ring_ also. :)  
It's a rather wonderful idea.  
Cursed items and intelligent swords also come to mind.

[snip]

> My character descriptions are automatically generated according to eyes,
> hair and appearance.  What I think would be really nice is if equipment
> descriptions could be incorporated into the description as well (rather
> than showing a description followed by a huge list of objects), so that
> you might get something like:
> 
> [look woman
> She looks absolutely beautiful, with soft brown eyes and long, curly
> black hair which reaches down to her waist.  She is wearing a torn 
> pair of tight-fitting black jeans, fastened at the waist with a brown 
> leather belt.  A shredded and blood stained white shirt barely covers 
> her body, and beneath it you can make out a ripped black silk bra and 
> several painful-looking wounds, one of which is still leaking blood.  
> In one hand she holds a slightly-notched steel knife, while in the 
> other is a lit silver lantern.
> 
> The main trouble is people who wear lots of equipment, which could
> result in very long (and silly looking) descriptions.  I'm trying to
> decide if this would be a good thing to code, or just not worth it
> in the long run.  Has anyone got any better ways of doing this that
> they might suggest?
> 

Shouldn't the above example description get better as the equipment
is removed? :PP  

Seriously, though, this is how I handle it:  

I have properties in the objects which indicate their coverage area
or wear location (sound familar :> ) except my wear locations are
dependent upon the anatomy that the object was design for.  Multiple
areas of coverage can occur.  Thus, the pants cover both thighs and
lower legs, lower abdomen and rear.  Each object has a transparency 
property; transparent, translucent or opaque.  I allow 4 layers and 
they are described from the outermost to inner most, being blocked 
or modified by the transparency property or described differently 
when partially blocked by lesser coverage of outer layered objects.

The fair lady, above, might be hiding a small gun strapped to her 
left lower leg, might be wearing some rather interesting undergarments 
and sporting an "I love Bubba" tattoo on her rear.

Some others have discussed areas of perception or what would be 
noticed on brief examination both solo and from the crowd perspective. 
Or the order in which things get noticed depending of the level of 
examination, the unusual, cultural and gender, yada, yada.

For instance if the lady above was wearing a clown mask, it might be 
the first thing described or only item noticed in a casual examination.  

How would you describe the above character or any other that was
wearing NO equipment?  A problem?  Would the system merely point
out that the character is nude, or would it go for anatomical
accuracy?  Or would you allow the player to decribe and choose
the descriptions of all their character parts in addition to hair, 
eyes, etc.?  If so, what would be the average male organ size be
on the mud? <hehe>  Would decription comparisons become an amusing
or disgusting mud sport?  (Yikes, visions of Bubba the Troll showing
a full moon)

I think it is essential to the style of game I'm striving for.
A player's _equipment_ is geared to social interaction or acting
out a role instead of combat.  Even on a hack-n-slash game I 
believe their would be great interest in showing off scars and
tatoos.  For a Cyberpunk world, accessories are a must.

The rudiments of my wear location system can be found on my lame 
and sparse web page at: <http:\\www.netcom.com\~jlsysinc>

--
Jon A. Lambert
"Everything that deceives may be said to enchant" - Plato