[MUD-Dev] Re: Suggested theme, was Re: WIRED: Kilers have more fun

[Chris Gray]

[KaVir at dial.pipex.com:]

 >Sub-plot:
 >   Goal: Kill the bad-guy.
 >   Appeals to: good guys, people who hate King Bubba (Bob's King, and part
 >      of the plot which this sub-plot runs under), people who own chickens 
 >      (Bob likes to sacrifice them).
 >   Difficulty: medium.
 >   Location: Create a small castle for him, near location 850x/900y.
 >   Main characters: Dread Lord Bob.
 >   Sub characters: the Black Knights, the prince/ss in distress, the
 >      strange old hermit.
 >   Objects: the map to Bob's castle, some hacked-up corpses.
 >
 >Then you sort of...erm...mix them all up and...well...can anyone give me
 >a hand here? ;)  I think I've bitten off more than I can chew this time...

Sure - just add some behaviours to all of the NPC's, automagically
build and decorate the castle, set up an ecology and hierarchy for
the Black Knights, and poof! - instant quest.

Oh, you wanted more detail then that? :-)

Seriously - you have got a good start by defining the elements of your
quest. Now you have to think about more details - what do they all
look like? How big is the castle? Can you define its architectural
style in enough detail that anyone could read your description and
build a good enough version of it? How many Knights are they? Do
they stick around the castle, or do they go marauding or patrolling
the area? How far? How often? How many groups? How big are the groups?
Do they have any special abilities? How do they report to the boss?
Does the Bob have special capabilities? Are any of his retinue
important enough to be individual NPC's? If so, why, and what do
they do? How do they interact? Bob is presumeably evil, greedy and
corrupt - anything else? Any peculiarities, either physical, mental
or otherwise?

Just answer all of those questions, plus the lots more that you
come up with, then program it all.

Basically, take it one step at a time, and be prepared for a lot
of work. Also try to make any real code you write as generic as
possible, so that when you want the next scenario, you can resuse it.

--
Chris Gray     cg at ami-cg.GraySage.Edmonton.AB.CA