[MUD-Dev] Re: let's call it a spellcraft

[Michael.Willey at abnamro.com]

     ____________________Reply Separator____________________
     Subject:  [MUD-Dev] Re: let's call it a spellcraft
     Author:   mud-dev at kanga.nu ("Brandon J. Rickman"
     <ashes at pc4.zennet.com>)
     Date:          9/25/98 2:43 AM

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On Thu, 24 Sep 1998, Adam J. Thornton wrote:
>>If Bob The Dwarf has a strength of 14, then maybe it
>>does make sense for Godzilla to have a strength of
>>235,933.  Why not leave yourself the option?
>
>This sounds like a thread from rgm.admin from long ago.
>I have a problem with any kind of universal continuum
>of character stats:
>
>Does Bob's strength of 14 make him a strong Dwarf?
>Is Godzilla with a strength of 235,933 strong for a
>Godzilla?
>When can a very strong Dwarf beat a very weak Godzilla?

That question spells for me the very need for a universal
continuum of statistics.  At some point Bob *will* attempt
to kill Godzilla, and without that continuum what basis
is there for judgement?  Certainly common sense would
tell any human GM the outcome, but this pile of processors
doesn't have that option.  Give it some numbers and it'll
do fine, but don't ask it for a judgement call.

So the choice seems to be to develop a collection of
numbers and processes on those numbers that can represent
both Bob and Godzilla, or to abandon the computer and
rely competely on human judges.  Both options have serious
potential pitfalls.