[MUD-Dev] Fair/Unfair? Scenarios (fwd)

[Mik Clarke]

Matthew Mihaly wrote:
> 
> I am firmly in the fair-is-not-the-end-all-be-all-of-muds camp. Is it
> "fair" to be killed by another player when you don't want to be? No. But
> in my opinion, tough, AND good.

As long as the player is given (at least the illusion) of a way they
could have escaped - fled, begged for thier life, bribed the attacker
then it's not to bad.  The problems come when they have no opportuinty.
Then you end up with waht used to be called lottery D&D.  The dungeon
is full of 30x30 rooms, all in a row.  Each contains a magical device
- a lever or a fountain or a magic circle.  When activated, roll 1d6
and consult the following table:

 1:  Gain a level
 2:  Gain 10d10 gems worth 20-100gp each
 3:  Gain a random magical item
 4:  Lose a random item
 5:  Get attacked by a random monster
 6:  Drop dead

The problem with this style of play is that it denies the players any
control of the outcome of the game.  The foolish and the wise gain and
die just the same.  it makes the player irrelevent to the game, just a
convienient warm body for something (generally nasty) to happen to.

Mik



_______________________________________________
MUD-Dev maillist  -  MUD-Dev at kanga.nu
http://www.kanga.nu/lists/listinfo/mud-dev