[MUD-Dev] thoughts on game economies

[Travis S. Casey]

On Mon, 14 Jun 1999, Albert wrote:
> At 08:45 PM 6/13/99 +0100, Ling Lo wrote:

> < snip stuff about luxury items not being wanted >
> 
> Maybe add a morale or comfort rating to every character.
> Wearing a new fur coat, for example, would boost your
> comfort rating more than some dirty old cloak. The benefits 
> of this rating could be hidden, similar to luck, with occassional 
> extreme benefits. It could prevent some cases of aggressive 
> mobs attacking on sight, slightly increase your chances of 
> hitting a mob (If I feel well, then I'll probably fight well), etc. 
> I tossed around this idea awhile ago, in order to account for
> numerous things that would have no direct effect on a 
> character, such as visiting a brothel (gasp!) or a public bath. 
> I remember the game Shadows over Riva did something 
> similar to this. Comments?

The old Judge's Guild "City-State" D&D supplements had a social class
characteristic (abbreviated SC from here on), which was used to modify NPC
reactions (e.g., if you have low SC, those with high SC are likely to
ignore you.  If you have high SC, those with low SC are more likely to
have a servile or hostile reaction, and less likely to have a neutral
reaction).  SC also came into play for law enforcement -- the city guard
is more suspicious of low SC characters, and when they do catch a high SC
one doing something, they're handled more respectfully.

SC was also used in criminal proceedings and trials -- a high SC character
is likely to be let go until the trial except for major crimes, where
someone at the low end may be lucky to even *get* a trial.  Judges also
tended to be prejudiced for high SC and against low SC.

It could also be used in scenarios and/or for events -- people with low SC
don't get invited to upper-class balls and parties.  The king is more
likely to ask a knight to do something than a commoner.  

In some societies, there may be true privileges -- that is, laws which say
that those of high SC can do things that those of low SC aren't allowed
to.  The lowest statuses in the JG materials was escaped slave.  Such a
character couldn't legally own property, make contracts, etc. -- and had
to be on the watch for those who might try to capture and return him/her.

A knight or low lord might have the privilege of low justice -- that is,
the ability to try cases and have people imprisoned.  A great lord might
have high justice -- the ability to have a death warrant put out for
someone.  In some cultures, nobles could basically do whatever they wanted
to as long as they didn't offend another noble.

Characters could try to disguise their SC; this cost money for the
materials (the clothes, etc. -- obviously, it cost a *lot* more to
disguise as high SC than as low SC).  Chances of being detected were
fairly high unless you had the disguise skill.  Penalties for being caught
varied, but were uniformly worse for acting "above your station."  For a
*lot* of money, you could get a full new identity -- forged patents of
nobility, that sort of thing.

This could help create atmosphere -- decadent aristocrats "dressing down"
to go to common pubs and the like.  Could also be used in "prince and the
pauper"-style scenarios, for criminals who have stolen a lot of money
moving somewhere else and trying to pretend to be aristocrats, etc.  For a
more roleplaying-oriented mud, such things could come in handy as "family
secrets" and the like.

The upshot of all this reminiscing/blathering is that there can be a lot
of game-useful effects that don't have to do with combat.

--
       |\      _,,,---,,_        Travis S. Casey  <efindel at io.com>
 ZZzz  /,`.-'`'    -.  ;-;;,_   No one agrees with me.  Not even me.
      |,4-  ) )-,_..;\ (  `'-'
     '---''(_/--'  `-'\_) 




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