[MUD-Dev] Self-Sufficient Worlds

[Quzah]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Chris Lloyd" <crl199 at soton.ac.uk>


> This is something a friend and I are considering as we draw out the
> guidelines for a future MUD...
> 
> In a perfect MUD, the entire world is run by the PCs. Cities, guilds, clans
> and so on are all determined by the players. Every MUD has quests to do and
> monsters to bash, but what about the rest of the game mechanics?

Ah, here is where you and I differ... in a perfect mud, the entire world
is run by NPCs. Cities, guilds, clans and so on; all determined by the
action/reaction to one another. Every mud has things for each individual
mob to do in their life; and of course, PCs to bash...

After all, let's face it; that's what PCs are. Things to bash. They
come in to the shire and start killing the cows and chickens! Then
when they're feeling bold enough, they start in on the sleeping lads
with the bread... From there they're taking on wizards and princes.

What's a thane to do?

> For example:
> 
> Let us assume we have a simple way of making a little money - Bashing
> goblins and looting their corpses.

Which is entirely wrong. How can you have a world run by PCs if
they can get an endless supply of repoping gold from killing the
goblins over and over again?

Gold must be mined or panned; traded as dust; hammered into bars;
melted into coins, not just repopped.

> How many worlds can be run without NPC help? Do they need to run without NPS
> help?

You would have to have a ton of bored people to sit around playing
bottle maker; tree cutter; garbage collector. NPCs are so much
nicer for this respect. Give them a set of needs and a slew of
ways to go about meeting those needs. No, not entirely a simple
task, but doable. Weight the list of ways to make a living with
respect to how many people in N-proximity are doing the job or
how much the job needs to be done.

If we need heat this time of year as a living requirement, and
we know that by burning wood we can produce that heat, then we
now have a means and a resolution. One now can chop wood and use
it and sell or trade the excess.

> A magic-user might be able to mix up a healing potion, but where does he get
> the bottle to put it in? Can he get a peddler-class PC to make it for him,
> or does he have to buy it from an NPC shop in the high-street? This follow
> for everything else: weapons, armour, clothes, and whatever else a player
> needs. Is the only way to get food to buy it from a shop or complete a
> quest, or can you hunt down a deer and cook it? There are always lots of
> other little items that an given character class needs: The ingredients for
> a spell or potion, pipes to smoke herbs in, metal to make armour.
> 
> Thoughts?

See above.

Quzah.




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