[MUD-Dev] Locker/Theft/Anti-Hoarding System Idea

[Chris Lloyd]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: mud-dev-admin at kanga.nu [mailto:mud-dev-admin at kanga.nu]On Behalf Of
> Andrew Snelling
> Sent: Wednesday, December 27, 2000 02:05
> To: mud-dev at kanga.nu
> Subject: [MUD-Dev] Locker/Theft/Anti-Hoarding System Idea
>
> Basically, the concept is that each character in the game has a
> 'home' of some sort, ranging from a bed in a common inn for new
> players, to housing or castles for the moderate to advanced
> players. These may not actually be represented in real space,
> depending on the structure of the world, but every character would
> have a place to call 'home' and a stash there, which would go with
> them when and if they upgraded to better lodgings.  >

Yes - Starting with an inn in each city with unlimited generic rooms
for players (Conspiratorial in the direction of Christopher Allen for
this one), and players move up as they progress socially (getting
elected as a minister or defeating the ruler of a kingdom) or power
(being a good enough adventurer to gather a lot of cash to build a
tower with).

> There would, of course, be no guarantee a player would lose the
> extra items to a thief, but no guarantee she wouldn't, either. There
> is a notable difference here from the UO theft model, which allowed
> only PvP theft (although house robberies were still common, despite
> all attempts to code them out of existence). It shifts away from the
> confrontational aspects of thievery, and gives thieves a clear
> economic role in the system, and a justification.

This has always been a problem - A thief with a 1% chance of picking a
lock will just do it 100 times until he gets in. Here, it is common
knowledge that the items can be stolen, and the owner is taking a risk
by having them stored in this way. He accepts that his place might get
burgled. In order to stop the lockpick-spamming, instead use some sort
of finite resource to do the job.

Example 1:

  Lets say a lock on a strongbox has 100 health.

  A lockpick can take 10 health away from the door.

  A lockpick costs 100 gold coins.

So... Is the loot in the locked chest worth more than 1000 gold coins? 
You can only find out by picking the lock and looking inside.

This way the price of getting in is basically the same for everyone,
and not time-dependant or luck-dependant.

Example 2:

  There's a castle with a strongbox inside.

  An ogre thief breaks into the castle, and gets to the strongbox.

  He wants to get inside, and he knows the guards/owners are coming
  back soon, so instead of picking the lock on the spot, he picks up
  the box and runs off with it.

  He picks the lock when he gets to his hideout - And it costs the
  same amount of resources as if he picked it in the castle.

> Also key to this system is the ability to 'punish' caught thieves, ie,
> those who try to steal things far beyond their skill, in such a manner
> as to keep them out of your hair for a certain period of time, but
> that's a whole other set of ideas...

Thieves can be enemies from cities or towns. Players get peeved if you
lock them up, so large fines will have to do. And no one likes a thief
- Hopefully players won't trust him any more.

C.



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