[MUD-Dev] Focus on Hocus Pocus

[Edward Glowacki]

Quoted from Wes Connell on Tue, Jun 12, 2001 at 08:58:13PM -0700:

> The one problem I ran into while thinking about it was that
> players would quickly discover the best combinations for the good
> spells and use only those. Those combinations will likely wind up
> on a web page.

No matter what you do, I think players will do that.  I'd say the
best you can hope for is to make a well balanced game, and provide
sufficient options for players to take equal-but-different paths.

> You could have different types of mana that produce different
> effects from the components. A red mage would get fire effects
> from sulphuric ash while a black mage would get psychic effects.

I like the idea of modular spells, where to get a specific effect,
you combine various pieces together.  I've been thinking about this
a lot for my own as-yet-undesigned game, and came up with the
following list of modifiers which could be applied to any basic
spell.  These all would change the effect of the spell, and each
change you make from the "average" would change the cost of the
spell.  For some changes, e.g. from "average speed" to "instant
speed", the cost would be very high to reflect the fact that it's
harder to avoid a spell that's cast instantly than one that's cast
very slowly.  Likewise if you changed the speed to "very slow", it
would be much cheaper to cast since it's not as effective.  Most of
these categories are self explanitory, but some may seem a lot like
others because this is just a rough list that came out of
brainstorming.  The important thing is the idea, not the actual
content... ;)
    
    Speed
        Very slow
        Slow
        Average
        Fast
        Very fast
        Instant
    
    Power
        Very weak
        Weak
        Average
        Strong
        Very strong
    
    Time
        Instant
        Repeating
        Continuous
    
    VSCN (multi OK)
        Verbal
        Somatic
        Component
        None
    
    Target
        Single
        Multiple
        Area
        Room
    
    Length
        Very short
        Short
        Average
        Long
        Very long
    

> You could have different results for each player depending on what
> day of the year they were born on. Some players might get shafted
> by having to use diamond dust for healing. =]

These would be interesting, and would make characters more unique,
but at the same time getting shafted like that might really turn
away someone who wanted to play a healer.

However, I do like the idea of tying the spell back to the character
casting it.  For example, certain options on the list above might be
unavailable until you spent X points on a category.  "Very Strong"
might require 10 points, or those 10 points could be used to access
the "Very Long" spell option, or the "Very Fast" option.  Or maybe
the more points you spend in a category, the better the effect of
each option.  So if you spend 10 points on power, "Very Strong"
might be +20% for 10% extra mana, but if you spend 20 points, the
same "Very Strong" would be +25% for 8% extra mana, and so on to
follow some sort of curve.


This type of system might also lead to a variety of different ways
to achieve the same goal, thus providing for variety in characters.
Say to kill an ogre in a specific amount of time: Character A uses
20 "very fast" fireballs, Character B uses 3 "very strong"
fireballs, and Character C uses one "very long" duration fireball
that continuously eats away at the ogre until it dies.  All three
methods deliver X damage in Y time, yet each method has strengths
and weaknesses in other situations.  If all you want is to kill
ogres, any method will do, but if you want to kill stuff that just
happens to die after one "very strong" fireball, you choose that
method, or if you want to fight lots of little creatures, you choose
to put your points into increasing your speed instead.

In addition, these categories could be tied back to character
attributes.  Want to cast a spell that lasts a very long time?
Better have a good constitution.  Want to cast quickly?  Better have
a high dexterity.

The goal is to have enough (balanced) ways of getting from point A
to point B that characters will spread out along the continuum
instead of all chosing the same path.  Of course, some options are
still likely to be more popular, but there would be plenty of
oppertunity to innovate and forge your own path without being
underpowered compared to everyone else.


--
Edward Glowacki			glowack2 at msu.edu
"Speak softly and carry a +6 two-handed sword."  --fortune
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