[MUD-Dev] ghost mode (was Re: SW:G)

[Eli Stevens]

Justin Coleman wrote:

> Imagine a group of adventurers navigating a tough dungeon, getting
> surprised by monsters and traps, and fighting for their very
> survival. Then imagine that same group, in constant communication
> with a "ghost-mode" player who can go anywhere they want without
> risk, can see everything, and thus can inform the party of any
> lurking "surprises", greatly reducing the challenge designed into
> the area.

I haven't caught up fully on this thread, but the fatalist attitude
of a lot of the posts kind of surprised me.  I don't mean to pick on
you, Justin, but you had the best sound byte*.

This assumes an implementation of ghosting that allows that kind of
behavior.  Make it so that ghosts can't see monsters that a real
player can't see, and the whole advantage goes out the window.  Or
be mean about it - allow ghosts to see all the monsters (except for
the nasty ones).

  Ghost: "Yeah, looks like four gnolls in the cavern ahead."
  Warrior: "Let's bash 'em!"
  Mage: "I should get off a chain lightning before you wade in."
  ...  Sounds of battle...
  Mage: "Hurrgk."
  Gnoll: "Humans taste like fish."
  Warrior Ghost: "Why didn't you tell us about the Ogre?"

There are all sorts of other intersting things you could do with it.
Maybe ghosts can only see _dead_ monsters wandering around, before
they respawn.  Maybe ghosts can't tell the difference between living
and dead monsters.  Maybe ghosts make decent scouts, but they
attract monster ghosts, which have a tendancy to respawn.
Esp. during combat.  Or some monsters can only be seen by ghosts -
go into the graveyard at midnight under a full moon on All Hallow's
Eve, and you had best have a friendly ghost around to tell you
what's chewing on your horse.

And I just thought of all that while brushing my teeth.  ;) I think
the point is not to ruin an existing playstyle, but to allow
interesting options (that may or may not change the traditional,
optimal path, tank / mage / cleric mindset).  The game fiction might
be wonky to incorporate all those odd mechanics, but what else is
new?

Eli

[*] Yes, I know.  :P
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