[list] Re: [MUD-Dev] Re: DGN: Why give the players all thenumbers?

[Rayzam]

From: "Scion Altera" <scion at divineright.org>
> Tuesday, September 16, 2003, 6:21:41 PM, Rayzam wrote:

>> That's pretty much what I've been saying: at some point they'll
>> be converted to numbers anyways. Why not just give the players
>> the ordered scale of descriptions. That way they don't have to go
>> to the effort.

> The point here is measureability. Some things in real life are
> measureable and we have concrete numbers for them. I can easily
> find out how many pounds my knife weighs, or how long it is. I can
> also find out the tensile strength of the metal the blade is made
> out of.  Off the top of my head, I don't know a unit of measure
> for exactly how sharp it is, but there probably is one.

> So in a hypothetical stereotypical fantasy setting, how would
> people compare swords? The longer of two swords might weigh the
> same as 40 gold pieces. The shorter might only weigh the same as
> 32 gold pieces.  The longer might be as long as my leg, while the
> shorter is as long as my friend's arm. How sharp are they? Well
> the long one can easily cut through a goblin's skull in one
> strike, while the shorter one takes a few whacks to do the job.

> In terms of game mechanics, what does this example mean? The game
> could give the player the numbers for the weight, and length of
> the swords. It could tell them that the swords are both made of
> steel.  However, the game might not tell them the value of the
> "sharpness" attribute of the swords beyond saying that one is
> "very sharp" and the other is "dull" because sharpness is not
> measureable to a very granular level.

Well, the character could compare them the same way one of us would
in real life. You pick it up, swing it around, work through some
routines with it, check its heft and balance, look at the sharpness,
perhaps test the sharpness against something, check flexibility,
etc. Do the same for both.

Now in a text game, or in the graphical games available so far, that
isn't possible. Which leads to 2 options:

  1) a compare function that does all that and just responds in relatives:

    Sword 1 is better balanced than sword 2

    Sword 1 is more flexible, less sharp, longer, heavier, etc, than
    Sword 2.

  2) relate a lot of those factors into a value, such as Weapon
  Class [wc], that is used in many games. That's what we
  use. Different weapon types [sword vs bludgeon vs dagger] have
  different damage dice, critical hit chances and stun chances. WC
  is a numerical measure of combat effectiveness of that weapon
  within it's weapon type. So a WC 60 sword may do more damage than
  a WC 80 dagger, but the WC 80 dagger may result in more critical
  hits than the WC 60 sword.

But if a game doesn't give a measure such as Weapon Class, it really
should give the function as listed in (1).


    rayzam
    www.travellingbard.com
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