[MUD-Dev] Playing catch-up with levels

[Eli Stevens \{WG.c\}]

Vincent Archer <archer at frmug.org> wrote:
> According to ext.Christer.Enfors at tietoenator.com:

>> I was thinking I should let players hire NPC trainers, and then
>> define which skills (not just one skill) this trainer would
>> teach.  The player (or guild) would then charge money from other
>> players (or guild members) for access to this trainer. Thus, the
>> player has in effect created his own class. If it's good, he'll
>> even be able to profit off of the access charges. A military
>> guild could boast "we give our members access to a Swordsman
>> trainer, a Spy trainer and a Healer trainer at a discount!". The
>> trainer would also incur costs for its owner, so in order for the
>> owner to make a profit, the skill set (read: template) he gives
>> his trainer has to be good enough for other players to want to
>> pay for).

> The problem with this approach is exclusive trainer access. Can
> you use different trainers? If you can use multiple trainers
> without penalty, then you're not accessing a "class", you're using
> "that trainer with skill X & Y, and that other with Z".

...

> And, finally, there is the problem of the chicken and the egg. How
> do the characters initially get money to create the trainers? You
> need to create "basic trainers", who make essentially free
> classes.  Those free classes must not be competitive with
> player-designed classes (otherwise, people use the basic
> trainers), yet efficient enough that people can earn enough to
> create the first set of trainers.

    http://www.kanga.nu/archives/MUD-Dev-L/2000Q2/msg00790.php

Executive summary: have items give bonuses to entire guilds/cities
rather than individual members, such as holy relics allowing all
members access to unique spells, stat bonuses, etc.

What I intend for NGHMud* is to have the basic "class" trainers be
just like what you describe - low-efficiency ways to raise skill
points.  For example:

    Fighter trainer, spend 1000 xp:
        - gain 3 swordsmanship
        - gain 2 shield use
        - gain 1 armor use

    Priest trainer, spend 1000 xp:
        - gain 3 healing magic
        - gain 2 holy magic

But have the "advanced" classes be granted to groups that control
certain unique items/relics.  For example, if a church were able to
aquire the Sword of St. Bubba, they would gain the ability to train
as:

    Paladin, spend 1000 xp:
        - gain 2 swordsmanship
        - gain 1 shield use
        - gain 2 armor use
        - gain 1 healing magic
        - gain 3 holy magic

A player's class(es) would simply be the ratio that they most
closely matched.  So someone could be a Paladin by training from the
Fighter and Priest trainers if they were so inclined (or were unable
to join a group that had secured a Paladin-granting relic).  Of
course, a lot of the game would then center around the aquisition
and control of relics, so having a design that promoted them being
in motion could create a great deal of player generated content.

Sidenote: I plan on making the skill point ratios of given trainers
fixed, so if a player is only interested in shield use, they would
actually be better off using the Fighter trainer than the Paladin
(or some other class trainer that offered even more shield use, but
those might be hard to come by).

Eli

[*] - NGH = Never Gonna Happen.  :)

--
We're in the business of games.
COBOL is the business language.
WHY CAN'T ANYONE ELSE SEE THIS?
                             --
_______________________________________________
MUD-Dev mailing list
MUD-Dev at kanga.nu
https://www.kanga.nu/lists/listinfo/mud-dev