March 1998
- Describe Concept Stephen Zepp
- Describe Concept Jon A. Lambert
- Describe Concept J C Lawrence
- Describe Concept Jon A. Lambert
- Describe Concept J C Lawrence
- Describe Concept Vadim Tkachenko
- Tutorial: Let's build a Compiler! - Part XI: Lexical Scan Revisited Jon A. Lambert
- Tutorial: Let's build a Compiler! - Part XII: Miscellany Jon A. Lambert
- Tutorial: Let's build a Compiler! - Part XIII: Procedures Jon A. Lambert
- Tutorial: Let's build a Compiler! Chris Gray
- VEIL Network Protocol Brandon Gillespie
- Tutorial: Let's build a Compiler! - Part XIV: Types Jon A. Lambert
- Tutorial: Let's build a Compiler! - Part XV: Back to the Future Jon A. Lambert
- Tutorial: Let's build a Compiler! - Part XVI: Unit Construction Jon A. Lambert
- For Ling's FAQ Koster, Raph
- MUD Ratings jlsysinc.ix.netcom.com@ix.netcom.com
- Random Generation Tools Ling
- ANNOUNCE: DB Robin Carey
- THE DARKWHOLE TESTS J C Lawrence
- Magic as Metaphor J C Lawrence
- Magic as Metaphor J C Lawrence
- Magic as Metaphor Jon A. Lambert
- Magic as Metaphor J C Lawrence
- CT - A Hypothetical Session (mid 1995) J C Lawrence
- 2Cyberconf: An article J C Lawrence
- (long) AnarchyMOO Primary Log J C Lawrence
- (short) AnarchyMOO parting salute J C Lawrence
- AnarchyMOO purpose J C Lawrence
- (fwd) CODE RELEASE: [client] Spod! (Java mud client) J C Lawrence
- (fwd) CODE RELEASE: [client]: lyntin (hacker's client) 1.1b Released J C Lawrence
- DarkWhole Test #1 J C Lawrence
- DarkWhole Test #2 J C Lawrence
- DarkWhole test #3 J C Lawrence
- DarkWhole test #4 J C Lawrence
- DarkWhole test #5 J C Lawrence
- DarkWhole test Identity Crisis J C Lawrence
- The Craft of Adventure J C Lawrence
- What in THE Hell was that? Stephen Zepp
- What in THE Hell was that? Ben Greear
- What in THE Hell was that? J C Lawrence
- What in THE Hell was that? Jon A. Lambert
- (fwd) Varying Time Commitment Levels: what's an admin to do? J C Lawrence
- Hello, and a brief intro cimri
- Hello, and a brief intro Ben Greear
- (no title) Time limits? s001gmu@nova.wright.edu
- (no title) Time limits? Justin McKinnerney
- (no title) Time limits? J C Lawrence
- Speaking of Avatars Jon A. Lambert
- Speaking of Avatars Jon A. Lambert
- Speaking of Avatars J C Lawrence
- Speaking of Avatars Jon A. Lambert
- Re: Vadim Tkachenko
- META: Broken mail headers coder@ibm.net
- META: Broken mail headers Alex Oren
- META: Broken mail headers J C Lawrence
- META: Broken mail headers Alex Oren
- META: Broken mail headers J C Lawrence
- META: Broken mail headers Chris Gray
- META: Broken mail headers J C Lawrence
- META: Broken mail headers Caliban Tiresias Darklock
- META: Broken mail headers Chris Gray
- Turn-based MU*'s Sauron
- Balancing Addicts -> soft vs. hard enforcement cimri
- Balancing Addicts -> soft vs. hard enforcement Justin McKinnerney
- Balancing Addicts -> soft vs. hard enforcement J C Lawrence
- Balancing Addicts -> soft vs. hard enforcement Jon A. Lambert
- Balancing Addicts -> soft vs. hard enforcement Ling
- Balancing Addicts -> soft vs. hard enforcement Jon A. Lambert
- Balancing Addicts -> soft vs. hard enforcement Matt Chatterley
- Balancing Addicts -> soft vs. hard enforcement J C Lawrence
- Balancing Addicts -> soft vs. hard enforcement Jon A. Lambert
- Balancing Addicts -> soft vs. hard enforcement Matt Chatterley
- Balancing Addicts -> soft vs. hard enforcement Adam Wiggins
- Balancing Addicts -> soft vs. hard enforcement Joel Dillon
- SfD: Clientside Caching Nathan F Yospe
- SfD: Clientside Caching Jon A. Lambert
- SfD: Clientside Caching Nathan F Yospe
- SfD: Clientside Caching Chris Gray
- SfD: Clientside Caching Jon A. Lambert
- (subject missing) J C Lawrence
- Balancing Addicts Ling
- Balancing Addicts Richard Woolcock
- Balancing Addicts Ling
- Balancing Addicts J C Lawrence
- Transport layer (UDP vs TCP) Ben Greear
- Transport layer (UDP vs TCP) Niklas Elmqvist
- Transport layer (UDP vs TCP) Jon Leonard
- Transport layer (UDP vs TCP) Ben Greear
- Transport layer (UDP vs TCP) Jon Leonard
- Transport layer (UDP vs TCP) Ben Greear
- Transport layer (UDP vs TCP) Chris Gray
- Transport layer (UDP vs TCP) Niklas Elmqvist
- Transport layer (UDP vs TCP) Jon A. Lambert
- Transport layer (UDP vs TCP) Ben Greear
- Time Limits? Jon A. Lambert
- META: topic and thread culling (was Balancing Addicts -> soft vs. hard enforcement ) J C Lawrence
- (subject missing) J C Lawrence
- XShipWars J C Lawrence
- (fwd) INFO: [client] Chaco looking for new parent for Pueblo J C Lawrence
- SIMULATING FUTURE HISTORIES: THE NAU SOLAR SYSTEM SIMULATION & MARS SETTLEMENT J C Lawrence
- (fwd) Functional Security J C Lawrence
- (fwd) Functional Security Ling
- (fwd) Functional Security Chris Gray
- (fwd) Functional Security Matt Chatterley
- (fwd) Functional Security Miroslav Silovic
- (fwd) Functional Security Felix A. Croes
- (fwd) Functional Security J C Lawrence
- SIMULATING FUTURE HISTORIES s001gmu@nova.wright.edu
- Character development [was ] Matt Chatterley
- Character development [was ] J C Lawrence
- Character development [was ] Matt Chatterley
- Character development [was ] Travis Casey
- Character development [was ] J C Lawrence
- Character development [was ] Travis S. Casey
- Character development [was ] Marian Griffith
In <URL:/archives/meow?group+local.muddev> on Thu 09 Apr, Travis S. Casey wrote:
> On Wed, 8 Apr 1998, J C Lawrence wrote:
> Yep... we practiced parenting on our two cats first. We're expecting
> our new arrival at the end of August, and have no plans to find out
> the baby's sex until it's born.
*grin* If you manage to do some parenting on cats I have to say that
you definitely are ready for children ;)
!congratulations! to both of you (and the little one)
> > >> Character development is fundamental to the concept and definition
> > >> of a MUD.
While I tend to agree with you, I have to say that you must have some
smart arguments to include a game like pernmush in the same group as
muds.
> > > It should further be noted that "character development" doesn't have
> > > to mean "an increase in character power." It could mean *any* kind
> > > of change to a character, including personality development.
> > True. An idea I've been playing with for a while now for more
> > "typical: MUDS is the idea that the character as a net whole never
> > changes, but that the balance of allocation of stats changes.
I am not so sure if I like this idea. In fact I am not so sure I under-
stand entirely what you are trying to achieve. I think you try to avoid
players from 'maxing out' their characters? But why limiting things in
this fashion?
> If you want more traditional advancement, but don't want characters to
> grow too powerful, you could combine this with a slow "growth" system.
It would only encourage the stubborn (and unimaginative) players from
plodding along with the game. You would on the other hand likely lose
the more flamboyant characters.
> This would keep characters from getting powerful too quickly, but also
> give the players the ability to rearrange their characters over time
> to adapt (e.g., if the player discovers that they'd like the character
> to have more capabilities with magic, the player can sacrifice some of
> the character's other capabilities to gain them).
Why not make it so that you can advance all skills and abilities, but
the higher trained you are in some field, the more quickly you loose
that proficiency? That way players can choose to concentrate on only
a few skills, or decide to create a more generic character that does
nothing quite as good as a true specialist? And by ignoring a certain
specialisation for long enough you are no longer better than average
in it again. It would also help you to negate the 'pathetically weak
newbie' problem that can be found on near all muds.
> A few random thoughts on character advancement/generation...
> Some paper RPers prefer to develop characters in play rather than
> generating them at the start. The idea is that the player may not
> know enough about the gameworld when the game starts to be able to
> generate exactly the kind of character he/she would want. Thus,
> some aspects of character generation are delayed.
Isn't this what muds do, in essence? Except of course that usually
you have to pick your profession beforehand.
> A more concrete example of this is to give the players the ability
> to "hold back" a few attribute/skill/whatever points and assign them
> when they want to.
I think something like this was implemented in Rom II ?
> Of course, some muds already use a variation on this sort of system --
> allowing players to choose such things as guilds after their characters
> have entered play.
> Skill decay has been mentioned here before, I believe, but since we're
> on the subject of advancement... the idea behind skill decay is that if
> you don't practice something for a while, you start to lose your ability
> at it. The paper RPG Harnmaster requires players to spend advancement
> points on maintaining skills, or else they will decay. On a mud, it's
> fairly simple to keep track of how long it's been since the last time a
> skill was used or its value checked and adjust it downward based on that.
>
> Of course, you may wish to have different skills decay at varying rates,
> and there's also the issue of whether it should be easier to relearn a
> skill that you used to have. Something that's been noted on the RPG
> groups recently is that skills rarely seem to decay all the way back to
> zero --
I think that is only fair. You haven't exactly -forgotten- what you have
learned, you merely got rusty in practising it. Because you once where
trained you can expect to pick up much quicker than somebody for whom it
is entirely new.
Maybe you need to have to numbers assigned to each skill that you learn.
Knowledge and practice. Your overall skill is determined by both numbers
but only the practice decays, and picks up quickly once you start prac-
ticing again. Increasing knowledge on the other hand is much harder, and
magics/affects that cause -that- to decrease are going to be nasty...
I will react to the rest of this post later :)
Marian
> One possibility with skill decay is to have decay be the reverse of
> gaining a skill -- skill advancement is normally easy at low skill levels
> and gets harder as you advance. Skills should decay quickly at high
> levels (a world-class anything pretty much has to practice every day to
> stay in top form) and more slowly at low levels.
> Some paper RPGs have set limits on how much a character can know; AD&D
> with the limit on "spells known" for mages; The Fantasy Trip, which
> limited the number of skills a character could have to his/her
> intelligence score, and others. The Fantasy Trip allowed characters to
> forget skills in a couple of ways so that others could be learned, but
> none of those ways were easy.
>
> An alternative to class systems that I've come across recently is an
> aptitude system. When a character is created, the player can divide
> up a few points among various aptitudes that the character can have.
> For example, in a traditional fantasy game, the aptitudes might go
> along the lines of the traditional classes: combat, magic, religion,
> and stealth. All characters get a default aptitude of 1 in each category,
> and are given 4 extra points to divide up among the aptitudes. Thus,
> you could put all 4 into combat and leave the others at 1, or you could
> go for being a generalist and make them all be 2.
>
> When a character applies advancement points to a skill, the points are
> multiplied by his/her aptitude in the area the skill falls under. This
> allows a warrior-type to learn magical skills -- he just has to spend
> more points to do so.
>
> Last thought -- traditionally, players choose their characters attributes
> and classes/skills separately, although possibly within certain limits.
> (E.g., you must have at least X strength to be a warrior.) An alternative
> possibility is to have skills/classes/aptitudes/whatever give attribute
> points. The attributes would then be at least partially pre-set for each
> character -- the player wouldn't have to worry about any minimums, since
> the character would already meet them.
>
> I think that's enough rambling for now... if people are interested in
> these sorts of ideas, say so and I'll see what else I can scrape up out
> of my memory.
>
> --
> |\ _,,,---,,_ Travis S. Casey <efindel@io.com>
> ZZzz /,`.-'`' -. ;-;;,_ No one agrees with me. Not even me.
> |,4- ) )-,_..;\ ( `'-' Keeper of the rec.games.design FAQ:
> '---''(_/--' `-'\_) http://www.io.com/~efindel/design.html
>
>
>
>
>
--
Yes - at last - You. I Choose you. Out of all the world,
out of all the seeking, I have found you, young sister of
my heart! You are mine and I am yours - and never again
will there be loneliness ...
Rolan Choosing Talia,
Arrows of the Queen, by Mercedes Lackey - Character development [was ] Travis S. Casey
- Character development [was ] Vadim Tkachenko
- Character development [was ] Travis Casey
- Character development [was ] Vadim Tkachenko
- Character development [was ] Travis Casey
- Character development [was ] Vadim Tkachenko
- Character development [was ] Marian Griffith
- Character development [was ] Vadim Tkachenko
- Character development [was ] Marian Griffith
- Character development [was ] s001gmu@nova.wright.edu
- Character development [was ] Marian Griffith
- Character development [was ] J C Lawrence
- Character development [was ] Cimri
- Character development [was ] J C Lawrence
- Character development [was ] s001gmu@nova.wright.edu
- Character development [was ] Caliban Tiresias Darklock
- Character development [was ] Caliban Tiresias Darklock
- Character development [was ] Vadim Tkachenko
- Character development [was ] Ben Greear
- Character development [was ] Matt Chatterley
- Character development [was ] J C Lawrence
- Character development [was ] Matt Chatterley
- Character development [was ] Travis S. Casey
- Character development [was ] J C Lawrence
- Character development [was ] Marian Griffith
- Character development [was ] Koster, Raph
- Character development [was ] J C Lawrence
- Character development [was ] Koster, Raph
- Character development [was ] Alex Bertoglio
- Character development [was ] J C Lawrence
- Character development [was ] J C Lawrence
- Character development [was ] John Bertoglio
- 3D engines for MUDs Niklas Elmqvist
- 3D engines for MUDs Chris Gray
- 3D engines for MUDs J C Lawrence
- 3D engines for MUDs Niklas Elmqvist
- 3D engines for MUDs Chris Gray
- 3D engines for MUDs Ling
- 3D engines for MUDs Koster, Raph
- 3D engines for MUDs Mike Sellers
- 3D engines for MUDs Niklas Elmqvist
- 3D engines for MUDs Koster, Raph
- 3D engines for MUDs Ling
- 3D engines for MUDs s001gmu@nova.wright.edu
- Dynamic Loading of Modules Niklas Elmqvist
- Dynamic Loading of Modules Greg Munt
- Dynamic Loading of Modules J C Lawrence
- Parlez vous NPC? Matt Chatterley
- Parlez vous NPC? Vadim Tkachenko
- Parlez vous NPC? Matt Chatterley
- Parlez vous NPC? Chris Gray
- Parlez vous NPC? Matt Chatterley
- Parlez vous NPC? Nathan F Yospe
- Parlez vous NPC? Matt Chatterley
- Dynamic Loading of Modules Niklas Elmqvist
- Dynamic Loading of Modules Chris Gray
- Dynamic Loading of Modules Jon A. Lambert
- World Persistence, flat files v/s DB v/s ?? Ben Greear
- World Persistence, flat files v/s DB v/s ?? Chris Gray
- World Persistence, flat files v/s DB v/s ?? Jon A. Lambert
- World Persistence, flat files v/s DB v/s ?? Greg Munt
- World Persistence, flat files v/s DB v/s ?? Chris Gray
- World Persistence, flat files v/s DB v/s ?? Matt Chatterley
- World Persistence, flat files v/s DB v/s ?? s001gmu@nova.wright.edu
- World Persistence, flat files v/s DB v/s ?? Vadim Tkachenko
- World Persistence, flat files v/s DB v/s ?? Vadim Tkachenko
- World Persistence, flat files v/s DB v/s ?? Matt Chatterley
- World Persistence, flat files v/s DB v/s ?? Ben Greear
- World Persistence, flat files v/s DB v/s ?? Vadim Tkachenko
- World Persistence, flat files v/s DB v/s ?? Joel Dillon
- World Persistence, flat files v/s DB v/s ?? Joel Dillon
- World Persistence, flat files v/s DB v/s ?? Vadim Tkachenko
- World Persistence, flat files v/s DB v/s ?? Matt Chatterley
- World Persistence, flat files v/s DB v/s ?? Chris Gray
- World Persistence, flat files v/s DB v/s ?? Ross Nicoll
- World Persistence, flat files v/s DB v/s ?? Ross Nicoll
- World Persistence, flat files v/s DB v/s ?? Matt Chatterley
- World Persistence, flat files v/s DB v/s ?? Vadim Tkachenko
- World Persistence, flat files v/s DB v/s ?? s001gmu@nova.wright.edu
- World Persistence, flat files v/s DB v/s ?? Joel Dillon
- World Persistence, flat files v/s DB v/s ?? Matt Chatterley
- World Persistence, flat files v/s DB v/s ?? Vadim Tkachenko
- World Persistence, flat files v/s DB v/s ?? J C Lawrence
- World Persistence, flat files v/s DB v/s ?? Chris Gray
- World Persistence, flat files v/s DB v/s ?? J C Lawrence
- World Persistence, flat files v/s DB v/s ?? Vadim Tkachenko
- World Persistence, flat files v/s DB v/s ?? Chris Gray
- World Persistence, flat files v/s DB v/s ?? J C Lawrence
- World Persistence, flat files v/s DB v/s ?? Jon A. Lambert
- World Persistence, flat files v/s DB v/s ?? J C Lawrence
- World Persistence, flat files v/s DB v/s ?? Ben Greear
- World Persistence, flat files v/s DB v/s ?? Matt Chatterley
- World Persistence, flat files v/s DB v/s ?? Ben Greear
- World Persistence, flat files v/s DB v/s ?? Jon A. Lambert
- World Persistence, flat files v/s DB v/s ?? J C Lawrence
- World Persistence, flat files v/s DB v/s ?? Joel Dillon
- World Persistence, flat files v/s DB v/s ?? Matt Chatterley
- World Persistence, flat files v/s DB v/s ?? Joel Dillon
- World Persistence, flat files v/s DB v/s ?? J C Lawrence
- World Persistence, flat files v/s DB v/s ?? Joel Dillon
- World Persistence, flat files v/s DB v/s ?? J C Lawrence
- World Persistence, flat files v/s DB v/s ?? Matt Chatterley
- World Persistence, flat files v/s DB v/s ?? J C Lawrence
- World Persistence, flat files v/s DB v/s ?? Adam Wiggins
- World Persistence, flat files v/s DB v/s ?? Ben Greear
- World Persistence, flat files v/s DB v/s ?? Orion Henry
- World Persistence, flat files v/s DB v/s ?? Ben Greear
- World Persistence, flat files v/s DB v/s ?? Nathan F Yospe
- World Persistence, flat files v/s DB v/s ?? Ben Greear
- World Persistence, flat files v/s DB v/s ?? Vadim Tkachenko
- World Persistence, flat files v/s DB v/s ?? J C Lawrence
- World Persistence, flat files v/s DB v/s ?? J C Lawrence
- World Persistence, flat files v/s DB v/s ?? Greg Munt
- World Persistence, flat files v/s DB v/s ?? Ben Greear
- World Persistence, flat files v/s DB v/s ?? Jon A. Lambert
- World Persistence, flat files v/s DB v/s ?? J C Lawrence
- World Persistence, flat files v/s DB v/s ?? J C Lawrence
- World Persistence, flat files v/s DB v/s ?? Chris Gray
- World Persistence, flat files v/s DB v/s ?? J C Lawrence
- Jukebox Vadim Tkachenko
- Another recruit for the list? Joel Dillon
- OT: Martin Keegan J C Lawrence
- Old code Joel Dillon
- Old code Michael Hohensee
- UML/Commercial v Free Muds Greg Munt
- UML/Commercial v Free Muds Nathan F Yospe
- UML/Commercial v Free Muds Jon A. Lambert
- Heightfield Terrain Rendering Paper Niklas Elmqvist
- (subject missing) J C Lawrence
- (fwd) Roleplaying J C Lawrence
- (fwd) Roleplaying s001gmu@nova.wright.edu
- (fwd) Roleplaying Katrina McClelan
- (fwd) Roleplaying Ling
- (fwd) Roleplaying J C Lawrence
- (fwd) Roleplaying Travis Casey
- Predicting future motion intelligently J C Lawrence
- META: New Mail server and ISP J C Lawrence
- (rec.games.mud.admin) Roleplaying (fwd) Nathan F Yospe
- Persistant storage.... My current idea. Ben Greear
- Persistant storage.... My current idea. Jon A. Lambert
- Persistant storage.... My current idea. Ben Greear
- Persistant storage.... My current idea. J C Lawrence
- Persistant storage.... My current idea. Ben Greear
- Persistant storage.... My current idea. J C Lawrence
- Persistant storage.... My current idea. Ben Greear
- Persistant storage.... My current idea. Chris Gray
- Persistant storage.... My current idea. Ben Greear
- Persistant storage.... My current idea. J C Lawrence
- Persistant storage.... My current idea. Ben Greear
- UML & CORBA Greg Munt
- [MUD-Dev]: smoothing J C Lawrence
- [MUD-Dev]: smoothing J C Lawrence