Ideas for Longevity Incentives and Mundane Clan Building
Aug 29, 2018 10:51:31 GMT -5
ibusoe likes this
Post by yourvisiongoesblack on Aug 29, 2018 10:51:31 GMT -5
Over the past couple of years on ArmageddonMUD, there has been a pronounced shift away from the magickal and to the mundane. For many reasons, I think this is great for the game and should be expounded upon.
If magickers were not pariahs or otherwise something to be feared/hated by the vast majority of PCs, I don’t think the route taken by staff would have been AS necessary. But facts are facts, and, by and large, the ability to play rogue mage after rogue mage after rogue mage really has served to, often for long intervals, separate experienced, high-karma players from everyday interaction with new players or those otherwise limited by karma.
Besides the fact that would-be mentors are perhaps off spam-casting in a cave somewhere, this divide has always been a point of contention, jealousy, and, generally, bad feels in general. With the changes that have been implemented, such as the new classes and extended subguilds, comes a lessened chance of bitterness, which is a Good Thing for all parties involved.
Before I go any further, I’ll acknowledge that it is much easier to theorize or write about something for someone else to do than to *actually do it.* It’s way easier to sit back and come up with things for people to do than it is to implement features into the game. I get it. But staff did ask for feedback.
Having said that, I’ve been thinking of ways to incentivize longevity, leadership, and clan-building for mundane classes. I realize that the staff has made an attempt to move away from the workload stemming from custom crafts, but, while these ideas would require building, I think a timer of sorts - gauged by IG/IRL periods, like maybe ten IC years or one RL year - would limit workload. Other variables, such as a PC’s allies/actions, might also be taken into consideration.
*** Merchant House Custom Crafting. After five IG years employed by a merchant house as a crafter and/or merchant (job role) with crafting skills, a PC gains the ability to mastercraft. The timer on this resets if a character swaps clan and is not retained after leaving clans
*** Camp Building. After surviving ten IG years and a set number of hours/days put into a character, that character may begin to attempt to establish a camp, hideout, or resource-gathering location, even if only in the form of a permanent tent, cave, or small-structure, and within the level of complexity achievable by that character or group of characters. Instead of serving as an iso-clan hideout, the majority of such buildings should instead facilitate short-term travel, trade, or plots in general; by and large, they should not be impenetrable forts or allow for the creation of an iso-clan. Even after the death of a character or characters, areas such as this could be used by others in the future. Template items for "enterable" structures could cut down on workload.
*** Wagons. After 10 years, an artisan or character with a construction or Master Wagoneer extended subguild may begin to create a wagon of a level of complexity determined by various IC factors. Additionally, after 15 IG years, merchant house family members, nobles, or wealthy PCs may buy a wagon (very expensive). Creating one or two generic wagon template items which could be simply dupped/altered in minor ways would eliminate the need create a multiple-room area from scratch each and every time a character meets this goal. Even with the death of a PC, like with the construction of a base/camp, this would remain in-game for others to make use of.
*** Geography-specific extended subguilds. I started thinking about this while mulling over the new class/subclass combinations. Yeah, there are already classes that allow for something like, for instance, skimmer travel, but attributes such as starting defensive/offensive bonuses for players against NPCs in select areas, like the Silt Sea or the Grey Forest, in addition to other skills/abilities that would give the character a marked advantage from the onset, seem interesting for thematic reasons as much as coded ones. Abilities like recovering more rapidly or other factors while on “home turf” could be possible.
*** Psionics for… more. In reading through the PDfs of old Dark Sun books, I realized for the first time just how large of a difference there is between psionics on Athas and psionics in ArmageddonMUD. In Dark Sun, it seems, even mundane NPCs have some psionic attacks. Now, I know of mundane PCs who have been granted psionicist skills. Some powerful, some not so powerful, some significant enough to destroy the Black Moon, ender. One of my suggestions is to allow human PCs with sufficient psionic experience (they’ve mastered the three psionic skills) to, after 10-15 years in-game, be able to apply for an additional, lower-tier psionic skill. After an additional 10-15 years in game, a second could be acquired. My other suggestion would be to create psionic subguilds as was done with sorcerers.
*** I’m stealing this one from Vanth, who recently asked about delaying when a player can choose subguild for their character. Not a bad idea. If a character begins the game without a subguild, then, after 5 IG years, they may submit to have a subguild added. After 20 IG years, a character may apply for a subguild to replace their current one but lose all skills/abilities of the previous subguild. Sorcerer subguilds could be applied for but not elementalists due to the intrinsic nature of their magick.
*** Coded Clans. After 10 years in game, a PC with sufficient reason may apply for a hard-coded clan. You don’t have to have a warehouse or go through the bureaucracy that is currently in place for “trading companies” and “minor houses.” The clan leader isn’t limited on how many she is able to recruit. No abilities are granted save to recruit, promote, and dump. Clans may be created as arms, branches, or "fronts" of existing clans. The clan leader has the ability to grant the recruiter and leader flags to other clan members, so the possibility of the clan surviving beyond the leader’s death exists. Clans or groups that allow simultaneous employment, especially in the case of clandestine groups, should be encouraged. Automated payroll, bases, unique items, wagons, etc, must all be earned in game, if at all. A player receives nothing from this except the ability to add another player to a coded group unless achieved in-game.
Again, most of these ideas are proposed as an incentive to increase longevity or enhance what it is to play a mundane character, and it seems fair, in creating a set of longevity-granted abilities/structures/whatever, that a player would be forced to choose between some, with the exception of maybe creating a coded clan.
If magickers were not pariahs or otherwise something to be feared/hated by the vast majority of PCs, I don’t think the route taken by staff would have been AS necessary. But facts are facts, and, by and large, the ability to play rogue mage after rogue mage after rogue mage really has served to, often for long intervals, separate experienced, high-karma players from everyday interaction with new players or those otherwise limited by karma.
Besides the fact that would-be mentors are perhaps off spam-casting in a cave somewhere, this divide has always been a point of contention, jealousy, and, generally, bad feels in general. With the changes that have been implemented, such as the new classes and extended subguilds, comes a lessened chance of bitterness, which is a Good Thing for all parties involved.
Before I go any further, I’ll acknowledge that it is much easier to theorize or write about something for someone else to do than to *actually do it.* It’s way easier to sit back and come up with things for people to do than it is to implement features into the game. I get it. But staff did ask for feedback.
Having said that, I’ve been thinking of ways to incentivize longevity, leadership, and clan-building for mundane classes. I realize that the staff has made an attempt to move away from the workload stemming from custom crafts, but, while these ideas would require building, I think a timer of sorts - gauged by IG/IRL periods, like maybe ten IC years or one RL year - would limit workload. Other variables, such as a PC’s allies/actions, might also be taken into consideration.
*** Merchant House Custom Crafting. After five IG years employed by a merchant house as a crafter and/or merchant (job role) with crafting skills, a PC gains the ability to mastercraft. The timer on this resets if a character swaps clan and is not retained after leaving clans
*** Camp Building. After surviving ten IG years and a set number of hours/days put into a character, that character may begin to attempt to establish a camp, hideout, or resource-gathering location, even if only in the form of a permanent tent, cave, or small-structure, and within the level of complexity achievable by that character or group of characters. Instead of serving as an iso-clan hideout, the majority of such buildings should instead facilitate short-term travel, trade, or plots in general; by and large, they should not be impenetrable forts or allow for the creation of an iso-clan. Even after the death of a character or characters, areas such as this could be used by others in the future. Template items for "enterable" structures could cut down on workload.
*** Wagons. After 10 years, an artisan or character with a construction or Master Wagoneer extended subguild may begin to create a wagon of a level of complexity determined by various IC factors. Additionally, after 15 IG years, merchant house family members, nobles, or wealthy PCs may buy a wagon (very expensive). Creating one or two generic wagon template items which could be simply dupped/altered in minor ways would eliminate the need create a multiple-room area from scratch each and every time a character meets this goal. Even with the death of a PC, like with the construction of a base/camp, this would remain in-game for others to make use of.
*** Geography-specific extended subguilds. I started thinking about this while mulling over the new class/subclass combinations. Yeah, there are already classes that allow for something like, for instance, skimmer travel, but attributes such as starting defensive/offensive bonuses for players against NPCs in select areas, like the Silt Sea or the Grey Forest, in addition to other skills/abilities that would give the character a marked advantage from the onset, seem interesting for thematic reasons as much as coded ones. Abilities like recovering more rapidly or other factors while on “home turf” could be possible.
*** Psionics for… more. In reading through the PDfs of old Dark Sun books, I realized for the first time just how large of a difference there is between psionics on Athas and psionics in ArmageddonMUD. In Dark Sun, it seems, even mundane NPCs have some psionic attacks. Now, I know of mundane PCs who have been granted psionicist skills. Some powerful, some not so powerful, some significant enough to destroy the Black Moon, ender. One of my suggestions is to allow human PCs with sufficient psionic experience (they’ve mastered the three psionic skills) to, after 10-15 years in-game, be able to apply for an additional, lower-tier psionic skill. After an additional 10-15 years in game, a second could be acquired. My other suggestion would be to create psionic subguilds as was done with sorcerers.
*** I’m stealing this one from Vanth, who recently asked about delaying when a player can choose subguild for their character. Not a bad idea. If a character begins the game without a subguild, then, after 5 IG years, they may submit to have a subguild added. After 20 IG years, a character may apply for a subguild to replace their current one but lose all skills/abilities of the previous subguild. Sorcerer subguilds could be applied for but not elementalists due to the intrinsic nature of their magick.
*** Coded Clans. After 10 years in game, a PC with sufficient reason may apply for a hard-coded clan. You don’t have to have a warehouse or go through the bureaucracy that is currently in place for “trading companies” and “minor houses.” The clan leader isn’t limited on how many she is able to recruit. No abilities are granted save to recruit, promote, and dump. Clans may be created as arms, branches, or "fronts" of existing clans. The clan leader has the ability to grant the recruiter and leader flags to other clan members, so the possibility of the clan surviving beyond the leader’s death exists. Clans or groups that allow simultaneous employment, especially in the case of clandestine groups, should be encouraged. Automated payroll, bases, unique items, wagons, etc, must all be earned in game, if at all. A player receives nothing from this except the ability to add another player to a coded group unless achieved in-game.
Again, most of these ideas are proposed as an incentive to increase longevity or enhance what it is to play a mundane character, and it seems fair, in creating a set of longevity-granted abilities/structures/whatever, that a player would be forced to choose between some, with the exception of maybe creating a coded clan.
I mean, seriously, obviously the master craft was a good idea because it eventually became *part of the clan's official uniform set*, but a staff member heavily editing and rejecting the submission was really discouraging because the item alternately could have been used as the first "uniform" piece of an indie clan that Koman Locke would eventually succeed in seeing to fruition.