Creation privs for mortals
Dan Brumleve
On Armageddon I'm considering giving very limited creation privileges
to mortals. I've found that allowing immortals to create items for mortals
(for roleplaying only) really increases roleplaying potential. For instance,
a rather infamous mage named Delver had a business card created for him,
reading "Delver's Mage for Hire Service - We'll do ANYTHING for the right
amount of gold." I've seen similar such objects created by immortals
for mortals, and I like the idea a lot. Mortals would be prevented
from making weapons, armor, setting affect bits, and object prices.
Of course, only people of, let's say, level 3 or greater could use
creation commands, and it would cost them money based on object
stats. Or as an other possibility, it would be interesting to allow
them to "swap" existing items for another similar one that they
could edit. Obviously, naming your object something totally unrelated
to its previous type would be disallowed, but it would be nice
for customizing your items. For this, players will have to apply
for a bit that allows them to do it, instead of the other way
around. I would also simplify the creation process (the object wouldn't
be saved anywhere but in rent, so actually adding an obj_default
is absurd). Something like the following might be how a mortal
would go about it:
object /* Create a default obj and give it to char */
oset object name cloak black
oset object sdesc a black cloak
oset object ldesc A black cloak is sprawled on the ground.
oset object weight 2
oset object type worn
oset object flag neck
Ta-dah! Oset could be used without problems by allowing mortals to edit
any object with a virtual number of -1. There shouldn't be any problems
with mortals editing each other's objects because there really isn't
much purpose in it. If people find ways to "cheat" with this, (like
giving objects super-long odescs and then attacking whoever looks
at them), I'll just zorch them with a NOCREATE. I think it would
make the game much more realistic and interesting.
Wraith
items would be nice, I don't think allowing them creation priveledges is the
way to go. This ruins much of the atmosphere of the game and allows players
to create things that look like virtually anything. (i.e., by using what you
had in your post I could make fake sacrificial daggers or whatever other items
happened to be available and then sell them, etc.)
What I would suggest, instead, is a line of specialty shops where the
player can go to purchase items. I might, for example, commision a jeweler to
craft a ring of white gold with an inscription for me. Or perhaps I'd go to
the local clothing shop and order a black cloak with gold trim.
This is a good excuse for players to spend some of that over abundant
gold as well as a good excuse to expand towns without making them boring. Why
wander around in that 10 AC Dwarven helmet when you can wear a black fedora?
Why put on that +1 to hit silver ring when you can have a gold ring with an
Onyx stone and a personalized inscription.
It could be that mortals wouldn't find the interest of owning
personalized items valuable enough to give up their better items. Being able
to always tell which is the better item is a fundamental flaw in Diku, I
think. If players had less idea of what was better than what they might opt
for more style and flair and less uniformity.
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