IIRC the bag of tricks was taken from D&D, where it did more than just
create monsters. In fact, I think that the only monsters it would
summon were jackals. I can't remember what else it did and I don't
have access to D&D manuals anymore but let's just make stuff up, shall
we?
Every time the bag is applied or looted:
If there are any charges left, 1/3 chance of one of the following:
Monsters are created
The bag bites you
Same effect as reading a scroll of scare monster
Fiery explosion, like scroll of fire
Stinking cloud, centered at bag
Same effect as applying horn of plenty
An item falls out of the bag. The item will be randomly generated if
the bag has not been recharged, otherwise it will be an iron chain.
Otherwise (no charges left or 2/3 chance):
You may remove or insert objects, just like a regular bag.
But just to make things interesting, let's say that every time you
open the bag there is a 1% chance that one of the items inside
disappears. Unlike the situation with cursed bags of holding, however,
the item isn't lost forever but rather teleported (3/4 chance) or
level-teleported (1/4 chance).
Of course, putting a (charged) bag of tricks into a bag of holding
will still cause an explosion.
Should a bag of tricks be like a bag of holding in terms of exploding
when the wrong items are put into it?
Can you think of any more effects that the bag of tricks should have?
I can make a patch, but I'll wait until I get some feedback and more
ideas.
--
Nephi
"You are covered with rice."
Check out my patches at http://www.geocities.com/zindorsky
Actually, I'm not sure being able to put things in it would the best
idea. It would be a nasty suprise to people who think they can
identify BoT just on a single apply, but it might be more fun to have
it work all the time. That way, people could try to apply it in an
emergency, say they're fire resistant and surrounded, they could hope
for a fire explosion. No one would ever really want to put items in it
unless they were desprate for bags.
> Can you think of any more effects that the bag of tricks should
> have?
Hmmm. The more the better, but I think your big problem is getting
people to actually find it of use. It's no fun if people identify it
quickly and then just pass it on by. I'd try to pump up the item gift
without making it too broken. The only items that nobody wants should
be hard to identify without taking serious damage (?oDestroyArmor or
Amnesia, ?HoOA) so that they're not as pointless as the tin opener.
But going that route would make it all bad, and that wouldn't be as
fun as your idea.
> I can make a patch, but I'll wait until I get some feedback and more
> ideas.
Great! I might actually try to apply a patch for once.
--
-Aaron Davidson
Latest attempt at greatness failed miserably:
8 20870 Yoshi VI-Val-Hum-Fem-Law died in Sokoban on level 3
[max 8]. Killed by a soldier ant. - [82]
Nephi wrote:
> IIRC the bag of tricks was taken from D&D, where it did more than just
> create monsters. In fact, I think that the only monsters it would
> summon were jackals. I can't remember what else it did and I don't
> have access to D&D manuals anymore but let's just make stuff up, shall
> we?
As it happens, I had an AD&D 3rd Ed. DM guide within arms reach, so
let's look it up, shall we?
"Bag of Tricks: This small sack appears normal and empty. However,
anyone reaching into the bag feels a small, fuzzy ball. If the ball is
removed and tossed up to 20 feet away, it turns into an animal. The
animal serves the character who drew it from the bag for 10 minutes (or
until slain or ordered back into the bag), at which point it
disappears. There are three drab colors of bags, each producing a
different set of animals.
<tables of d%>
Animals produced are always random, and only one may exist at a time.
Up to ten animals can be drawn from the bag each week."
Make of it what you will.
What if it were 3/4 chance teleport, 1/8 chance levelport, 1/8 chance
polymorph? That might make the bag of tricks more appealing. Or add
the possibility of blessing or cursing objects inside, fooproofing
them, removing fooproofing, recharging or uncharging items, adding or
removing bonuses (with or without the possibility of weapons and armor
dissolving due to overenchantment?). Not very powerful, but
potentially useful.
/
:@-) Scott
\
I like this last idea very much. Lets says that, if you put an item in the
bag, there is a 25% chance (1% is way too low) something will happen with
the item. This should also use a charge. The effects mentioned above are
good, but I would like to add "destroy item" and "duplicate item", you put
in one /WoW but get two. (obviously, this shouldn't work with artefacts)
[snip my bag of tricks ideas]
Considering my idea and the comments from others elsewhere on this
thread (thanks guys), I have concluded that my initial proposal has
one major flaw: It tries to be both a bag of tricks and a sack and
doesn't do either consistently. As Aaron pointed out, what would
probably happen is that people would just avoid the stupid thing. So
I've decided to let the bag of tricks be a bag of tricks. I was quite
intrigued by some of the ideas for how the bag could alter items
inside it (polymorph them, change enchantments, change rustproof
status, etc.) but I just don't think they're going to work in
conjunction with the other functions of the bag. I think a new type
of bag would be better for those ideas.
Anyway, here's my new proposal:
When you apply a bag of tricks a charge is used and one of the
following occurs:
d20 effect
1-11 Monsters are created
12 The bag bites you
13 Same effect as reading a scroll of scare monster
14 Fiery explosion, like scroll of fire
15 Stinking cloud, centered at bag
16 You are paralyzed for 1d4 turns ("Something tries to pull you into
the bag!")
17-18 Same effect as applying horn of plenty
19-20 An item falls out of the bag. The item will be randomly
generated if the bag has not been recharged, otherwise it will be an
iron chain.
If there are no charges left you may use it as a normal sack. The
reason for this is mostly for realism (why shouldn't a depleted bag of
tricks be just a sack?) and to give the truly desperate another chance
for some kind of portable container.
Looting the bag will get you bitten if there are any charges left,
otherwise it behaves like a sack.
I'll start coding a patch when I get a chance (and the patch will be
save/bones file compatible with Vanilla. Yay!).
The problem with that is that it would just cause people to not use a
bag of tricks for storage. It is extremely rare for there to be no
sacks, oilskin sacks, or bags of holding in the dungeon.
> annd... wouldn't storing items
> in a bag of tricks break save file compatability?
You might think so, but no. If you put something into a bag of
tricks, save and then restore in Vanilla, the bag will still contain
whatever you put into it (and have the correct weight, etc.). You
just won't be able to get anything out of the bag under Vanilla.
Interestingly enough, even under Vanilla you can look at a bag of
tricks' contents with a wand of probing.
As you may have guessed, I've started to code the patch. I'll
probably have a first version tomorrow sometime.
You're probably thinking of AD&D:s Deck of Many Things, an item of
extreme beneficial or baneful power. (a)pplying something as powerful as
that deck could turn that game into almost instant ascension or death.
I like your idea (a less powerful item), since it uses an existing item,
and makes safe ID:ing harder.
On the subject: *lowers voice to a whisper* How come we don't have any
Bags of Devouring? *looks around nervously for the devteam*
[snip why it shouldn't have normal container functionality]
The bag of tricks is a great idea for further embellishment.
One idea: "previous result"
66% of the time the bag does what it did the previous time
it was applied. 34% of the time it 'rerolls' to have a new
result (rerolling until it picks something actually new).
Have this probability be more complex?
* Fireproofing ('fixing') the bag swings it strongly to previous.
* Depends on hero alignment (Law:70/30, Neu:50/50, Cha:30/70)
Possibly some effects do not happen again as previous results;
they force a new roll the next time the bag is applied.
> Anyway, here's my new proposal:
>
> When you apply a bag of tricks a charge is used and one of the
> following occurs:
> d20 effect
> 1-11 Monsters are created
> 12 The bag bites you
Small chance that it damages/removes/destroys worn gloves,
and/or makes you drop wielded weapons and shields.
> 13 Same effect as reading a scroll of scare monster
Should it scare you too? Temporary paralysis a la ghosts.
> 14 Fiery explosion, like scroll of fire
BUC bag => BUC fire, right?
> 15 Stinking cloud, centered at bag
Would be cute if throwing the bag after this result
could make a stink bomb.
> 16 You are paralyzed for 1d4 turns ("Something tries to pull you into
> the bag!")
Since I suggested paralysis above, I think this result could
also be that something *does* pull you into the bag. Two results
(separate entries)
1. The bag 'turns into' a trapper which automatically swallows
the hero unless a dex-type save is made. Either this destroys
the bag or it 'turns back into' a bag when it dies.
2. The bag level teleports the hero. The bag stays behind.
Perhaps if cursed, more equipment than the bag stays
behind.
> If there are no charges left you may use it as a normal sack. The
> reason for this is mostly for realism (why shouldn't a depleted bag of
> tricks be just a sack?) and to give the truly desperate another chance
> for some kind of portable container.
Well, you could consider some generally non-harmful behavior of
the bag of tricks when it is depleted that would make it not quite
as good as a sack but not so bad that no one would use it.
Examples:
* When applied with no charges, the BoT, if empty, picks
up everything on the floor into itself. No message/result if
there is nothing on the floor. If not empty, the BoT
disgorges its contents onto the floor. This makes it both
more and less convenient than a sack, but generally less
useful.
Putting a wand of cancellation into it should turn it into
a normal sack.
> Looting the bag will get you bitten if there are any charges left,
> otherwise it behaves like a sack.
Hm I think looting should draw from the same results as applying,
but with only the results that sort of imply reaching in. Or,
alternatively, it does the slurping up inventory thing above,
but with what's on the floor when looted from the floor, and
with your inventory when applied while holding it.
Falling into it like falling down a hole would also be amusing
(the bag staying behind, as above).
> I'll start coding a patch when I get a chance (and the patch will be
> save/bones file compatible with Vanilla. Yay!).
What about B/U/C status?
Is the BoT going to have the right number of charges? I think
generating monsters was a useful result, and so if after the change
it does useless things half the time, perhaps it should have
twice as many charges?
Just idea. Good luck, have fun..
> On the subject: *lowers voice to a whisper* How come we don't have any
> Bags of Devouring? *looks around nervously for the devteam*
If I recall correctly, some older versions of Nethack DID have bags of
devouring, though I don't remember which version it was (maybe 3.1?).
--
Quietust, QMT Productions (http://qmt.ath.cx/)
* My email address does not include ".com"
P.S. If you don't get this note, let me know and I'll write you another.
Wouldn't a cursed bag of holding be a bag of devouring? It probably
got replaced, since nobody would use a bag of devouring regularly...
under normal circumstances.
*thinkthink* Maybe the biting bag of tricks (when using uncharged)
could be a cursed effect... there isn't really any reason to care if a
bag of tricks gets cursed right now.....
Well, I _was_ going to roll out an initial version of the patch today,
but there are some good ideas here that need considering.
> One idea: "previous result"
> 66% of the time the bag does what it did the previous time
> it was applied. 34% of the time it 'rerolls' to have a new
> result (rerolling until it picks something actually new).
>
> Have this probability be more complex?
> * Fireproofing ('fixing') the bag swings it strongly to previous.
> * Depends on hero alignment (Law:70/30, Neu:50/50, Cha:30/70)
>
> Possibly some effects do not happen again as previous results;
> they force a new roll the next time the bag is applied.
Hmmm ... interesting, but too complicated I think. Also too hard for
the unspoiled to figure out. I think straight random rolls are good
enough.
> > 12 The bag bites you
>
> Small chance that it damages/removes/destroys worn gloves,
> and/or makes you drop wielded weapons and shields.
Damaging equipment is too harsh IMO. It would scare too many people
off. Making you drop your stuff, OTOH, is a good idea.
> > 13 Same effect as reading a scroll of scare monster
>
> Should it scare you too? Temporary paralysis a la ghosts.
Yes, but with a chance to resist.
> > 14 Fiery explosion, like scroll of fire
>
> BUC bag => BUC fire, right?
Well, I hadn't planned it that way. I thought that since BUC status
has no effect on BoTs in Vanilla, it shouldn't in my patch either.
Though come to think of it, that's not really a good reason. I'll
think about it.
> > 15 Stinking cloud, centered at bag
>
> Would be cute if throwing the bag after this result
> could make a stink bomb.
That would be hard to code, since a stinking cloud doesn't move once
created.
> > 16 You are paralyzed for 1d4 turns ("Something tries to pull you into
> > the bag!")
>
> Since I suggested paralysis above, I think this result could
> also be that something *does* pull you into the bag. Two results
> (separate entries)
>
> 1. The bag 'turns into' a trapper which automatically swallows
> the hero unless a dex-type save is made. Either this destroys
> the bag or it 'turns back into' a bag when it dies.
>
> 2. The bag level teleports the hero. The bag stays behind.
> Perhaps if cursed, more equipment than the bag stays
> behind.
Interesting. It might be hard to code, and a little harsh on lower
level characters.
> > If there are no charges left you may use it as a normal sack. The
> > reason for this is mostly for realism (why shouldn't a depleted bag of
> > tricks be just a sack?) and to give the truly desperate another chance
> > for some kind of portable container.
>
> Well, you could consider some generally non-harmful behavior of
> the bag of tricks when it is depleted that would make it not quite
> as good as a sack but not so bad that no one would use it.
>
> Examples:
> * When applied with no charges, the BoT, if empty, picks
> up everything on the floor into itself. No message/result if
> there is nothing on the floor. If not empty, the BoT
> disgorges its contents onto the floor. This makes it both
> more and less convenient than a sack, but generally less
> useful.
Like a dungeon hoover, eh? I think a lot of people would like that.
"Oh, phooey, some inconsiderate monster dropped a huge pile of junk in
my nice clean temple. I'll just pull out my hoover here ... [SUCK]
Now I'll just go the dust bin over here ... [DUMP] There we go."
You know, the more I think about it, the more I really want a dungeon
hoover. I'm not sure that the idea goes with the Bag of Tricks
though. As I pointed out, in my previous post I don't want to combine
the Tricks part with the container part too much. It's like trying to
make two items in one. People would try to get rid of all the charges
ASAP to use its other function.
> Putting a wand of cancellation into it should turn it into
> a normal sack.
You know, a funny thing happened while I was coding this patch. While
testing the container code, I threw a BoT into another BoT and guess
what happened? That's right, it blew up. I was a little surprised
since I had not coded that behavior. But TDTTOE, apparently even
future patches. The code for the "bad" effects of a Bag of Holding
(blowing up and eating items when cursed) are not specifically coded
for just Bags of Holding but rather for all "magical bags", which are
defined to be BoH _and_ BoT. So it seems like either the DevTeam had
already anticipated a change like this, or were planning one
themselves. So a bag of tricks will be destroyed by the same things a
bag of holding is, and a cursed one will eat its contents too.
> > Looting the bag will get you bitten if there are any charges left,
> > otherwise it behaves like a sack.
>
> Hm I think looting should draw from the same results as applying,
> but with only the results that sort of imply reaching in. Or,
> alternatively, it does the slurping up inventory thing above,
> but with what's on the floor when looted from the floor, and
> with your inventory when applied while holding it.
Maybe, but I'm lazy. Seems like too much work for not that much
result.
> Falling into it like falling down a hole would also be amusing
> (the bag staying behind, as above).
That could be fun. I'll think about it.
>
> What about B/U/C status?
See my comments above. I need to think about for which effects it
makes sense to have BUC status come into play.
> Is the BoT going to have the right number of charges? I think
> generating monsters was a useful result, and so if after the change
> it does useless things half the time, perhaps it should have
> twice as many charges?
Yes, maybe the bag should have more charges ...
> Just idea. Good luck, have fun..
Thanks for the ideas. It has been fun (otherwise, of course, I
wouldn't do it :-)
Maybe not: if the bag is designed to have more interesting effects late
in the game (are randomly generated object better in Hell? Or should a
very small probability, growing with dungeon depth, to get a wish, some
more max HP or such interesting effect be added?), there would be a
dilemma, close to the "magic lamp" one : should I use it now to clean
quickly all that stuff on the altar, or should I keep it for late in the
game, where its charges are more useful?
--
Erwan
Like being eaten by a purple worm?
--
Ole Andersen, Copenhagen, Denmark * http://palnatoke.net
"Tools, of course, can be the subtlest of traps." - Daniel
> chee...@hotmail.com (K. Bailey) wrote in message
> news:<1c63245a.03051...@posting.google.com>...
> > zind...@hotmail.com (Nephi) wrote in message
> > news:<9bc470b0.03051...@posting.google.com>...
> > > zind...@hotmail.com (Nephi) wrote in message
> > > news:<9bc470b0.03051...@posting.google.com>...
> > > 12 The bag bites you
> >
> > Small chance that it damages/removes/destroys worn gloves,
> > and/or makes you drop wielded weapons and shields.
>
> Damaging equipment is too harsh IMO. It would scare too many people
> off. Making you drop your stuff, OTOH, is a good idea.
If the bag has a chance of removing even CURSED gloves, that might be
nice. - Just don't apply one while wielding a rubber chicken.
> > > Looting the bag will get you bitten if there are any charges left,
> > > otherwise it behaves like a sack.
> >
> > Hm I think looting should draw from the same results as applying,
> > but with only the results that sort of imply reaching in. Or,
> > alternatively, it does the slurping up inventory thing above,
> > but with what's on the floor when looted from the floor, and
> > with your inventory when applied while holding it.
>
> Maybe, but I'm lazy. Seems like too much work for not that much
> result.
>
> > Falling into it like falling down a hole would also be amusing
> > (the bag staying behind, as above).
>
> That could be fun. I'll think about it.
I can just see it now:
#loot
There is a bag here on the floor loot it? (Yn) Y
Something in the bag grabs you and you fall through. -more-
Ashidopo leaps and grabs your backpack.
-Andy
I think it would be relatively simple implementing that the bag
*usually* does the last thing it did, and would make it more
interesting. For example if you got fire last time, you would
know it's probably going to do fire next time, and so you
might wait until you're surrounded by enemies and desperate.
It changes the results that are essentially purely harmful
into results that are probably harmful the first time but
could be useful the second time, if the hero takes the risk.
> > > 16 You are paralyzed for 1d4 turns ("Something tries to pull you into
> > > the bag!")
> >
> > Since I suggested paralysis above, I think this result could
> > also be that something *does* pull you into the bag. Two results
> > (separate entries)
> >
> > 1. The bag 'turns into' a trapper which automatically swallows
> > the hero unless a dex-type save is made. Either this destroys
> > the bag or it 'turns back into' a bag when it dies.
> >
> > 2. The bag level teleports the hero. The bag stays behind.
> > Perhaps if cursed, more equipment than the bag stays
> > behind.
>
> Interesting. It might be hard to code, and a little harsh on lower
> level characters.
True enough, but I still think it's fun :)
> > > If there are no charges left you may use it as a normal sack. The
> > >[snip my dungeon hoover use]
> Like a dungeon hoover, eh? I think a lot of people would like that.
> You know, the more I think about it, the more I really want a dungeon
> hoover. I'm not sure that the idea goes with the Bag of Tricks
> though. As I pointed out, in my previous post I don't want to combine
> the Tricks part with the container part too much. It's like trying to
> make two items in one. People would try to get rid of all the charges
> ASAP to use its other function.
I'm not sure if they would. As it is, I think all the charges get used
near the nearest altar and then maybe the bag gets discarded or
maybe polypiled.
> > Putting a wand of cancellation into it should turn it into
> > a normal sack.
>
> The code for the "bad" effects of a Bag of Holding
> (blowing up and eating items when cursed) are not specifically coded
> for just Bags of Holding but rather for all "magical bags", which are
> defined to be BoH _and_ BoT.
That is odd. Are the BoH outcomes really appropriate for the
BoT though?
--
kb
What if the bag, when thrown and with charges, could have a chance to
create a stinking cloud where it lands?
And the "dungeon hoover" sounds cute and useful, but I think it should
only work when the bag has charges. Hmm... Dunno
Toni
--
# Replace .invalid with .fi for personal mail only #
"Jos aivastan, koko seinä kaikuu." (Tommi Liimatta)