Posted by Pico(IMM) on December 12, 1999 at 21:15:02:
In Reply to: [IDEAS] Advancement w/o combat. posted by Stahlhagen on December 10, 1999 at 15:49:09:
I missed this post on my first go-through of Pico > I agree wholeheartedly that building in a method for gaining experience without combat is desirable, especially for those roles for which violence is not the point. > Ideas: > 1) Perhaps increasing the experience bonus associated with improving skills a bit. While it is undesirable to have people be able to rank by spamming the skill of their choice, it does seem realistic that characters should be able to grow in overall competence as they master the individual skills they use. This is more of a tweak than an idea. > 2) Creating/Modifying built-in quests so that they give a one-time experience boost to an adventurer who completes it. After the bonus is awarded, the character's pfile gets flagged, and the same character cannot gain more experience from repeating the quest. The obvious bonus is that you could gain experience for performing tasks that are not necessarily combat-based. The obvious downside is OOC transmission of information gets more powerful, as characters end up "born" with the knowledge of how to go and pick up these nice bonuses, much like the travelling boots and whatnot. Semi-random, publicly known quests might be a solution here. For example, the Paladin's guild in Tar Valon could have a sign stating that the guildmaster seeks some holy relic. This holy relic is on a knight who has not been seen for some time. Somewhere else on the MUD (for example, the paladin in Ysigrath), a mob exists from whom you could request the item, and run it back to TV for your reward, such as 500xp. This is much less efficient than just hanging around Ysigrath killing beasties for xp, but it could give a player who wanted a less combat-intensive role a way to be rewarded. Also, an IMM could check the pfile every once in a while to see what quests a character had performed. If I was a Dawnie IMM, I would look kindly upon a Dawnie who had performed a lot of these noble types of quests, and frown upon the ranger who spent a lot of time hanging around the Dwarven Catacombs. > 3) Allow IMMs of a certain rank or higher to hand out small XP bonuses to characters they see roleplaying in an exceptional way. All of these bonuses would get logged in some central system file to monitor for abuse or excessive favoritism. Example: BoltThrower witnesses a Battle lowbie talking another warrior into sacrificing some potions he was carrying. He types in some command, the Battle lowbie gets an echo like "You feel the blessing of divine favor wash over you.", and his xp total is silently adjusted by +100. > 4) Cabals/religions/classes could have preset bonuses available. For example, a Citizen could gain 200xp for each successful BloodOath they administer. Masters could receive a slight increase on the XP they receive for advancing a spell (not a skill). BattleRagers could gain 20xp every time they destroy a rod/staff/wand/scroll of a level greater than their own (prevents them from buying and sacrificing, and should make it harder to sacrifice random items lying around.) Marans could get 1xp/level for slaying evil PCs. Bards could get 100xp for performing a marriage. Etcetera. These would have to be carefully defined to avoid abuse. > Because I see no reason to speed up leveling in general, these kind of changes would be balanced by a slight drop in the xp gained during combat. Think about what this does if the system is well-implemented! Shining examples of roleplaying excellence now find ranking slightly easier. PK-happy oafs end up spending a little more time having to mow down random mobs. Pretty, if you ask me. > Opinions? Thoughts? Constructive criticism? I understand that the system is inherently subjective at many points. For the most part, I would like to see any XP bonuses of the types above kept small. If they were implemented that way, they could always be boosted if things seem to be working out, and cut where they are too easily abused. IMMs are clever at these sorts of things. =) > - Stahlhagen, the Doomed. > > Although there's a lot of nice opinion in this post, I am disappointed to find that you think Dawn and Troupe are the worst cabals. With CarrionFields being a roleplaying as well as PK mud, I think Troupe and Dawn have a lot to offer someone who isn't focussed on overpowering their neighbor. > > Unfortunately, it's even more difficult to be moral in CF than in RL because there are no end-all consequences (death is not permanent). It's a violent game where advancement is based on killing, whether you are good are evil. If you have a suggestion for advancement that does not involve violence and cannot be easily abused, I'm sure the Immortal staff would be pleased to hear about it, as it would add something new and interesting to mudding in general, not just CF.
this series of posts. We have tossed around
the idea of other ways to gain experience
for quite awhile now, never finding a
satisfactory solution, for many of the reasons
you observe above. However, I think you have
some good ideas that, while not perfect, are
a sound basis. I won't go through all of the
pros and cons of the above, but I would ask
that you send me an email about your ideas.