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KaVir · 05-14-2002, 11:49 AM

I've been thinking recently about a discussion I had with Edward Falconer on TMC last month, when discussing his "interactive story" character creation system. The idea was still rough, and the discussion didn't go anywhere, so I thought I'd mention it again over here.

The initial idea, as proposed by Edward, is similar to that used by Ultima 6 - and also by at least one standard codebase (Mordor?). During character creation, the player is asked a number of questions, and their character is developed accordingly. Some questions might open (or close) different paths, and some paths might only be available through luck.

What I then brought up was the idea of having the mud generate everything which would be outside of a character's control - including appearance, birth, name, and so on. Just like in real life, the player would have no control over these things - but would be able to control their life AFTER that point. A player might want to play a warrior, but find their character is the son of a blacksmith - he would then have to run away to avoid following in his father's footsteps, perhaps join up with an army (or a group of bandits) and develop his character that way. Alternatively he might be born the son of a King, and be expected to learn swordplay - but never allowed to put himself at risk in a real fight. Once again, he'd eventually have to run away in order to develop his character into a "warrior" concept.

The second concept, which is technically a separate issue, incorporates an idea I gained from the RuneQuest RPG - age. With the "interactive story" approach a player can create a history for their character - but when does their character actually start play? It's not really logical for all characters start at the same age, but an older character SHOULD be more experienced - after all, while the player might be new, the character (from an IC point of view) isn't.

Thus I would propose that a player can CHOOSE when they wish to finish character creation. They could opt out almost immediately, and start play as a young child, or take it to the other extreme and start play as a grizzled old veteran soldier.

Obviously this requires balance. For this reason I would suggest that younger characters learn/develop faster than older ones, so that after a certain point (say, 50 hours play) all characters would be on roughly equal footing, regardless of what age they started at, and would continue to develop at the same speed.

The advantage of being older would be that you'd get a headstart in the short-term - you'd have enough starting skills to be able to get straight into the thick of the action. The disadvantage is that you'd have to decide in advance where to put a lot of your skills, as well as that obvious fact that you'd be older (which is obviously a serious problem if you have implemented stat deterioration and/or death from old age).

The advantage of being younger would be that you'd have a gentler introduction to the mud, and you'd be able to try out the mud (deciding what suited you the best) before putting too much effort into any particular category of skill. You'd be weaker initially, but if you were willing to put in the effort you'd eventually catch up with the older characters - and you'd also outlive them.

The extremes would be the most tricky - a REALLY young character would be practically defenseless, and have to spend most of their time watching and learning, while a REALLY old character would probably die of old age within a month or two of play (and also be too decrepit to defend themselves very well physically).

Another noteworthy point is that this would allow you to create a new character who is as old as (or older than) many existing long-term characters. Cross-referencing details in-game could create some very interesting results - perhaps your new "veteran mercenary" character was the mentor of another player's "runaway blacksmith". Even though the other player had been playing for months (and you had only just created yours) the mud could create the association and apply the information via some sort of character-recognition system. The two characters would then recognise each other on sight, and be able to view what they know about each other (all automated, of course). You might also have some characters who trained together when they were younger, others who are enemies (you know that mob you killed last month? Well, someone's just started playing his son!), others who have heard of each other by reputation, or have just bumped into each other in the past. This would immediately provide a link between the new players and the old ones, and encourage them to interact with each other.

I'd be interested to hear other people's thoughts.

05-14-2002, 11:49 AM	#1
KaVir Legend Join Date: Apr 2002 Name: Richard Home MUD: God Wars II Posts: 2,052	I've been thinking recently about a discussion I had with Edward Falconer on TMC last month, when discussing his "interactive story" character creation system. The idea was still rough, and the discussion didn't go anywhere, so I thought I'd mention it again over here. The initial idea, as proposed by Edward, is similar to that used by Ultima 6 - and also by at least one standard codebase (Mordor?). During character creation, the player is asked a number of questions, and their character is developed accordingly. Some questions might open (or close) different paths, and some paths might only be available through luck. What I then brought up was the idea of having the mud generate everything which would be outside of a character's control - including appearance, birth, name, and so on. Just like in real life, the player would have no control over these things - but would be able to control their life AFTER that point. A player might want to play a warrior, but find their character is the son of a blacksmith - he would then have to run away to avoid following in his father's footsteps, perhaps join up with an army (or a group of bandits) and develop his character that way. Alternatively he might be born the son of a King, and be expected to learn swordplay - but never allowed to put himself at risk in a real fight. Once again, he'd eventually have to run away in order to develop his character into a "warrior" concept. The second concept, which is technically a separate issue, incorporates an idea I gained from the RuneQuest RPG - age. With the "interactive story" approach a player can create a history for their character - but when does their character actually start play? It's not really logical for all characters start at the same age, but an older character SHOULD be more experienced - after all, while the player might be new, the character (from an IC point of view) isn't. Thus I would propose that a player can CHOOSE when they wish to finish character creation. They could opt out almost immediately, and start play as a young child, or take it to the other extreme and start play as a grizzled old veteran soldier. Obviously this requires balance. For this reason I would suggest that younger characters learn/develop faster than older ones, so that after a certain point (say, 50 hours play) all characters would be on roughly equal footing, regardless of what age they started at, and would continue to develop at the same speed. The advantage of being older would be that you'd get a headstart in the short-term - you'd have enough starting skills to be able to get straight into the thick of the action. The disadvantage is that you'd have to decide in advance where to put a lot of your skills, as well as that obvious fact that you'd be older (which is obviously a serious problem if you have implemented stat deterioration and/or death from old age). The advantage of being younger would be that you'd have a gentler introduction to the mud, and you'd be able to try out the mud (deciding what suited you the best) before putting too much effort into any particular category of skill. You'd be weaker initially, but if you were willing to put in the effort you'd eventually catch up with the older characters - and you'd also outlive them. The extremes would be the most tricky - a REALLY young character would be practically defenseless, and have to spend most of their time watching and learning, while a REALLY old character would probably die of old age within a month or two of play (and also be too decrepit to defend themselves very well physically). Another noteworthy point is that this would allow you to create a new character who is as old as (or older than) many existing long-term characters. Cross-referencing details in-game could create some very interesting results - perhaps your new "veteran mercenary" character was the mentor of another player's "runaway blacksmith". Even though the other player had been playing for months (and you had only just created yours) the mud could create the association and apply the information via some sort of character-recognition system. The two characters would then recognise each other on sight, and be able to view what they know about each other (all automated, of course). You might also have some characters who trained together when they were younger, others who are enemies (you know that mob you killed last month? Well, someone's just started playing his son!), others who have heard of each other by reputation, or have just bumped into each other in the past. This would immediately provide a link between the new players and the old ones, and encourage them to interact with each other. I'd be interested to hear other people's thoughts.