On the whole, I'd say a story would be good. However, to add a story you really have to use "you" in room descriptions if you want the players to be characters. Without them, the feel is more of a detatched outsider watching things happen, and every once in a while rudely stepping in and assassinating random characters in said story. That's my 2 gold.
I'd suggest that it have something that keeps away from towers, castles, etc. since we have so many. Perhaps a lost world theme; undiscovered lands of magic and sword, and please leave your civilized nature at the door if you want to survive in its harsh reality.
If you want an expert and challenging feel, you'll probably want a dark theme where survival is uncertain...keep the people feeling oppressed and afraid, with little hope hinted at. Otherwise, you get the feel that the world is safe as long as you stay on (for instance) this side of the river. A challenge/expert area should have dangers even in the inn room you rent out for the night.
Oh...and we need more level 65 mobs. They're very tastey.
The word "you" in areas
I don't think we can limit ourselves to a particular theme. I think we would find ourselves creating a very boring world if it all looks the same. (I'm fairly sure nobody really means for this to happen, just bear with me).
What I really I think is we need to restrict what does happen. I do not think the continent should include lands based on already existing things. This means no more literature areas, no more areas based on LOTR, none based on tongue-in-cheek representations of other worlds, etc. These areas are fine for the diverse world of the regular BR.
I simply think we need to stick to completely new, creative worlds based on, as lairian put it, "undiscovered lands of magic and sword". Faustus, by now, is an expert at creating areas tied together that flow from one section to another. I think we need to learn form his ways and apply it on a grander scale.
On a side note:
I do disagree with Lairian that rooms require a you. If you as a player need the word "you" in a description to feel involved then you're imagination is what needs work, not the area. A room description should not depict action and adventure. It should depict the feel of standing in that particular location.
"A cold breeze wafts through the halls, where it comes from is indiscernible, but it carries a sharp chill. Small streams of water trickle beneath the cobblestone floor created by the constant dripping from the leaky ceiling. The room is dark and foreboding, a harbinger of the dangers that lie in every direction."
There is no "you", there is no "action", and yet an atmosphere is created that puts the player into the world. A little imagination can carry you into this world.
There are other aspects of area building that enable such an atmosphere to be created, if someone really wants to know my thoughts on that, i'll post elsewhere, but not here and not now.
What I really I think is we need to restrict what does happen. I do not think the continent should include lands based on already existing things. This means no more literature areas, no more areas based on LOTR, none based on tongue-in-cheek representations of other worlds, etc. These areas are fine for the diverse world of the regular BR.
I simply think we need to stick to completely new, creative worlds based on, as lairian put it, "undiscovered lands of magic and sword". Faustus, by now, is an expert at creating areas tied together that flow from one section to another. I think we need to learn form his ways and apply it on a grander scale.
On a side note:
I do disagree with Lairian that rooms require a you. If you as a player need the word "you" in a description to feel involved then you're imagination is what needs work, not the area. A room description should not depict action and adventure. It should depict the feel of standing in that particular location.
"A cold breeze wafts through the halls, where it comes from is indiscernible, but it carries a sharp chill. Small streams of water trickle beneath the cobblestone floor created by the constant dripping from the leaky ceiling. The room is dark and foreboding, a harbinger of the dangers that lie in every direction."
There is no "you", there is no "action", and yet an atmosphere is created that puts the player into the world. A little imagination can carry you into this world.
There are other aspects of area building that enable such an atmosphere to be created, if someone really wants to know my thoughts on that, i'll post elsewhere, but not here and not now.
Fine art is the only teacher except torture.
- George Bernard Shaw
- George Bernard Shaw
I agree that descriptions of area do not need you. However, description of some action do...
Without it, people can't push past the viewer on a crowded street...the player will miraculously have no problem moving through the mob. Currents can't pull your raft down the river. People can't move away from the man walking down the street holding two giant swords before him in fear, since that's you.
It's a petty thing, and I'll drop it rather than argue it out for what I'm sure would end up being an extremely prolific off-topic thread.
Without it, people can't push past the viewer on a crowded street...the player will miraculously have no problem moving through the mob. Currents can't pull your raft down the river. People can't move away from the man walking down the street holding two giant swords before him in fear, since that's you.
It's a petty thing, and I'll drop it rather than argue it out for what I'm sure would end up being an extremely prolific off-topic thread.
--Lairian
Despite it being off-topic, I do stand by careful, selective use of the word you in room descriptions, for general purposes. Specifically in situations where the character being in the room makes the people around them react: it's very hard to rewrite something like "The armorer pauses a second from his rhythmic hammering as your shadow occludes the light streaming in from the street." without using you. Now, in a perfect world, the armorer would be a mob, running a mob prog (or something like that) that makes him react in a certain way whenever a character enters the room. That description is probably the best we can do given our limitations - of course, I recommend in this instance either 1) not having an armorer mob in the room, or 2) making the mob protected in some way so that logics (the room says there's an armorer but he's dead/not here) don't come into play.
But, back to the subject: I very much agree with Dive as far as stylistic concerns - the areas, to me, should blend, one into the next, as much as possible, and be entirely new creations. Logistically, it should be somewhere where we, as builders, can use (to some extent) "anti-player" code, so that any puzzles and such that are built in can't be subverted (or at least not easily) by players. I like the suggestion that it should feel dangerous... it makes me think of hidden away lost cities, that only the bravest of explorers can find, much less explore; trackless jungles where even the insects can be deadly... less civilization, in other words - fewer cities, no major trade routes. I don't think that the continent as a whole needs an overarching storyline, because that limits the possibility for expansion. However, a story behind why we're just finding it now, why it's a separate continent, perhaps... that I can see: was it originally part of the connected BR and some apocalyptic event happened to break it off? Was there a magical shield surrounding it that dropped recently? Storms would rise up whenever someone tried to sail there, and some brave adventurer recently discovered a way around it? Just possibilities, but I think something of the sort would be worth including.
But, back to the subject: I very much agree with Dive as far as stylistic concerns - the areas, to me, should blend, one into the next, as much as possible, and be entirely new creations. Logistically, it should be somewhere where we, as builders, can use (to some extent) "anti-player" code, so that any puzzles and such that are built in can't be subverted (or at least not easily) by players. I like the suggestion that it should feel dangerous... it makes me think of hidden away lost cities, that only the bravest of explorers can find, much less explore; trackless jungles where even the insects can be deadly... less civilization, in other words - fewer cities, no major trade routes. I don't think that the continent as a whole needs an overarching storyline, because that limits the possibility for expansion. However, a story behind why we're just finding it now, why it's a separate continent, perhaps... that I can see: was it originally part of the connected BR and some apocalyptic event happened to break it off? Was there a magical shield surrounding it that dropped recently? Storms would rise up whenever someone tried to sail there, and some brave adventurer recently discovered a way around it? Just possibilities, but I think something of the sort would be worth including.
-EB
Your local know-it-all.
Your local know-it-all.
I would put this in a mob's description. If you're not looking at the armourer anyway, you won't see his reaction. Actions should be saved for room or object descriptions where the player takes action against it. (i.e. looking). In these cases, I have no problem with "you" given our non-mob-reaction circumstances. What i mean by that, is if mobs did speak to us or react to our entry, questions, etc, then I would not be in favor of using "you," rather solely describing what you see when you look at the mob ("tall and handsome with a copper skin-tone and large eyes with specks of blue dancing among the snowy white").Everybody wrote:"The armorer pauses a second from his rhythmic hammering as your shadow occludes the light streaming in from the street."
Fine art is the only teacher except torture.
- George Bernard Shaw
- George Bernard Shaw
