Facial Hair and Hair Styles would be a marvelous addition to the Cantr game as yet another way to distinguish your character, enhance his/her individuality, support character development and role-play, and foster a whole new set of equipment and in-game actions.
It would require one more element of characters to be monitored by the system... hair growth and facial hair growth, and for that simple reason (adding to server load) the whole idea may be chucked as untenable. But I shall press bravely on...
The Hair Description could appear in the same window as the character’s clothing and equipment description to be seen by all.
Facial Hair for male characters could be gauged for every few days the character doesn’t shave:
Clean Shaven
Light to Heavy Beard Stubble and Moustache Stubble
Thin to Thick Beards and Moustaches
... and then stop checking once you reach “Thick”
To keep it simple, I’ve chosen to limit it to “beard” and “moustache” allowing characters to have neither, either, or both. For the truly inventive you could add “jowls” or “sideburns” but that seems excessive.
Hair Length would be similar:
Bald (1 week, then...)
Extremely Short (for 4 weeks, then...)
Short (for 8 weeks, then...)
Shoulder Length (for 10 weeks, then...)
Long (forever or until trimmed)
... and then stop checking once you reach “Long”
For those of us that actually LOOK at the descriptions of the people we interact with in-game, this would be a great enhancement to the character’s look...
The character is bald and has heavy beard and moustache stubble
The character has long hair and is clean shaven
The character has short hair and a thin moustache
...
Now... add to that the ability to trim and style the hair...
ACTIONS=============================
Shave: (instantaneous, like dragging) Male characters only. Requires a razor or a scissors. Player can choose any level of shorter facial hair they want (scissors wouldn’t be able to “shave” lower than Heavy Stubble)
Cut Hair: (instantaneous, like dragging) Requires a razor or a scissors. Player can choose any level of shorter hair they want (scissors wouldn’t be able to cut hair lower than Extremely Short)
Style Hair: requires comb and scissors. Takes 1 Cantr hour (or more)
This could be as simple as listing the hair as “neatly styled” (boring but a good stepping stone) to listing different styles, each with different tool, item, and time requirements. The styling would remain in place until the next hair growth change (see above).
EQUIPMENT:
- combs (plain and bejeweled)
- scissors (which we already have, but it bears mentioning) (and why can’t we make scissors from iron and bronze?)
- hair pins (plain and jeweled)
- barrettes
- hair ties/bindings/nets
- razors
- moustache wax
OTHER CONSIDERATIONS:
* I like the notion that has been put out in other posts about “regionalizing” hair color. Having people spawned on Shai Island have dark hair, the Plaekur and Akypor Peninsulas being blond, and the Quillanoi folks be brown haired (or whatever) would foster a more in-depth character designation (a black-haired person in Akypor would clearly be an “outsider”) and provide more RP opportunities.
* A whole new profession (“barber” or “stylist”) could spring up in the larger cities
* Characters would have an in-game way to further define their characters.
* Hair dyes and such are an option, but seem more like a “Phase II” Implementation of the concept
-------------------------
I’m always looking for ways to distinguish my characters for my fellow players and in my own mind and a visual cue like hair is a wonderful way to do so.
What do you all think?
