Weapon diversification

[Joshuamonkey]

This was good idea, personally I'm exited when a changed like this occurs. Now to go see my character strengths...I didn't even notice it yet.

[west]

As with many changes that involve strength, combat ability, skills, or anything else that affects roleplay, the problem here is simple.

You are introducing game mechanics into a zone which previously had none. The gaps were filled by roleplay. Now that these gaps are filled by game mechanics, they don't have to be roleplayed, but for the characters that were created before these mechanics were introduced, there are going to be problems.

Back when every character was equal in terms of strength and skill, or when there was no in-built differentiation between characters except age and gender, any character could be anything - your imagination was your limit, as the saying went. But now that things are getting a little more fine-tuned, you have the opportunity to use your character's individual stats to your advantage as well. Not everyone can be a fighter; not everyone should be. That's not what cantr is about.

Really, the problem isn't that our opportunities as characters are limited by the game mechanics. The problem is that our opportunities are limited by our own imaginations.

"Oh no! My character is weak! Therefore he's useless!" How many times have I heard this? Come on. There are other things than being able to hit someone hard. Start a bar, or a smithy. Become the manager of a farmer's guild.

"Your imagination is your limit" still applies. The problem is that nobody here has any imagination, apparently


So many of my characters' RPed personalities and professions in the early days were screwed up by the introduction of skills; most of my guards and soldiers ended up very bad at combat. This screwed with characters who were at this point well-established and in their fourties.

Is this going to be a problem for newspawns? No. Just as in life, you deal with the cards you're given. You can't help your basic frame or size. This is normal. The problem is only that this sort of thing WASN'T in the game, and so we compensated, and now it is.

As with many changes, this is designed with newspawns primarily in mind, and the older characters may have to deal with unfortunate consequences. That's just the way it is.

So go out and embrace it. Your imagination is your limit.

You DO have an imagination, right?

[Joshuamonkey]

Well said

[Phalynx]

I agree with you west, except this bit:

You are introducing game mechanics into a zone which previously had none. The gaps were filled by roleplay. Now that these gaps are filled by game mechanics, they don't have to be roleplayed, but for the characters that were created before these mechanics were introduced, there are going to be problems.

Strength was always there as a game mechanic, and the observant could watch and seee that it took 4 town guards to drag that character indoors on one occaision... In the same way as skills lists it merely shares the benefits that the meticulous recorders used to have over the rest of us more relaxed players.. And strength is something that should be seen..

But on thw whole I agree with your approach..

[west]

Strength was always there as a game mechanic

No it wasn't.

[Phalynx]

Ok I should say, strength has been around as a game mechanic for a considerable time (at least a real year), the current development is merely the fact that you can see it...

The war of pedantry begins!

[west]

Ok I should say, strength has been around as a game mechanic for a considerable time (at least a real year), the current development is merely the fact that you can see it...

The war of pedantry begins!

A war I shall WIN!

I was, in fact, referring to a time (more than a "real year" ago) before characters had a strength variable, when all characters were equally "strong".

My point remains - the fact that you can see it isn't a bad thing, it's that, just as actually INTRODUCING strength filled a niche previously filled by roleplay, so too does introducing visible indicators of that strength.

[Jos Elkink]

I was, in fact, referring to a time (more than a "real year" ago) before characters had a strength variable, when all characters were equally "strong".

Hmm, I really think you are wrong, actually. Unless I'm really mistaken, I think the characters had a 'strength' field pretty much from day one. Or at least from when violence was introduced. I guess the functionality was more similar to "damage", though, so I guess you're both right ...

[formerly known as hf]

What was the goal of this change?

As far as I can tell, this just means that all characters, can find a weapon which fits for their own skill/strength balance.

The only area which skills/attributes ever made a noticable difference was in combat.

Now there is likely to be less difference...


Why not just bite the silver bullet and remove skills altogether?

Either that, or, like Sociologist points out, balance the skills between players.
Those that are poor at combat should be exceptionally good at a few areas of manufacturing or other skills.

[the_antisocial_hermit]

I don't think strength should be apparent to everyone, like BC and Oasis and Sociologist. The true measure of someone's strength is not really apparent to people in real life, whoever says it's more realistic to see someone's strength (yes, some people it's obvious, but not everyone). A lady I work with is small and looks much weaker than she actually is and you can't tell until you watch her in action, be it messing with things that require a lot of strength or arm wrestling her and feeling her vice-like grip.

That's really the only thing that bothers me a little. It really shouldn't be obvious to others.

Some of my characters are about what I figured, and some surprise me. So whatever. I don't care. So maybe weak ones will get killed off first. It doesn't really matter.

[sanchez]

But that's why Fighting skill is not visible, until used. I'll agree it was a bit of a shock, and in some cases really surprising. But as relative Fighting skill is a component of drag resistance, and of course, shielding... it's not clear targeting people with low strength will get you that far. It's the combination of weak and awkward that should make one a target,... but, really, what's wrong with that?

I like the transparancy.

[Chris Johnson]

As mentioned in 2 other threads viewing the strength of other characters has been turned off - just to preserve some degree of mystery when you target another character

[Black Canyon]

Chris is my hero.

[marol]

I agree with that, but I can see one small issue... If character can not visually determine others strength, how does she know what is an average strength and if hers is below or above? Or maybe this is an OOC information?

Edit: Wow, I beat Chris's posts counter

[Chris Johnson]

We'll have to live with that paradox ... (the average issue not the post count )