I apologize for this being late. For a while, I was waiting for the forums to be unbroked. The last week, I've just been occupied with other things.

Fortunately, I have a backlog of contest ideas available, and a few are short, like this one- all submissions due by midnight, March 31.

The rules:

1) Design an object or service that could be sold somewhere on the MUD. Don't worry about where it's sold, cost, or statistics. It doesn't have to be material- for example, paying a bard for a bardsong, etc. I can't go adding things willy-nilly anyway, and we'll choose the statistics according to our usual guidelines. Focus on why people would want this service.

2) Judging will primarily be on originality. This means that an item or service which is similar to something existing either here or on another MUD is unlikely to be chosen. (No bardsong salesman.) Shokai and Arvam have agreed to help me here.

3) I'll do whatever is possible to implement one entry, and possibly more if several top-notch entries appear.

4) Think small. This is something I'll probably be taking on as a side project. If someone posts "Ooh! A ranged weapons and flying mounts shop!", I'm just not going to do that.

5) If the forums blow up again, I'll be over there sulking.

6) Current Immortals aren't eligible. You people already have plenty of ways to get your ideas in. Shoo, Nepenthe's brain! Shoo!

7) Standard disclaimer: All entries become the property of Carrion Fields. We reserve the right to fold, staple, mangle, or otherwise deform the idea to get it into a workable form, though every effort will be made to remain true to the original idea's intent.

valguarnera@carrionfields.com

Watch this space for results, posted soon. I need to talk things over with my peeps.

valguarnera@carrionfields.com

I recall fondly the days when Arbiters would referee in-town-duels. There was nothing better than beating someones ass in market square while people are cheering for you and stuff. There could be a mob in town that you could make challanges to, and he would inform the challangee and ask if he/she is willing to accept or something. Have a few options as far as dueling conditions, results, etc.

Abthalok

How many times has a town healer saved your butt? I've lost count,
personally. What's more important (and relevant to this post): How
much would you pay for similar services from mage NPC's?

Would you pay 500 copper for a long-lasting invisibility or fly spell?
It might seem steep, but in the right situation it could be the
tactical advantage that you might need to win the battle!! Better yet,
you won't have to go and gather some prep that is buried deep in some
jungle at the edge of Thera--it's right there, at the tip of your
fingers!

But mystical services need not be so limited. There could be a magical
post office in every city (ran and sponsored by the wonderous Guild of
Conjuration) where one could pay to have items sent (via the spell
sending to anyone. No longer would you have to resort to the clunky
note-writing system we currently have. (On a side note, this type of
"courier" service could be provided in mundane forms so that magic-
haters could make use of them.) Bards would, of course, get discounts.
People could also pay for the Post Office to make duplicates of
documents for them, for a small fee.

Anyway, the ideas go on and on, as usual.
Like, no like?



P.S. Valg, I still don't know what idea(s) were accepted from the last
contest. Did you keep it under-wraps on purpose, or did I miss it?

Bizarro I'm helping!

Almost all cabals require a note to be send, but not always do you want to play a character that can write.

So my proposal, let there be some writers guild in some town, so if you play a fee they can write a message you say and then deliver it.

My other idea is also roleplay based..

Let us buy books with empty pages, lets say it contains 20 pages and you can write on each of them, if you fail you dont destroy the book. Just makes it unable to see the actual page you wrote on.

How about a pair of expensive high level gloves that rot_death or something or have limited use so elves/drow/woodies can manipulate iron/mithril keys. Please?

I don't know if this idea is really relevant to your little contest, but I remember discussing it with an imm when I was stuck in el inferno, and he said to mention it. So I am.

Liberate te ex inferis!

GREAT IDEA! I never understood why elves and drow couldn't pick up iron/mithril while wearing gloves.

They have a bit of knowledge about certain places and areas, maybe some maps and etc. For high fees in certain places you can learn a bit thats not obvious about an area. What info they tell you or what maps they give you is up to you guys for power considerations. I think its only natural that maybe bribing a Draconian guard might let you know that Blue and Green dragons won't shatter your armor, as an example.

Instead of (or in addition to) the idea of a merc or hireable mob to pull one into the shadows or camouflage, a mob that let's you see people who're hidden or camo.

I think the hiding and camo could be used for PK, and might be an unfair advantage, so if that's there then a way to detect those people ought to balance it.

However, on its own, just the idea of having a merc that could let you know the name (or even just the existence) of someone unseen in the same room (or just area), would be quite handy.

Personally, I'd like to see it allow the vision-impaired Heralds toss the rule breaking assassins and thieves. It appears to be a growing issue among the Heralds.

The ability to detect hidden/camo (even by proxy, or with limitations) isn't something I'm comfortable handing out.

valguarnera@carrionfields.com

>The ability to detect hidden/camo (even by proxy, or with
>limitations) isn't something I'm comfortable handing out.

How about upping the power of Heralds then? Let them eject people they can't see but know the name of, as long as they're in the same room.

valguarnera@carrionfields.com

Kind of like a publicly accessible role, each person can put up a brief description of who they are and what they're about. Or, what they want the public to think. Maybe include race and class automatically, and possibly cabal.

Not everyone would necessarily have one, and wouldn't even be listed if they didn't enter any info.

I don't think it would make much sense to be able to read this information anywhere, but instead of new rooms to read it in it could be viewed in the guild halls, and possibly cabal areas, or at least the Inn and/or Lyceum.

It would ease all the confusion of if someone publicly is for or against any particular cabal, race, individual, etc. It could also avoid the habit I've seen recently of people asking everyone they know for information about the new stranger in PK range.

I have no idea how this would stack up in coding, cpu time, or database size, but I like it anyway.

With the recent movement towards providing mortals with foods that have effects that cannot be gleaned from identify and the like, the horticulturist (if there's a better name use it) would be a fun addition.

He's basically a plant and fungus expert who will tell you what effects a certain plant species is known to have. The more unique the species (is it limited?) or the more powerful the effects of the plant, herb, or 'shroom the higher the price to be paid.

He may not tell you everything and he may not tell you anything, much like the browse command.

A lot of those sorts of items are custom jobs, and the only way a shopkeeper could do that is if we basically manually listed them all in his prog. There's a surprising number of those, and it would have to be updated each time a new type went in.

valguarnera@carrionfields.com

How about expanding the shop selection at the various racial cities like you all did for Galadon: Akan, Darsylon, Felar Encampment, etc. Throw in some nice stuff at a reasonable price that says the race in its desc.

The dwarves in dwarven will waddle again! Hip, Hip, Hooray!

Hutto, nitpicking as usual




Does anyone actually vote when I put these things down here?

Good idea in general, regardless of the contest. We could use some more race equipment scattered about also, like wing, tail, talon, and claw gear. And more that fits over beaks. And not just in the racially appropriate areas either, give some merchants in the racially mixed cities this stuff too.

*sigh*
Well then. As far as I see it, all we really need are things more suited to natural life. Things people actually do as they wait out their days in life. Yes, they go to bars and have a few drinks, meet people, buy food and clothes, etc. It kind of limits one's ability to really live in Thera when all people are doing is thinking of what to kill next. Maybe I'm the only one who comes to Thera with an idea of just hanging out and letting my character enjoy the life around him. To be able to (like I have read from the other replies) rent a hotel room for the night, have keys made, get their armor worked on, play games with their friend or challeng their enemies to a round of what ever your favorite past time is. To be able to buy a horse or get a pet zombie from the Necromancer's guild or have a ranger camo you or assassin show you a hiding place or any other idea someone might have. And if your smart enough to think to use your shield as a boat! then by golly go right ahead, you deserve to escape those rabid felar then.

Now, I'm not saying every idea you get is going to be a gem. I just think that it's those little things that we all take for granted in real life that could really make Thera an ever greater place than it already is. No, I don't really have an idea for anything, I just thought I might could affect your decicion and hope you choose something that will really enrich the game and help bring more life to it.

But, since I did reply I will give a thought on something to add...
I propose we get the Galadon Coffin Shop up and running. Ever since I've been playing I've seen that poor coffin maker with nothing to do. There are so many things one could do with a coffin but I know none of my ideas are any good. So please good people of Thera, help this poor man make a living, help us think of a really good way to get that coffin shop in working order so we can all start to enjoy their many (or not so many) uses.

"Of all the things I've lost, it is my mind that I miss the most." --Ozzy Osbourne

"Do not merely practice Art, but penetrate to the very heart of it. For only Art and Science elevate man to the Godhead." Ludwig Van Beethoven

For the coffins...buy a coffin, carry the coffin, kill someone, put the body in the coffin and bury it. As the body is of course too heavy to actually lift up into your inventory, throw a command on it. Something like the carve command. Drop the coffin, then 'bury (corpse) coffin'. Of course you need a shovel and can't be on and rocky terrain or paved roads. Why? Maybe some people actually have respect for the dead. Maybe some people don't want any nasty liches coming along. Maybe some people want to be graverobbers. Just a thought.

Another thought, a brothel. Go drop some hard earned coin on some good old fashioned morale boosting. Of course, there should be a chance of a negative morale effect for those that can't quite perform their duties. Lag for services should be fairly minimal. If one tick is an hour, and about seven rounds or so is average per tick...say two rounds to be generous.

"Knowledge speaks, but wisdom listens." - Jimi Hendrix

I don't know if a brothel would really be approved of, but it would definitely be ICly morale boosting for many people.

We could use more morale boosting activities. For the life of me, I can't figure out how to get out of moderate morale once you're there.

Another way for the coffin to work. Since it's a shop for the soon to be deceased, you go there to buy a coffin for a specific person. You don't get a coffin, but the coffinmaker goes to that person and measures him/her/it for a coffin, a not so subtle hint someone is looking to kill that person. Then he returns and says the coffin will be ready when the body is.

Ex.

buy coffin bob

The coffin maker takes your coins and grabbing a small bag walks from the store.

Bob's view

A man dressed suspiciously like an undertaker strolls up to you and withdraws a long string from a small bag he carries. He slowly starts taking the measurements of your body and with a satisfied nod packs his string away and strolls off once more.

Back to shop

The coffin maker walks back into the store, placing his small bag on the counter.

"No problem. Coffin'll be ready when he is."

Maybe if that person does actually kill the target, the coffin maker drags a coffin to where he died and does something...buries it, carts it off, what not.

"Knowledge speaks, but wisdom listens." - Jimi Hendrix

I'd like to see more mercenaries, at higher levels and stronger than the giant mercs of Galadon. Maybe make it so the mercs you buy are a much lower level than you are. Example, you have to be level 40 to buy a level 35 mercenary. This would allow classes that make their own followers (conjurer, druid, necro) to remain relatively more powerful. It would also be cool if they had class specific skills/spells/communes. Mercs with weapons and weapon specs! order all pincer Valguarnera (You know I love ya, Valg!)



Who needs stinking mercenaries.. when you can vote!?

Yes, probably the girliest subject as part of this response so far, but:

You can buy something named a cleaning fairy that you can wear that circles your head (kinda like those old stones from the elemental canyon did, at least I think that's where they were from). The fairy's whole job is to sac gear that it finds just lying around on the ground and give you the copper. One of the biggest things I've found is that when I'm out ranking in some places where the mobs actually have a bit of armor (think orcs near Moria) and the place just piles up with crap that no one would use anyhow. I often end up spamming sac 1. (much to the chagrin of my disarmed companions, heh) just to clear the stuff up and collect copper on it all.

Just thought it'd be a quick addition to the game where nothing exists right now (That, or the addition of the 'holy vacuum cleaner' supplication)

Maybe a simpler way? How about a command to clean the room, which sacs everything on the ground without spamming anyone.

And here I thought nobody but the Galadonian Janitor cared to sac anything for the meager copper gains. I'm actually starting to like having once gotten that title.

Engrave-Carve
I'd like to see a shop where I could have my name inscribed somewhere on the armor for identification or for a bit more hefty fee a design engraved on it. Mostly for bracers and Breastplates, but could also engrave words on the inside of a ring. Quite a bit you could do with this. Have a nifty design carved into that plain walking staff.

Tattoos
Love to see a shop that does these. Yes I know you can write it into your description, but this is for vanity and for those ever glancing people. Simple designs nothing overly fancy could be done. Would be fun to see groups of people forming groups or clans all getting the same design. Once you have one you cannot get another, not including immortal tattoos, nor can it be removed your char is stuck with it for their life.

Be nice if you could buy a merc who comes with his own container, and will willingly use it (automatically putting carried items into it, and automatically pulling items out of it when you ask for them).

Presumably, a porter would not assist. They might even be cowardly (flee if engaged in combat; maybe run back home if injured; maybe throwing goods on the ground when running away in panic; presumably willing to wait for you someplace safe, if asked).

Be even nicer if porter "slot" was different from merc "slot".

As seen in a room:
A worn down lump of wood lies here, weeping.

Looking at:
A bit of wood about six inches long lies here, carved to the likeness of a woman kneeling, hands held over her face.

A word down statue is junk, made of wood, weight...


Right, so you hold this doll and say "Why are you crying?"

which triggers:
A word down lump of wood suddenly bursts into tears, wailing in despair.

Adam
Soccermomiality(r)(TM)(Al) rules!

I'd like to see a portrait artist -- pay for your picture, pose, and you get a portrait of yourself.

Posing would require a little time, and would perhaps require you picking a background and an action. If you don't pick, your action is "is standing" and your background is "here".

Basically, a portrait would be an object that has as part of its description "(yourname) is standing here." -- or maybe something more exciting, if you picked that.

Also, if you look (yourname) when you can reach the object, you should see the same thing as if you glanced at (yourname) at the time the picture was taken.

There should be a variety of different quality levels (and perhaps sizes). If you're level 1, all you should be able to buy (if you had the gold) is a simple portrait with a cheap wooden frame. At higher levels you should have more options -- glossy hardwood frame, polished silver frame, heavy golden frame, etherial iridescent frame, ...

Pictures should be of type treasure, with value based on the quality of the portrait and the current player level. Portraits of deleted players should gradually increase in value after the player has deleted. Portraits should be relatively fragile (subject to dragon damage, if nothing else).

You should be able to buy a portrait of another player, if they'll pose for the picture.

If you're really ambitious, allow for group portraits with each person in the portrait posing (presumably using some social).

It occurred to me that portraits should be devalued if the character has a lot of them. I'm worried that my idea of portrait value is already too complex, but this would be important.

The opportunity to distend your PK range without the kills.

You'll have think over duration (normal, temporary, permanent), costs (coins, practices, trains) and amplitude (+1 rank, to hero, random) but there's probably the kernel of something fun in there.

The problem with this is that:

1) We obviously can't let you distend downwards, since it would lead to wealthy high-level people pummeling lower-level people.

2) As a consequence of #1, if I'm just below your rank, I can do something to enter your range suddenly, but you can't do something to enter my range suddenly. This opens up a whole balance can of worms.

Finally, I just don't see PK ranges as something shopkeepers could influence.

valguarnera@carrionfields.com

i got two ideas:
one: LIFTING make it so that flying races can lift up and fly with non-flying races, obviously they would both have to loose some most of their carried weight and i cannot imagine a arial lifting a giant and it should probably cost a good deal of movement. now the use for this as i see it is mainly non-flying ragers who would be able to get to a few places where they aren't able to get today, but other players would also benefit.

two: as i played a cook in the inn i noticed that you needed to go far away to find different kinds of ingredients for your meals, now i can see why, but as it is today i can take a bowl of fruit and do: cook bowl a bowl of steaming leak and potatoe soup. now instead of cheating with boar steaks and lambs legs make it so you can buy a whole lot of different kinds of meat, fish, vegetables and fruits in the inn´s kitchen. and on a side note make the food sold in tir talath a bit more filling.

Neither of these are really phrased as good/services you could purchase.

valguarnera@carrionfields.com

Inns with rooms should have a room that can be rented where should the group go there and rest, they'd get the effect of camp or other regenerative type skill. It would need to be an existing room, so that it wouldn't be away from the normal PK possibilites. Maybe make it rentable by day, so you could rent a room for say: 10 days, and continually return there to rest between fighting/ranking spells, etc.

I'd like to see smiths that could repair armor after it is damage by breath attacks. It would also be nice if they could strengthen it and prevent it from even happening. This would accomplish two things. One it would allow ragers to gather dragon gear and it would allow invokers more variety in their paths because they wouldn't have to worry about dropping an eq destroying path. Which is why lightning is dropped more than any other path.

I like this idea and it could make some very interesting game play. Having some more npc's to talk to would be good.

To repair an item you bring it to the black smith and if it's just basic iron weapon all you'd have to do is pay some copper depending on the level. If it's something like admentite or diamond or some rare element like that, the black smith would assign a task to you, I require these items to repair such a strong item. You bring all the items require and pay his fee to fix it.

As for making gear blast protective, I believe you should only be able to protect it from one type of blast and it would require a piece of dragon gear of the type you wish to protect against and of course the smith's regular fee.

Of course this could help put Thror out of business but he needs some competition anyways.

Bounty hunters (IMMs)

Imms will play a bounty hunter once in a while (any class) and hunt the character down. The Imm can choose to speak with the character (RP points and rewards if done right) or just go up to him and smite him dead, taking a few trinkets as proof. May get gangbanged along the way or by victim's group too.

If the character survives and hunter dead, big favour with reward item(s) or quest could be held for staying alive.

Good points :
1. Imms get to interact and know more about the character.
2. Imms will know how the character reacts and if (in)consistent with role and punish/reward accordingly.
3. Gives Imms a chance to be a mortal and whack someone silly. Or get revenge for the flames he/she received as an Imm.
4. Hear stupid comments like 'Bloody unfair and up yours, you silly god'.
5. To die as a mortal. Heh. It may be a long time since some Imms felt pk.

Consideration points :
1. Ban Nep and Scar from playing necro.
2. No overwhelming odds like super-djinn stuff. with uber invoker protections and spells.
3. Imms MUST play as a mortal and gather items accordingly, that means no out of the blue fire-brand katana from the soul-forged mountain appears and whacks with mangles/demolishes/unspeak, etc.
4. Imms must seek out the mortal and not suddenly appear from thin air.
5. It must be balanced, ie within pk range and levels.

Bad points :
1. Hmmm may just this. Hear stupid comments like 'Bloody unfair and up yours, you silly god'.

This sounds like "I can't PK anyone, but I'd like to be able to spend money and have people die." This is way outside the bounds of game balance.

valguarnera@carrionfields.com

1) Focus on why people would want this service.

2) Judging will primarily be on originality. This means that an item or service which is similar to something existing either here or on another MUD is unlikely to be chosen.

I love gambling, but it is solitary and cost crazy amounts of copper to play (though the prizes are very nice). I enjoyed watching people play Heroes, although never had the opportunity to play myself.

What I propose is this: the addition of a game. Or games.

I'd love a two or four person poker or Heroes style gambling game. Make it possible to play against other players. The key is, let the bets be variable. Maybe a small minimum, and allow each to raise the stakes each round, but let it feed off how much each person is betting and set a reasonable ceiling for each round of play. Don't force it to cost 2000 a game. Maybe beef up Heroes, add a bunch more Heroes in there, and use that as the basis for this game. Could make a real deck (container) with all the cards inside.

Maybe something like chess for the brainy characters. Could come up with a simple and basic, but completely new game, a CF original. DEATH TELLS YOU 'HOW DOES THE POINTY-EARED ONE MOVE AGAIN?' "Oooh, my necro just liched, you're all going to die now!'

Maybe something like bowling or horseshoes, but where you have to base your throw (maybe left to right, and power) for your size, strength, dex, weight of armor, age, weather, etc, with a nice bit of randomness thrown in for each character and a little randomness for each throw for good measure. So the more you play with your character, the better you as a player become with that character, but it will change from character to character to still keep it challenging and keep people from hacking it.

4) Think small.

Oops.

If you like these ideas, I'd be more than happy to brainstorm some more. I figure it is better to see if this is even remotely possible before putting too much time and effort fleshing these out.

How bout this

You pay a svirfnebli mob a hefty amount of copper and he will guide you through an intricate tunnel system to an area of your choosing. For example lets say this svirf is in Udgaard and you can pay him something like 10,000 copper (or perhaps make it level dependant so lowbies could use it) to lead you through this secret tunnel to Hamsah (or whatever area options are available) There would be a lag of course maybe something like half of what request is, before your svirf can gather the supplies needed for the journey. And of course it would sap a good chunk of your movement as well.

In the same way you have Bounty offices where players can put a price on the head of another player in their PK range, and thus have an assassins anonymously murder the target and earn the copper for it, it might be interesting to expand the excisting mercenary guilds to include Player Characters among their ranks.

Now, this can take many forms indeed and it would open up quite a few new roleplaying possibilities imo, and mostly for the Warrior and thief classes. Should a player's role include or even focus upon it, they could go enlist themselves in a mercenary guild and offer themselves for hire to other players or maybe even cabals. They could serve as bodyguards or escorts (warriors), spies (thiefs) or soldiers or, well, whatever really. All the kind of stuff mercenaries irl do. What it would come down to is that they could announce to other players that their sword and/or skill is for hire for a price (which would be done in a similar way bounties are placed), and then they could go about their usual bussiness (ranking/pk'ing/whatever) until someone comes to the mercenary guild, reads the available info and the price of the enlisted mercenary player, and then contacts him to strike a deal and an agreement on the length, nature and duration of the service to be provided.

That someone could be anything from a lowbie mage that is looking for a high-ranking warrior to rank up through his painful levels quickly, (and of course, the higher the rank of the mercenary the more he can charge for his services), or even Cabals that can use these players to do their dirtywork for them without the enemy cabal really knowing that they were behind it, or to have the mercenary act as a spy.

Etc. The possibilities are quite numerous I think, and it shouldn't be all that hard to code. ...right?

Anyway, flame away.

What would this do that can't currently be done by private dealings? I'm looking for things that can be bought/sold by the townspeople, but this sounds like something you can work out by standard methods.

valguarnera@carrionfields.com

What you said is certainly not untrue, yet remind yourself that in the same manner, the placing of a bounty on the head of another player and have an assassin murder that player for you could be done by private dealings just as easily. In the same way, the guildsystem of thieves could instead be achieved by simply having your thief forge personal IC contacts with other thieves and thus make allies.

And yet, all that doesn't take away that those concepts, such as the bounty system or the thief guild system, are actually very convenient things for all parties involved (except for the victims of them), and add much more depth and overall IC-funk to the classes they are designed for.

That is why I ended up suggesting that a more or less similar system would now be implemented for the warrior, thief, bard and maybe even anti-paladin classes - but instead of assassinations or underworld contacts this time, more something like sword-for-hire/man-at-arms/mercenary situations. In fact, as a thief you could seek to combine the guildmembership with the whole mercenary thing, creating even more diverseness and elements-of-surprise for this roleplaying class.

I'm such a supporter for this because I'm pretty darn convinced that this would greatly add to the flavor of the classes that I just mentioned above. That it's not a high priority on the list is something I can understand, but I do hope that it gets implemented someday. Just like with the thieves guildmembership and the bounty offices of assassins, no regrets will come from putting this in because it would offer so much more for the classes that it would be designed for. It would also create more strife and tensions within the warrior guild for example, because I can imagine the honorable knight-type warrior not exactly thinking very highly of those that go about hiring themselves to murder others for the sake of some copper. Etc etc etc. So much new roleplaying material that could come from it.

Hope that clarified my motives and reasons a bit better than my previous post did.

Personally, I don't really understand your idea, or how it would be done. Then again, I don't know what the thief guild membership really does for anyone. All I know about it is you pay a ton of cash so your name gets listed somewhere. Whoopie.

BTW, isn't the bounty office useable by anyone? I've never tried to actually post a bounty or cash one in, but non assassins seem able to see who bounties are out on, how much, etc, etc.

' Then again, I don't know what the thief guild membership really does for anyone. '

' I've never tried to actually post a bounty or cash one in '


All I can say to this is that you might want to go out and actually try and experiment with these things first and thus get a grasp on what they can and cannot do. Please refrain from starting to make wild and impulsive comments such as the ones in your previous post in the future.

I could certainly go into greater detail about why I think this is definately worth the pursuit and the work, but I'll just end this by saying that the roleplay stimulation in itself which this will bring would well worth the efforts already.

Ferry service - Some kind of boat service that carries travelers from Arkham to Hamsah to Seantryn Modan and vice versa. Ferries would travel slowly and be able to be boarded while in route. Though this would entail the ferry guards to try to repel them. Maybe even one between Tar Valon and Galadon as well.

P.S. And for the love of all that's evil a damned boat seller in Tar Valon! The city is an island, there should be someone who sells boats there.

That which does not kill us,
makes us stronger.

Something that functionally works like a word of recall, but paid for in one city and sends you to a certain spot in another city.

From Orb's idea, this would be descriptively a ferry between Hamsah and Arkham, or any other two cities connected by water.

From Gastaad's idea, perhaps a tunnel connecting two cities. Any city might be connected to any other, depending on what makes the most sense to Valg and other Imms.

The user upside, it's a way to go straight between cities without the terrain in between being considered, and is also a non-magical transport accessible to Battleragers.

The user downside, it would likely take quite a while (similar to requesting delay), and would also probably use up half (or more) of your max movement points.

As for the game balance potential flaws: it gives a fairly quick way from place to place, and may take the character out of being fought by others, both potentially affecting PK situations. Also affecting PK would be people sitting at the arrival points to kill others.

How about a horsedrawn carriage or something? You see them sometimes on the roads. Wouldn't it be fun if you could actually use one? It would cost some gold, and would be great way to travel without using magic.

I'd like to be able to get armor repaired after it got acid blasted or what not. Maybe allow them to strnegthen armor a bit ac wise or make it immune to dragonbreath and whatnot. This would be great for ragers.

You have a locked object that you really want to open, but can't find the key. (Or worse yet, someone took the key and won't give it to you). Luckily, locksmith mob sells clay to make imprints of the lock, and makes temporary keys for you from imprints brought to him.

So: Player A buys some imprint clay from the locksmith. He is out wandering and sees Player B hiding behind a locked door. He makes an imprint of the lock and returns to the locksmith.

The locksmith either a) understands the design and creates a key, price dependant on the level of the lock (pick lock rules apply)

or b) Can't figure out what the heck is up with the design or the imprint and can't make a key for the lock.

If player A gets a temporary key, they can use it a few times (2? 3) on the door before it breaks (it's only temporary after all), but at least enough time to get in the door and go after Player B.

Stables throughout Thera would offer steeds. They could either be good for a limited amount of time, or a limited distance.

They would increase speed of travel 3 or 4 times, and increase your moves efficiency 3 or 4 times. Some limitations; they are quite expensive, and one cannot be in a group to have one, and cannot follow others or lead others while renting a steed. This prevents massive cavalry gangbangs. Which would be cool as hell to behold, but ouch.

Also, for atmosphere, would leave the occassional dropping on the road which dissolves after a day or so.

They cannot cross water, their efficiency worsens in the mountains.

Different cities might have steeds of different types:
Galadon: Horses; the standard.
Hamsah: Camels; not great for speed, but great for distances, especially in the dessert.
Arkham: Dolphins; only usable in water.
Arial City: arials (taxis) that are limited duration, but cover great distances.

Steeds would consume water/food from your inventory as well.

They crap a lot. Did I mention they should crap a lot?

The ramifications on this on skills, spells, mounted combat, carrying capacity, etc. is beyond the scope of this contest.

valguarnera@carrionfields.com

A shopkeeper that would offer identification of objects. Shopkeeper would probably be some form of Gnome, just to keep in line with their inherant lore abilities. The interaction would be like the town healers now. "lore mace" instead of "heal disease".

Make the responses something akin to what you'd get with a 100% lore, told directly to the shopper so that others in the room don't hear.

The shop can even be set up more like a home. An old, tired gnomish warrior sitting in his rocking chair doing this as a side job in his retirement. As such, and as he's an expert, his services would be pricy.

As most classes have some form of lore or identify, it shouldn't throw off game balance. It would make the lives of lower level newbies easier though. "Someone told me this jewelled broadsword is good, but I'm not sure. Let's go to Gnomie the Know-it-all!"

-Falstaff

>A shopkeeper that would offer identification of objects.
>Shopkeeper would probably be some form of Gnome, just to keep
>in line with their inherant lore abilities. The interaction
>would be like the town healers now. "lore mace" instead of
>"heal disease".

Another idea bandied about by immortals over various periods of time. I think the biggest limitation we wanted to make was the level of the object (as in you can't just get everything identified for you, but only up to certain levels). I like, but with limitations.

So long, and thanks for all the fish!

How about this for a level limitation at "Gnomie the Know-It-All":

Below level 11 = Can lore any weapon ranked below 11
After level 11 = Can lore any weapon with a rank lower then the character's current rank. (Like buying anything else at a store, if you're rank 16 you're not getting rank 31 info/gear/trollop's favors)

This lets characters find the information on any piece of gear they should be able to get easily from it's source.

Limitation possibility #2: Make limited items cost considerably more to identify. Gnomie's way of making sure you're worthy of the info. Say a 2x multiplier in copper price. Possibly some small discount to other Gnomes, as a professional curtesy.

Add in a qualifying question, so that you know how much the lore will run. Interaction runs something like this:
-------------------------------------------------------------
Lore macethatslimited

Gnomie says, "Ahhh, now there's a weapon you don't see everyday. As this one's special, it'll run ya 2500 coppers for me to tell you about it. Interested?"

say Yes

--------------------------------------------------------------
Sound fair?

-Falstaff

P.S. Yes, I'm having fun naming the gnome. *chuckle*

A sawbones mob, or hospital wing etc, that sets bones, stitches up open gashes, or applies field dressings in a non magical way. Painful, but effective.

>A sawbones mob, or hospital wing etc, that sets bones,
>stitches up open gashes, or applies field dressings in a non
>magical way. Painful, but effective.

However it's done (magic, non-magic, clerical, etc), it would be great to have a place to go to heal things like bleeding, broken wrists, etc. Sometimes the cause of the injury is long gone, but the injury is still there for a while. Really boring to spend 5-10 real minutes just waiting for the injuries to go away.

I'm not really sure I like the idea of a non-magic and non-clerical place of healing, but then again I'm one of the few people to intentionally never play a Battlerager.

Certain rangers or thieves/assassins could be bribed/payed to pull you into the shadows/wilderness and show you how to hide out, thereby taking you out of immediate sight. Obviously, if you're not one of the more normally experienced classes, then you wouldn't get to do much other than hide out, and anything you did to move/eat/sleep would give away your position.

Also: The ranger/thief/assassin in question would charge more/less to help you out depending on who you were. Evil thief chargs drow not so much, Wood elf ranger gives fellow wood elf PC a deal, etc.

I'm too wary of giving out hide/camo, even in a severely limited form, to just any class.

valguarnera@carrionfields.com

You kill player A. You take a trophy a la the code put in for bounty hunting and give it to the newly installed Zombie's 'R Us establishment where they take the piece and make a very nice, very stupid zombie/golem of the recently defeated for you for a hefty price. Obviously, this isn't a chain store, so they'd charge an 'arm and a leg' for the service.


(Wow, please ignore that terrible pun. Serious about the idea though)

1) Healer/Shaman/Mage merc's that heal/cast spells for you... Could be like a mini-portable Healer (The ones at the pits), that charge you X amount each time you use them. Of course, this would probably negate the reason of grouping with these specific classes, but there you have it.

2) Alchemist shop that makes potions on demand. Just need to go out and get the special ingredients.

3) A wizard's shop that could enchant weapons/armor.

4) A blacksmith's shop that could create custom armor/weapons.


... more to come ...

----
If you rack a bear in the nuts, be prepared to die.

>1) Healer/Shaman/Mage merc's that heal/cast spells for you...
>Could be like a mini-portable Healer (The ones at the pits),
>that charge you X amount each time you use them. Of course,
>this would probably negate the reason of grouping with these
>specific classes, but there you have it.

The possibilities of this scare me balance wise. I'm not saying impossible, but I am saying, not everyone can buy these guys.

>2) Alchemist shop that makes potions on demand. Just need to
>go out and get the special ingredients.

Again...there has to be a limit to what can be made.

>3) A wizard's shop that could enchant weapons/armor.

Meh, I can see why, but it'd probably cost you at least an arm.

>4) A blacksmith's shop that could create custom armor/weapons.

I've wanted to do this for awhile, I just fear the people making up weapon names like I fear people making up warcries.

So long, and thanks for all the fish!

>>3) A wizard's shop that could enchant weapons/armor.
>
>Meh, I can see why, but it'd probably cost you at least an
>arm.

Would an arm off a mob or another PC do? Or would I have to give up dual wield? ;)

>>4) A blacksmith's shop that could create custom
>armor/weapons.
>
>I've wanted to do this for awhile, I just fear the people
>making up weapon names like I fear people making up warcries.

I'd agree there, since I think my warcries typically suck.

Would a submission process ruin that idea? I'm not sure how or where they'd give the submission, but basically put in all or most of the descriptive/name aspects for the item and have one or more Imms approve it for sale in the shop. Maybe if one's on the ground it should be something like 'a customized piece of (position) armor lies here', though that's assuming that all the armor only differs in appearance.

I had the idea of making a shield that has two functions; one being a shield and the other being a boat. I can just see a little pudgy Gnome warrior getting hunted by a hoard wild Felars and not being able to fend them all off. So this poor Gnome decided to run over to the ocean and finds himself without a boat. Natural proclivity causes him to take off his shield, sets it on the water and prays that it floats. Maybe make it so only small races can use wooden shields as boats or make giants able to use large shields as boats. Either that or formulate a quest someplace to discover how to make shields more buoyant? If all else fails when a new hero-imm decides to make a Storm race hometown area …have the guards of the city hold surfboards that are shields and function as a boat.

Just an idea I wanted to use if I ever became an Immortal and had the chance to write an area, but that never happened.

How about Strong Boxes? They could be sold at banks or, if you prefer, special vaults, but that'd be kind of a hassle to implement.

Regardless, they could be about the size of a "Big ole Pack Sack" Or whatever the hell that thing Griff sells is called. They could have the "no limited equipment" restriction on them, and retrieval could work just like a bank. For example:

Valguarnera goes to the bank and types 'b strongbox'. The banker gives him a strongbox, he puts in all his shiny red dragon gear, then gives it back to the banker. 4 weeks later, Valguarnera returns to the bank and wants his red dragon gear, so he types "retrieve strongbox" or whatever. He pays the banker a small fee (like, 10 copper per level maybe?), the banker gives him his strongbox and Valg gets out all his keen red dragon stuff.

So, maybe there's a one-time fee of 1,000 copper to buy a strong box and a 10 copper per-level charge each time you get it out? Or maybe that's a little steep...Heh. Anyway, that's my idea.

Paw/hindpaw/tail gear more suitable for for felar shapeshifters!

I know, there's not a lot of demand for those, but all the gear
that I've seen to exist is just hit/damroll/physical abilities,
not hitpoints, mana or something a shapeshifter might more
appreciate. Besides variety is always good, right?