RE: CF: Re: "Monster" races

[dragonm <dragonm@leech.org>]

-----Original Message-----
From: Mark Wedel
To: crossfire@ifi.uio.no
Sent: 9/20/99 9:00 PM
Subject: Re: CF: Re: "Monster" races

<snip>

 I agree with a lot of the above.  But there are a few things to
consider:

 1) Are people really going to want to play these obscure races that are
severely limited?  If not, why bother spending the effort coding them and
debugging problems that may arise.
 2) I'd hate for new players to try out one of the races and think the game
really sucks because they can't do anything.  How many people will
actually read the documentation and realize those are not serious races.  IT
also adds more selection/clutter to the character selection process.
 3) as with #1, I'd be curious on the demand.  I don't think the experience
will really be unique, but rather limiting (a dog would probably basically
be a fighter with very limited options on what they can wear).  That is
certainly different than a cleric vs mage vs fighter.  If you want limited
abilities, you could always choose to play a human like that.
 4) You get into all sorts of rpg/realism issues.  Should a slime be able to
read or hear?  Probably not, but if the slime can't read/hear, that
would eliminate a lot of quests.  Likewise for the ability to pull handles
or do other actions.

 I think if anything, a first step would be to allow some of this/abilities
via polymorph.  That way, a character can get some feel for these
alternatives in a limited basis.  That may be interesting (imagine getting
hit by polymorph and having to play a dog for a few minutes).  Since
polymorph keeps the same mental, having that dog be able to read can then
make sense.
-----Begin Response-----
That sounds highly reasonable to me.  I certainly agree with Teoh and
others--this little project isn't a high priority, for one thing, and for
another, if it requires too much specialized coding, it's definitely not
worth pursuing until all else is finished.  Being stuck as a dog for a
while, who may be able to read but can't talk or wield a sword, is
definitely interesting, and that may go farther toward justifying the
effort.  I'm not worried too much about the more meaningless races, at this
point.  They're just part of the larger discussion.

DM
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