Re: Olympia combat

From: cedman@714-725-3177.nts.uci.edu (Carl Edman)

Date: Thu, 14 May 1992 19:53:52 +0000

russell wallace writes
>                            I personally think that the
> solution for people who want to avoid being killed is to
> have an effective combat system, but for players to set up
> areas which are relatively safe (like Drassa now that
> Zyzak's been killed :-( ) so that timid people can stay
> there.

I think that is exactly the right way to solve this "problem". Just
make certain that a really powerful and determined player or coalition
of players still could defeat the city guards. No god units, please.

> How about having two versions of the game, one with a
> simple, fast, realistic combat system, and the other
> with a combat system which is so messy, slow and
> unrealistic that it's not practical to kill anyone.

Well, I believe the fun of such a game goes with the square of the
number of players (as long as you don't have to be the game master.....
:-) ), so this would be an overall loss.

> Finally: Rich, you realize you're going to have to write
> the other 80% of the manual sooner or later? So I wouldn't
> go overboard with the "hidden complexity" bit because
> it's eventually going to have to be unearthed. I
> understand that for a playtest game you don't want to have
> to rewrite a large, complex manual every week but when the
> game finally settles down, a manual which gives all the
> rules rather than vague platitudes will be required.

I disagree completely. Already the manual contains more information
than it really should have to. A short description of the world and
list of commands and what they do (in general terms - not all the
details) is all there should be (with a possible additional text with
hints for newbies). Learning how things work and interact in detail and
exchanging that information with other players is half the fun. The
more of the real information which can be moved into level 1+ lore
sheets the better.

Carl Edman

References

Re: Olympia combat
rwallace@unix1.tcd.ie (russell wallace)
Thu, 14 May 1992 17:29:06 +0000

Referenced By

Re: Olympia combat
rwallace@unix1.tcd.ie (russell wallace)
Thu, 14 May 1992 17:29:06 +0000