Oh yeah. I never did anything with Archery or Swordplay.
Perhaps this is what I will do:
o Rate nobles on attack, defense, and missle attack.
o Initial values are (60, 60, 0).
o One skill for each: Swordplay, Defense, and Archery.
> Allows nobles to do something during some of the
> stupid downtime that occurs other than basket weaving/pot making
> (boy, aren't Olympian nobles sensitive arts and crafts kind of
> people?).
USE <swordplay/defense/archery> would practice the skill and improve
the rating. Good idea.
I agree that armies should not help with quest-like things. Perhaps a rule:
o Only single nobles may fight in "small" locations such
as lairs, caves and ruins.
> 1. Would seem that most quests would probably involve monsters. Almost
> crucial that they be put in ASAP.
There are a few monsters around now. I agree that there should be more.
I was toying with the idea of EXPLORE in some sublocs turning them up.
> 2. The above example seems ok until the character has to sell the
> staff.
That is only one example of a reward ending:
Grateful freed captive joins your faction.
Discover a pile of gold.
Find a rare artifact (you suggested some).
The staff thing is a variation on #2.
> 3. Generating quests through the computer seems fine _As long as_
> doing questlike things (killing monsters/finding treasure, exploring
> for lairs) doesn't require that you necessarily be on a computer
> generated quest.
QUEST grew out of EXPLORE. EXPLORE could generate nasty monsters in ruins,
but it would have to be limited to one use per faction per ruin or something.
QUEST is somewhat better in that a player won't be able to get a map of
all the ruins from another player and simply plot a shortest path to visit
them all. There are also other possibilities, i.e. "Travel to city [xx99]
and board the Ghost Ship waiting for you there."
It's also safer, more controllable. I don't have to wrorry about
someone else killing your Questing Beast before you get there, if
the ruin was created specifically for you, and no one but you will
be able to find it.
-- Rich Skrenta <skrenta@shadow.com>