COGG BBS

Just to be extra clear about a few things while I'm here:

- If a merchant is offering alteration services, they will only work with existing items that the player is able to provide. Alteration merchants cannot create new items, nor duplicate existing items. They're there to apply cosmetic changes to existing items, not to create new items.
- If a merchant is offering alteration services, they will not apply any kind of mechanical alteration to the item whatsoever (this includes changing the material of an item). Alteration merchant works are purely cosmetic and nothing more. If a merchant is offering some kind of mechanical change or enhancement, they will make that clear by either saying so, or having a nearby sign stating what their service might provide.
- Unless specifically stated otherwise, assume only one item can be worked on per customer, and only one type of alteration. If a merchant gets through everyone and decides they still have time to do another round of alterations, they'll say so. This happens often when everyone shows up with a clear request in mind and the alterations can happen nice and quick.
- This may vary from GM to GM and merchant to merchant, but players should have an idea already in mind when they show up to an alteration merchant, and let the merchant know what they want done with the item. OOC instructions/clarifications can be sent via TELL or, if tells are not available for that merchant, a WHISPER. Nobody knows your character better than you, after all, and putting the responsibility on a GM to come up with something special for a player character they may well know nothing about can stop an alteration service in its tracks as the GM scrambles to come up with something on the spot out of thin air. Again: Some GMs/merchants may be willing to do so, but others may refuse "surprise me" requests, and I'd say it's just good manners for players to at least have a basic idea in mind when they show up to an alteration service.

These little merchant events are fun for us to do, but they can be a lot more effort and much more complicated than people may realize.

Oh, it's fine. I was just confused.
It makes sense.
I hadn't seen a difference between the name of the item, and what it's called when on the ground, in containers, etc, so I thought they were the same.
In my experience, I've only seen the two differentiated on Diku or Rom-based MUDs, in my experience.

Thanks so much for explaining!

Is it possible for merchants to alter the coverage of certain pieces of clothing? Like adding sleeves to a dress, or removing them from a shirt, that kind of thing.

Ephemeralis wrote: ↑Mon Oct 18, 2021 11:51 am Is it possible for merchants to alter the coverage of certain pieces of clothing? Like adding sleeves to a dress, or removing them from a shirt, that kind of thing.

In general, when dealing with an alteration, no, as this edits the base item more than just the description.

With the recent component squish, is it still possible for item components to be swapped?

Edit: I might have misread alteration merchants being able to swap components. Oops.

Are we able to get words carved/etched/stitched/etc/ into items?

Example, if I wanted a sword that had a/some word(s) etched into it's blade, or a shield with something in Faewyr written on it, or is this beyond the purview of merchant customization?

Lexx416 wrote: ↑Sat Mar 19, 2022 6:55 pm Are we able to get words carved/etched/stitched/etc/ into items?

Example, if I wanted a sword that had a/some word(s) etched into it's blade, or a shield with something in Faewyr written on it, or is this beyond the purview of merchant customization?

As someone who has a name inscribed on his blade, I think this is fine. XD

Though whether you can do something properly in a foreign language might not be doable. I have mine added to the look description.

I'm going to add to this post in other ways to make things easier for us to help you with a few asks regarding etiquette when visiting a merchant we're running to make things go much smoother!

As I'm sure many of you are aware, when a large crowd of people gather in a room, there is a lot of information running down the screen. None of that is filtered for us, and we GMs have much more information coming to us as well, seeing whispers, thinks, bug reports and other things. Whilst Rias will be working on a system for us to use in the future, I would just like to ask for players to consider this list of etiquette until this system is in place for us;

-Please limit the number of socials, especially ones such as drink and eat. Seeing someone eat through a meal causes a lot of text that we may need to try scroll through whilst we're trying to make something.
-Please be ready to go when we call you up. We currently have things set where those that arrive first appear first on my room list. That is the queue.
-Please don't be in and out of the room we're working in. You will lose your place and we might end up overlooking you. It also spams!
-Once we have worked on your item, especially if there is a huge crowd, please leave the room so we can help others.

I'm not asking that you don't RP and just sit around silently until you're asked to step up! Just realise that excessive actions causes bloat, that makes us go slower and miss things and may not get to people at all due to RL catching up and we have to leave.

We've had a few new and returning players recently and I am bumping this up as a reminder when attending merchant events!

I love doing them, but 2 hours can get to be a bit long each time and I feel bad turning people away!