Riln Sinks

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Rias
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Riln Sinks

Post by Rias »

Figured riln sink ideas could use its own thread. I could have sworn there was one already, but my brief search turned up matches in other threads but no dedicated thread. If someone finds an old riln sink dedicated thread let me know and I'll join this one to it.

So, riln sink ideas. These need to be ideas where the riln goes to NPCs or is otherwise effectively removed from the playerbase - NOT simply increasing the riln players trade amongst themselves. Preferably recurring costs and not one-offs. I'll start us off.

- Mount stabling upgrade. Prepay per day and your mount gets some extra TLC and one of the nicer stalls, so when you retrieve them they have higher morale. And ... have mount morale do something useful. Maybe passes it on to the rider? So the rider gets a "pleasant ride" morale bonus.
- Increased vault size with an associated weekly fee
- Player housing with monthly rent
- Additional housing amenities that increase rent - gas line for lighting and cooking, water line for a water source,
- Rentable private workstations (although worried about people cloistering themselves away even more than farms already allow)
- Rentable horses? Only basic types (purchased would always be better). Get a daily charge deducted from your bank account until you return the horse (or it flees on would-be death)
- Special crafting components/services for uncommon crafts/materials/processes that can only be purchased via NPCs. Since the crafter has to pay for the special materials required to process/create the item, presumably they'll pass the cost on to the customer. Inflate that a bit, increase your profit margin.
- Increased skill unlearning rate service/item
- Increased ability unlearning rate service/item
- Cosmetic "off-the-shelf" character feature alterations (within reason - no changing skin color, eye color, body build, height, etc. So mostly hair stuff, I guess?)
- Temporary cosmetics that wear away and need to be re-purchased. Hair dye, kohl, face paint. Maybe some occult effects, though I don't want everyone walking around constantly glowing and glimmering and making this feel like a tacky MMO parade of special visual effects.
- Temporary MINOR skill enhancer items? The enhancement fades after a while and can be recharged via a paid NPC service. Each recharge of that item costs more, and the player decides when they feel it's too expensive to continue on.
- Fireworks - just for fun. Show off by setting off one of the really big ones that can be seen even in other nearby zones and wilderness region.
- Tobacco and other smokeables - just for fun. Maybe some tiny effects for some. Show off your wealth by being seen smoking the really expensive stuff.
- Limited quantity expensive wines - just for fun. Maybe some tiny effects for some. Show off your expensive wine collection, and flex by being seen drinking some of the really expensive stuff.
- Some unique light sources - just for fun. Unique descriptions, different light colors (not sure how to effectively and concisely convey the fact that their colors aren't standard, hmmm)
- Unique/customized ESP artifacts, and a paid service to recharge them (still requires a fresh pendant as part of the process).
- Gambling house (need someone good with math to help me come up with a system that ensures while individuals can occasionally win big, the system overall removes riln from player circulation rather than increases it.)
- Pay to ride along with an NPC caravan to a destination along the main roads.
- Import-only materials like silk or a unique metal of some kind. Repairs of these items always (at least eventually) require some more of that type of material.
- Pay an NPC minstrel to follow you around town and sing your praises, announce you when you enter buildings, etc.
- Pay to have NPC musicians perform at an inn/tavern/etc. for X amount of time. Anyone who spends enough time there receives a morale bonus.
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nobody
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Re: Riln Sinks

Post by nobody »

Rias wrote: Mon Mar 22, 2021 9:16 am - Mount stabling upgrade. Prepay per day and your mount gets some extra TLC and one of the nicer stalls, so when you retrieve them they have higher morale. And ... have mount morale do something useful. Maybe passes it on to the rider? So the rider gets a "pleasant ride" morale bonus.

- Special crafting components/services for uncommon crafts/materials/processes that can only be purchased via NPCs. Since the crafter has to pay for the special materials required to process/create the item, presumably they'll pass the cost on to the customer. Inflate that a bit, increase your profit margin.

- Temporary MINOR skill enhancer items? The enhancement fades after a while and can be recharged via a paid NPC service. Each recharge of that item costs more, and the player decides when they feel it's too expensive to continue on.

- Gambling house (need someone good with math to help me come up with a system that ensures while individuals can occasionally win big, the system overall removes riln from player circulation rather than increases it.)
Mount morale: giving mounts rerolls based on morale seems like it should be beneficial enough. If I recall correctly the travel time reduction is based on rolls, and so is the mount's combat stuff.

Special crafting components: These aren't actually a riln sink because mark up, just a wealth shuffler. People still love them though.

Skill enhancers: I don't think I understand how these work. Is the idea that each person can only buy one item and then recharges forever onward? Or is the idea that they buy the really expensive item, and then recharging it gets more and more expensive until they abandon it and buy a new shiny really expensive item?

Gambling house: Good news, I'm already working on the first post for it, have been for about a week.
Last edited by nobody on Mon Mar 22, 2021 9:59 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Rias
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Re: Riln Sinks

Post by Rias »

nobody wrote: Mon Mar 22, 2021 9:36 am Mount morale: giving mounts rerolls based on morale seems like it should be beneficial enough. If I recall correctly the travel time reduction is based on rolls, and so is the mount's combat stuff.
Mounts (and all mobs) get morale rerolls same as PCs, so I suppose they're getting benefits already to their things like Grit checks and combat rolls in general for those that are brought into combat. The way the Speed bonus works doesn't take morale into account, but I could easily update it to do so. Good call.
Special crafting components: These aren't actually a riln sink because mark up, just a wealth shuffler. People still love them though.
Right, the sink is in having to buy the components from an NPC to facilitate extraordinary crafting processes. The markup is just a way to make crafters feel better about having to make said purchases from NPCs, knowing in the end they'll be getting more money from their customers. It's the customers of the crafters that should ultimately be feeling this pinch, even if the cost is technically being applied to the crafters.
Skill enhancers: I don't think I understand how these work. Is the idea that each person can only buy one item and then recharges forever onward? Or is the idea that they buy the really expensive item, and then recharging it gets more and more expensive until they abandon it and buy a new shiny really expensive item?
The enhancers themselves could be both purchasable at merchant events and found in the treasure system. It's the ever-increasing recharge cost that would be the recurring riln sink, but having an occasional merchant who sells them for a large initial cost can work for some extra riln removal.
Gamling house: Good news, I'm already working on the first post for it, have been for about a week.
Eeeexcellent.
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Dennis
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Re: Riln Sinks

Post by Dennis »

Donate riln to your city to buy a statue of yourself , which takes your likeness and carves it into a majestic statue. pay a monthly rent to keep the statue. Visiting your own statue gives you a morale boost.

Start charging to use the bathhouse, plebians can use the water pumps and freeze or use the inn water and get a smaller morale bonus.

Upgradeable inn rooms for fancier rooms.

Town projects with visible riln goals with the highest donator getting an award plaque or bench dedicated to them at the project site.

Auction off access such as first-access/permanent access to otherwise cost-basised areas. Add a timed toll booth to a resource, like a skinning hunting ground. The costs will get passed down.

Sell tickets to travel from town to town in style without needing to walk the wilderness. Or charge someone to ride the pneumatic tube from shadgard to Stormholdt.

Sell insanity pills that return sanity at the cost of morale

Auction cool items that give a slight edge or bonus without tipping the scale entirely through three means, a public drawing or raffle, a silent auction, and a live auction. Traditionally I've seen silent auctions be the main method of auctioning, but make people one up each other's spending vigorously in noncombat zones. Make the auction a ticket access zone so they have to pay to get in. Add a bid command that declares your bid or rejects it if the bid in the room is lower than the current bid you're trying to submit. you can also foster a sence of achievement if you scale rarity and perceived value to how hard or expensive it is to get into the auction.

Sell more varieties of morale boosting food that can be carried around with different levels of morale. Give vegan/vegetarian/gluten free options for those who want them.

Carefully target people who have too much money and give them an offer to take their money specifically.

Simply ask for donations to raise funding for activities that have no real impact. People like to brag about helping the orphans get a new slide.
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Acarin
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Re: Riln Sinks

Post by Acarin »

Speaking of orphans... a pen filled with orphans that you can buy for company, a tiny set of hands for delicate crafting assistance or meat. The cost is the same. It doesn't matter how you use them.

An underground market selling questionable things - stolen goods, unsafe arcana castings that aren't up to library standards (bad things happen with the good things - never know what you'll get), questionable items from questionable materials, and assorted quackery

A conman who lets you reach into his grab bag and pull out an item for a cost.

More pickpockets around town stealing riln is a riln sink

A poison dealer should sells 10 use poison vials of various types.

A dealer who sells the antidotes to the poisons that the poison dealer sells.

An npc dyer who can do any color but costs a ton

Npc automated adjusters... make modification via modify a paid service. Maybe allow some additional set options based on item quality. Add hoods and pockets to things... lower quality than a crafter could eventually do.

Npc sorcery foci and druidry tattoo customizers

Not sure about this system, but hire a hand for animal husbandry to scoop out that refuse. Or do something boring upkeep wise on your farm. Cuts into profits.

Hire a (shady) life coach who will give you tips about how to be a better person and maybe deal with the trauma of your recent death (riln for decreasing the impact of death a little bit)

Dart throwing game where you can pay to win big based on skill but usually don't (more gambling)

Pay to ride npcs around town and humiliate them. Saddle not included.

Pay an npc for expanded access to lore in the library

Artist who will draw ridiculous pictures of you at a price (caricature artist)

Donate to the fund to bring in new goods. Top donations get first pick of items.

Pet store - rats, cats, tiny worthless dogs, ferrets, fish. Add pet food and veterinary costs. Pets can die... proper burials cost money too... also, enrichment activities and toys...

Skill practice areas that require an entry fee

Pay to hunt a man in a very dangerous game - like-level less-lethal combat games against a skilled opponent - flee instead of die. No treasure rewards but good times and maybe a scoreboard (like an npc arena type thing)

Tournaments or coliseum style battles... versus players or critters. Maybe a prize for the champion!
Last edited by Acarin on Mon Mar 22, 2021 12:20 pm, edited 8 times in total.
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Dennis
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Re: Riln Sinks

Post by Dennis »

Add a "biggest spender" leaderboard that tracks who has burned the most riln at each npc store so people just try to one up each other. Holder of the all time high record can visit their plaque and get a slight morale boost from seeing their name on the top of the list.
Sell chocolates and wilting flowers so people can gift things to one another with expiration dates. Romantic!
Breakable upkeep items - scrub brushes, horse combs, shoe picks, etc.
Buy yourself a grave plot - buy fancy tombstones and caskets once you own the plot. You'll hopefully never need to use it but if you ever permadeath it'll be there as monument to your life. The fancier the tombstone the better! Costs are extra high, make it a real big flex.

Make an upgradeable neutral township where everything has to be unlocked through community donations that regularly gets it's level downgraded by constant beseigement by the wilderness, so everyone from either faction is always donating money to try to keep that township functioning because it's in a good location.

Add a banking fee for every withdrawal/deposit, even on riln and especially on bank notes.

Constructions could decay over a long period of time with visible appearance change for stages of well worn, etc. Containers lose ability to contain and be pulled without upkeep. This is more of a time sink. Bring the carry able or pullable item to the carpenter for repairs. For buildings, hire a PC carpenters to upkeep these item.

The riln forge - uses riln to forge items!
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Jaster
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Re: Riln Sinks

Post by Jaster »

Making riln edible.

Using riln as a thrown weapon.

Making it rain on them foes.

Making you have a black-out episode when you over-indulge yourself with alcohol - wake up in the ditch with a hematomato on your head and empty pockets.

Donating your riln to a friendly lady on the street - with the risk to get purple-tongue.
Navi
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Re: Riln Sinks

Post by Navi »

Most of the sinks I have read here are one time purchases, or buffs that would ultimately make it possible to make more riln. There’s also not a lot of scaled costs here. That is, a cost that goes up in price the higher level you become. Generally, in other muds, equipment costs scale with higher levels, so you might spend 500 gold on starter gear, and then 500000 gold on top tier equipment when you’re at max level. Consumables are good sinks, but anything that’s going to allow someone to kill or craft faster is just going to allow them to make more riln, pretty much offsetting the cost of the buff.
In light of this, I might suggest a tax on adventurers. A tax on all noncitizens, mainly players. As the player gains levels, they might gain some prestige among the lands, with that fame comes higher and higher taxes placed on that individual. Obviously this is only going to impact NPC merchants, but any purchases made through consignment would have a portion of the riln go towards paying for taxes, as well as charge on delivery items.
I think this is a long term scalable riln sink that is a pretty good way of stealing riln from players without needing to use thief NPCs, because, let's be real, nobody is carrying around thousands of riln just ready to be stolen. It also greatly encourages players to interact and obtain food and clothing and gear directly rather than using the market. In regards to lore, the taxes could help offset the costs for the infirmary, pay for bank vault expansion and storage, and pay for the clothing that the undying seem to always need after they die, as well as subsidize the bakery or something.
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ThresherAle
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Re: Riln Sinks

Post by ThresherAle »

How about increasingly expensive inn room tiers?

Budget (current price): Bed only. No storage containers, and decrease the storage space on the ground. Decrease the rest morale bonus a little. Make the room description seem a little shabby.
Standard: Add table, chair, wardrobe, footlocker, and dresser. Current room description and storage space.
Premium: Add the wash basin and a sink. Make the room description a little nicer.
Luxury: Get a small "treat yourself" morale boost when you enter (non-stacking of course, but renews if your previous "treat yourself" boost has expired). Larger table and extra chairs. Make the room description all fancy.

Room service where you can order food from the Common Room without having to go down there, but at 3x the price. You know people would use it.

Add a fee for moving items from expired inn rooms to bank vaults.
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Re: Riln Sinks

Post by Dennis »

Temporary quality enhancement services at a special NPC (flavor: arcanist?) that can temporarily raise an item by 1 quality level at a cost for amount usage. Costs scale to: number of times it has been cast on this item, base quality.

Sharpening mechanic: Bladed/edged weapons need to be resharpened everyone once in a while, taking back on the 'dull' feature. This can be delayed by the use of whetstones which can be used to delay the loss of edge effectively forever, only requring whetstones to be purchased to keep it up. The benefit is having a sharp blade. Dull may be seen as the new normal.

Dream Therapy - drain exp bucket while sleeping. This is a service provided at the finest inns. Rent the highest quality expensive inn room to have it as a complementary feature, or order it at the inn separately.
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