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Teri
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Occult, Sorcery, and Arcana

Post by Teri »

Occult, Sorcery, and Arcana

Q: Affinities, attributes, and skill ranks all seem to affect the duration of occult abilities rather than increase their potency (with one exception I know of, group vitality, sorry if there are more). Are we likely to see more abilities acquire additional effects and augment at certain skill/affinity levels, or will this be handled differently (via say, guild ranks)? A: Rias loves the idea of adding buffs and potency and stuff to skills and abilities. The easiest thing was to say "OK, these things all affect the duration.", that was easy to code in, but he definitely would love to have it involve extra things people can get -- either due to class specialization, or skill thresholds, or affinities.
Q: Do all of the occult things look different depending where you are in the world? A: They're going to be uniform in appearance everywhere. Different areas are going to have discovered different glyphs, but the whole power of the glyphs is that they have to be in that particular form. The ones that are taught at the library exist all over the world.
Q: How are actual spells brought into being? Words, rituals, memorized symbols or patterns? Petitioning to some external force to provide the 'data' to be translated by the caster? How does an occultist bring their spell into reality? How does this differ from raw casts, for those who can? A: This is a deep one, man. He may have to raincheck this one.
Q: Not a question per say, but ramble on emotions and effects. A: When it comes to the occult in general the consensus is emotions and level of dedication for something is going to have an effect. Whether that is minor thing on potency or going through the motions during events or prayers. Everyone on both sides people need to keep in mind gm's don't want to assume what characters are thinking or feeling. When it comes to stuff like that, he is mostly speaking lore wise. He isn't gauging how much your character feels about what your character does. What you are saying is what they are feeling is what they assume.
Q: The beldi glyph activates when a soul passes the boundaries of an occult diagram. What would happen if some of the items from Flannigan's store described as having a spirit trapped inside of them were put through the edge of the circle? A: He doesn't think anything would happen. Very anticlimactic; talk to Flannigan and Miguel!
-Occult info: occult is scary and unfamiliar. Also, will not involve fireballs because that is not its scope. It has a subtler scope. Manipulation, rather than the big stuff.
Q: How would an IC/OOC person know the punishment for outlawed abilities? Would they find out when it happens? A: When you do Sorcery/prepare Sorcery in town, it'll make you confirm it and remind you that it's not OK there. If you do it, you go to jail and serve jail time and have a fine to pay. He might make special things happen if people do it over and over again anyways. Unrepentent sorcerers, fear him!
Q: Are ghosts on the roads everywhere? A: Not just lost lands, but areas of mass sorcery usage.
Q: Are thaum and sorcery considered opposite or two different things? A: They don't mix well but they aren't opposites. Sorcery and nether aren't evil. It is deadly and problematic and harmful, but not. Thaum and inner light aren't necessarily considered pure or righteous or virtuous. They try to hone it by embracing things they consider virtuous for meditative path and discipline. They aren't trying to make it known a thaum is a good person. It is a weird thing to try to specify but it is important to Rias for people to know what they are considered. Doesn't mean they are good person or have moral superiority if they can do thaumaturgy.
Q: Are there any folkloric/mythological accounts of impressive feats of the occult in Aradian cultures that are particularly well known, that you could share with us? ie - "A druid once willed an entire forest to life", or "This sorcerer had a million-ghost army, it was wild." A: There is definitely a sorcerer in the central Aetgard region that did a bit of independent "kingdom building"/"conquering"/"liberating" (views depend) that people will learn about more, but people have definitely heard rumors about this sort of thing. Other than that, he does not currently have specific examples, but he thinks it would be fun to share in lore study stuff.
Q: Based on this, will we no longer be changing bodies and affectively reverting to previous physical forms, upon death? Does this mean people are going to walk around with a lot more impossible scars, like a scar that shows you were literally cut in half? Or does this mean that you'll be regenerating a new body still? I ask because of the aforementioned situation. Would wounds be healed to livable results before you were revived? A: Yes. With thaumaturgy ways it was healing type stuff and heals you as they go. Sorcerer method doesn't heal, so figuring out so you don't bleed to death again.Q: What about being cut in half. A: At that point there would be a respawn method. If someone fell into the fireplace and burned away, no revive the nice way. Going to have go get a new body.
Q: Can sorcerer's summon nether to their feet? A: No, it's focused around the hands C: Maybe a punishment for operating sorcery illegally would be an iron ring a sorcerer would never be able to take off.
Q: Can you describe the process of channeling sorcery through a focus? What do I see, hear, feel, smell, taste? Anything in a sixth sense? Objective.A: No. Has to think about it. Tries to describe it in weird doesn't make sense
Q: Follow-up to this: I don't recall seeing any netheriness ambience around the blood cultists' area despite the fact it's implied there's a lot of blood sacrifice going on down there. Was this an oversight? Or does this imply the cultists have ways to negate the side effects of, uh... mass killings. Sorry. I'm not sure how else to phrase that, but I hope you catch my meaning. (edited) A: Yeah. The presumably they are doing it in a way. It isn’t just places that have a lot of death makes the nether wells, but it is more likely where there nether is associated with a lot of death. There are countless graveyards that are fine. Speculate away, but it is not an oversight.
Q: Gorth asks, "So Nether. When you toss it at people, does it move through the air? Is it a whip of nether? Or does it just appear around people's necks?" A: Rias says, "When a sorcerer casts their nethery-spells, the nether travels from their hands as the point of origin toward the destination." Rias says, "So it's a physical projectile. Hence blockable and all that." Gorth asks, "So does it wobble at all? Or is it a sollid (looking) mass of darkness?" Rias says, "It writhes and undulates spookily." Gorth asks, "Does it bounce back from surfaces?" Gorth asks, "So could you toss it at a barrier really close to your face and have a lil' bit come back and burn your eye out?" Rias says, "No, it splats." Rias says, "Unless the sorcerer had a specific spell/ritual that called for it to bounce for some reason. Or the nether was feeling cheeky that day and decided it wanted to bounce instead of splat, because sometimes nether just doesn't behave in the way you'd expect for who knows what reason." Gorth asks, "When you channel , it's around your whole hand, right? What happens if you clap? Rias says, "It moves out of the way. It doesn't want to be squished between your clammy flesh." Gorth asks, "Last question. Is the movement at all consistent? Rias asks, "Which movement?" Gorth says, "The movement of the nether wobbling." Rias says, "It doesn't appear to follow a specific predictable pattern." Gorth asks, "It is random or arbitrary? Is it conscious as best as we can tell? You say it moves out of the way of your flesh. Does it appear to do that cause flesh gross? Or does it do that because pre-programmed function to avoid contact? Also, why does it avoid your hands and not other people's flesh?" Rias says, "The question of possible sentience in nether is one you might want to an NPC Warlock or Rook at some point. It moves out of the way of the sorcerer's own flesh because presumably the sorcerer has an underlying directive of "by the way, don't eat away my own pitiful mortal flesh and blood" as they channel nether."
Q: Gorth cheerfully expounds, "Undm seems logical to me, but are there any particular gods who are often represented at funerals for any particular reason such as helping the soul to an afterlife?" A: Rias says, "It's going to depend on culture and area for sure, but Serafina is a popular one, often associated with helping people find their inner virtue and worth which goes in hand pretty well with matters of soul-judgment." Rias says, "Vandin often regarding knowledge and the recording of the person's life." Rias says, "In some circles Aphraen has a partial association with the afterlife, where the world of dreams is considered a sort of edge territory, or glimpse of, or mirror of the afterlife experience, things like that." Q: Gorth asks, "Right, then. What about Undm's views on netherim in general? They have souls? right? What's the deal?" A: Rias says, "In some circles Aphraen has a partial association with the afterlife, where the world of dreams is considered a sort of edge territory, or glimpse of, or mirror of the afterlife experience, things like that." Rias says, "Naia for acknowledging the sadness of the situation and consoling it, always a good one to have at such events." Rias says, "Undm doesn't like the nethrim. They're a corruption of souls. Gorth asks, "For Using of soul detection such as nether itself, do netherim appear to have souls?" Rias says, "Inasmuch as the Soul Detection spell defines "souls" for consideration, yes."
Q: How does basic, no-frills channeling work? Is basic, no-frills channeling even a thing, or is it only applied along with a form of magic? I understand there is no such thing code-wise, but I'm talking lore-wise. A: Rias' idea is that channeling is a catch-all term for channeling your will (channel footpad, channel strength, etc). Putting your will into a channel would be focusing on something mentally, like Sorcery channels or Druidry channels. Without having something to point it at/focus on, nothing would happen. You can't channel nothingness.
Q: How does each magic feel to use and manipulate? Do druids feel one or more primal beings on the other end of the 'connection' whenever they channel? Do sorcerers hear the nether whispering to them or feel its will tugging at them? Does this change when actively casting or raw-casting? A: For druids, it can depend on where they are/what situations they've gotten themselves into, their affinities to certain entities, etc. It gets complicated for primal stuff, but it's safe to say that they would start feeling a Presence with their connections. The whole power of druidry is Connection, after all. He would love to have Druidry give flavor messages at some point depending on where you are, etc. Lots of competing, tugging feelings. A2: A lot of sorcerors will tell you that sorcery/the Nether feels like it has a will of its own in some capacity. Sorcerors will often say they weren't planning to do XYZ, but did it with Sorcery and they attribute it to the Nether influencing them in some way. "I conjured the Nether to do THIS, but it did THIS instead, and that was the Nether doing its own thing." It's also cold; sorcerors would feel a drop in temperature as they're channeling it. He may add that in as a flavor thing (kinda cool, he says, because he is a dad).
Q: How does rain and snow interact with shadow familiars and other incorporeal nethrim? Presently the code treats them as any other character, which made me wonder if show really does just gather atop them and melt away later.A: Snow shouldn’t be on top of them if they are incorporeal but it is funny.
Q: How does the nether react to its user? I've seen one ability where it actively enters the user's body; can it choose to not burn on contact, now? Or is there some other explanation for the nether not burning the host? 'help nether' says it's destructive to nearly all types of matter. Is it well-known, or at least known to occultists, what sorts of matter are not destroyed by nether? A: Nether, in that statement, is nether in its natural state where it is always damages stuff. There are instances where Nether will not damage something; there are various states nether can take, such as things from the Festival. Raw nether ("Haha, I conjured raw nether!") is problematic. It's not well-documented what causes states of nether to shift; a warlock could conjure nether and want it to not hurt and wear it as a toupee, but it wouldn't work, they can't will it into nonhazardous circumstances. It's Flubber. Baffling, confusing, damaging Flubber. There are specific reasons; we just don't know it.
Q: In The Other Game, I believe it was made explicit that you are gathering ambient nether when channeling. Here, the help files refer to 'channeling and manipulating.' Are sorcerers creating Nether when they channel, and it vanishes when they are no longer channeling? Or is it exclusively gathering ambient nether? Both? A: I'd say it's conjuring. It's not creating; not it didn't exist and now it exists. It's gathering it up from somewhere, and bringing it into a cohesive form. Conjuring has a little more wiggle room. Kinda both.
Q: In The Other Game, Nether actively wanted to be used, making it the easiest magic to learn and use (represented mechanically by getting new channels earlier than any others). Related to the above, the need for a Focus seems to have made it less the 'easy magic that wants to be used' as it cannot simply be used by anyone at any time. Is the 'Nether wants to be used' still a thing? How does it manifest, if so? There have been previous posts confirming Nether still seems to have a 'will of its own' and sometimes does its own thing; is using the Nether like trying to ride and steer a wild stallion that needs forced to go where it wants? Is it mostly tame and just sometimes bucks? A: That's still a concept... it's wanting to be used. There's talk about how it sometimes seems to be doing things on its own. Some people say their technique of using sorcery is working with sorcery, others say they command/tell it to do something. Lore-wise, conceptually, that's all still a thing.
Q: In which case, is there a reason the Library accepts sorcery? A: Libraries are all connected in some way to Vandin, but Vandin does not necessarily endorse every library, they're just peers. There are little hints here and there in lore studies alluding to the founder of the Library not wanting to say "We shouldn't cut off any one school of knowledge due to cultural taboo, we need to embrace knowledge and spread it and share it." The library does not necessarily love sorcery (it's dangerous and weird, after all), it's stuff to learn and know about and stuff.
Q: is a familiar a split of the soul? A: That's the generally held theory. They're tethered to their masters, to an extent: there's only so far away that they can go from their master. Minion code is always the worst.
Q: Is it intentional that Netherim react to sounds like whistling from stealth? A: Yes, they are not deaf. They can sense sounds, one way or another.
Q: Is it known whether or not Sorcery happens on other continents like Tyr-Gwyrd or Constantia, and if those areas have ambient nether or not? A: Yeah, it's reported/observed everywhere, it seems like. It's not just in Arad.
Q: Is nether touching going to be something always gained through some sort of consent, but could someone who doesn't want it wind up with it through Rp, interactions events, ect. and having to learn to deal with it or find a means to cure it? A: It's the latter. It's planned to have things that affect people even if they don't necessarily want it; if you put yourself out there, you may get infected. There will be means to avoid it becoming a significant thing. Note: Nether-touched stuff -is- an affliction, it has some cool side-effects but yeah it's not really a good thing.
Q: Is there a general point in documented history where Sorcery (and Nether and Nethrim) first started to appear? A: No comment for the time being. He has to put together the player-facing timeline.
Q: Is there an analogue for ectoplasm in COGG, or is it just Nether? I know you've mentioned spirits and spectres being different before, but is there a word or material for what non-nether related spirits is made of? A: No, there isn't a name. But it is a thing; not all ghosts are necessarily nethrim. Players might share ghost stories about the spirit of their great great grandpa, or whatever. That's fine, you wouldn't have to assume that was nethrim-related. It might be possible for spirits to eventually be nethertouched through some means.
Q: Is there any kind of interaction between different sorts of magical effects with different sources? This is probably vague, so a specific example: what happens ICly when you use distyr with shadow cloak active? I know code-wise they both just work, but like... does the glow appear outside the nether? Do they interfere with each other at all? A: Technically, if you really thought about it, it would probably interfere with it, but at the moment it ... doesn't. Maybe a bit of dimming. Shadow cloak relates to ambient light levels independently of stealth skill; the darker it is, the more bonus you get from your shadow cloak.
Q: Is there any occult thing effect by negativity or absence of emotion.A: Some writing out there that talks about thaum and sorcery being flipped Sorcery being fueled by opposite of what thaums do. Might just be strong emotions that changes how someone experiences it because of beliefs to focus. Can use emotions to channel will. Thaum isn't a product of being compassion, but compassion can act as channel and disciple to work thaumaturgy.
Q: Is there any part of nethertouched wildlife that is edible? A: Um yeah it's edible, but it's probably not gonna ... I mean people eat Taco Bell. Stomachs are powerful. It's going to depend on the creature and the severity of the condition. You can eat it but it's going to taste funky and it's not going to settle well; you might loose more than you gain because you end up puking it up.
Q: Is there any particular kind of singing/music Nereia/Nereia worshippers are known for? A: Shanties come up a lot. Sea shanties are good, says Rias [T: *grumbles*]. The worship stuff is less about the style and more about the intent and the passion. In a few bits of NPC dialogue, when people talk about hearing singing of Nereia, it tends to be described as more ethereal or haunting. The adherents of Nereia might be mesmerising not because they're supposed to be specifically mesmerising but because they're conveying these things that mortals might not be familiar with that. Because of that they're being mesmerised, it's something beyond their ken; a natural side effect of being in range of that effect.
Q: Maina asks, "Two questions. Or groups of questions, I guess. First: Is pale-ification known to be different from becoming nethertouched? Is it even related to nether at all? Will pale-ification be an option for players, or exclusively for NPCs?" A: Rias says, "The Pale situation is not well understood beyond those who perform it. Even those who go through the process on the receiving end don't necessarily have an understanding of the hows and whys unless they're specifically told. They just know how they feel after going through it. It's generally understood to involve sorcery in some way, but it's not just a different word for people who have become Nethertouched. It's an NPC-only thing, due in no small part to all the mystery behind it."
Q: Maina says, "Re: non-verbal communication mentioned earlier: We have druidry commune as one method. For sorcery, is 'familiar message' slated to return, or is it gone/not lore-valid anymore? For those unaware, on The Other Game, could send your familiar to someone else and it would reshape itself into the form of a short message to be read by the target and those in the room." A: Rias says, "Familiar Message was neat, but made kind of obsolete by Echoing Whisper. If it was brought back it would certainly also require a blood sample for the familiar to seek out the target, and at that point there's not much reason to do a lesser version of the Echoing Whisper effect where the person can't even respond. It was also tricky in that it introduced the concept of familiars being able to go to these far-distance places away from their masters, and that is a a troublesome lack of limitation to have for familiars." Rias says, "I'm not saying it will definitely never be a thing, but there are a few sticking points that are difficult to get past." Maina says, "I only thought of it because someone mentioned wanting non-verbal options, and echoing whisper does require speaking. Good to know, thank you! I think that's it." Rias says, "For better or worse, a lot of those early-era abilities have since suffered hits from the Lore Banhammer." Rias says, "All right, I think we'll call it done now! I'll remove Conch Mode and people are free to head back to the IC world, or into the OOC battleground through the hall, or to just linger and be OOC if you want. Thank you all for joining this meeting and for your interest in the game, and your suggestions and contributions! It really does bring me true joy to see this project and world enjoyed by others."
Q: On the topic of sorcery foci: are they always rings, or can they be 'held' objects like staves as well? are they always bone in construction? A: They don't have to be rings, they can be all sorts of things. One of the Octum shops that he failed to get ready in time sold all sorts of different foci for people to use; necklaces, bracers, staffs, etc. The vast majority incorporate bone, it's considered the best focusing conduit, but it's possible there are other materials that could be used in other cases.
Q: Once you have the basic channel technique, how does a given occultist actually bring up their specific magic of choice? How does channeling druidry differ from channeling sorcery from the user? Do Arcanists channel? What do they channel? A: He may have to get back to us on specifics regarding druidry/sorcery, but arcanists do channel. They channel as they're drawing the diagrams/glyphs, so they channel the form of those to get them just right. When we start getting affinities, it will be more evident; the more skilled people will be better able to understand these things. Bardic words, also a form of channeling.
Q: Prism says, "It's mentioned in Verungnr's help file that more than a few sorcerers were exiled to islands out of a view of being, "evil beyond redemption". Is there a connection there? As in-- is Verungnr particularly hungry for evil sorcerers? Is sorcery more generally assumed to incline people toward evil-- or being viewed as evil? I know sorcery is taboo in some places, of course, but I'm more curious of the general significance. Additionally, given that, are there any sorts of people that are believed to be "Verungnr food" as it were? Or is it mostly just a general label of, "Bad people. Really, truly bad people. Who do truly evil things."." A: Rias says, "You've got Aranas who is in a somewhat similar place, not easily categorized, but Aranas is more human-relatable than Verungnr, or at least humans view it that way." Rias says, "Verungnr does have a reputation for showing up to eat those who are considered particularly "evil". And sorcery is often thought of as having the potential to affect someone's moral compass so to speak; to cast off moral and ethical inhibitions and the like." Rias says, "Those two together seem to be a particularly tempting snack for Verungnr. Of course, one must also take into account that some of this may well be folk myth. The people of the Lost Lands unfortunately do not have access to the factual statistics of Verungnr appearances and accompanying motives." Rias says, "Rather, the people of the world in general. Not just the Lost Lands."
Q: Societies: how do they view Sorcery, aside from Anti-Nether? A: Wyrvardn probably worries a bit, because it's spooky stuff, but the rest generally do not. It just gives the Monster Hunters more things to hunt.
Q: Sorcerers have their rings, arcanists have their chalk, and druids have their tattoos. Are these different outside of the lost lands? Do sorcerers generally need a focus? Is there a difference in chalk? Are some chalks better than others? Finally, the one I’m very much interested in, do all druids undergo a similar ritual experienced by druids in the playable world? Would the druids in Tyr_Gwyrd have similar tattoos? If not, then what would characterize the differences? A: It's all fairly uniform. All sorcerors need a focus, arcanists need chalk (not necessarily anomalum chalk, but some sort of writing chalk). The druids all have some similar kind of tattoo situation going on, though they may have different styles.
Q: undermining upper class with said sorcery without a license? A: probably would be killed or enslaved; made an example of.
Q: Unless it's being left there for a reason We've heard IC that there has been "extensive research" done on the effects of nether on the Resen. Is it safe to assume the infested of that particular camp are being contained as unwitting guinea pigs?A: Could be.
Q: We know Societies are not meant to be fallbacks for guilds, but is there any little information that you could give us about the Anti-Netherim/Harbingers other than what we know on the posts? A: He hasn't been working on anything directly for them, but he has extensive idea files.
Q: We've seen that nether is usually only capable of interacting with dead flesh (i.e., nethrim), and it usually has acidic properties when directed toward living flesh, so I'm curious as to how nether works for living beings who have been nethertouched. Is it a special type of nether? Did the ravens get that way because they consume nethrim? A: It's still nether but it's behaving differently. There are instances of nether where you can touch it and it won't harm you; it can take different forms. Presumably one of these is compatable with or at least doesn't destroy living tissue.
Q: What are some guidelines for emoting with sorcery? Could I, for instance, emote raises their spiked knuckles to prepare to fight. Inky-black sheets coat the surface of the bones as they call sorcery forth.A: As long it is something you can do in the game and you are writing it a different way it is fine. Will it be something moderated. If something comes up very egregious they might get a hold of someone.
Q: What does Nether taste like? A:Would be too concerned with pain and agony. Do they taste the familiar. Spose they do but it doesn't take like cotton candy
Q: What impacts nether or nether wells forming? A: Both intense emotions and being the sight of something important that is significant/violent. Literally death and spilling of blood that is a major factor.
Q: When a sorcerer channels nether with iron or steel in their hand, does it manifest at all? Or does it just not even appear in the first place? A: No, it just doesn't work.
Q: When a sorcerer flings nether, punches people with nether, or otherwise interacts with nether are they touching it? If so, how do they not lose their hands? If not, how do they control it? Is it with raw force of will, a deep understanding of what nether is or something totally different? A: The idea is that it is a combination unless it is specifically for a sition but it is coming out from the hands or wrists. Part from the cahneling/conjuring there is a period of time where it doesn't adversely affect you. You probably feel colder but it makes things cold around it and because you are conjuring ir for you and assuming you have aptitude it won't harm you. The longer you have it the longer you have for it getting out of control. Nether fist it isn't hanging out, it is a burst of nether and hits them. (note taker is envisioning hadoken)
Q: Will bring over some Clok things where you die and you stay dead for a while a system to notify and trigger for others to say they died, and corpse is dragged back to a spot they can be revived. That would be the ideal way, stuff the soul back in the corpse. With some sorcery or spooky shenanigans.
Q: Will there be a non-ferrous steel equivalent for sorcerers? A: Yes, there are two materials that have popped up recently. one in hands of a player C: Apparently fatwood requires 25 skill. There's a lot of stuff that, as he was coming up with stuff, just throwing it in there, so it's not well documented. Please do bug and suggest things for the documentation.
Q: Will there be study rooms for linguistics, sorcery? A: Rias wants to put another Sorcery point out there for study. He wants more ways in general for sorcerers to get their practice on. Sorcery was the first magicky occult thing he worked on; its definitely the most foundational occult branch. [T: I'm not sure if Linguistics was addressed.]
Q: Would people see distyr on white/yellow auras and whisper about templar? Black/red auras whisper about sorcerers? A: He could see that happening as a general thing based on rumors/stereotypes, sure.
Q: Would the Anti-Nethrim society prevent Nethertouched from joining? They probably wouldn't let sorcerer's join, and Nethertouched seems like it would fall into that category, but you never know. A: They would say hey we can try to take care of your condition first because you know a lot of people who get Nethertouched aren't trying to, it happens to people not of their own desire and will and that isn't the direction Rias wants to go for
Q: Zombilicious asks, "We were discussing Yru the other day and someone said something about her connotations with being a Death Goddess. I was under the impression she was a goddess associated with sorcery, not actually death; does she have some deeper vibes with death, beyond necromancy, or is she strictly a Sorcery + Potential Necromancy Goddess Of Greatness? Does she get along with Undm?" A: Rias says, "More specifically un-death. Association with death would be more as a means of getting to the former. Yru and Undm do not get along. They have very different ideas on the proper fate of souls that put them in direct opposition to one another." Zombilicious asks, "With Yru's association with undeath, how does she interact with Hesutu, who also is not a fan of undeath?" Rias says, "They have a strained relationship. Hesutu is generally confident that undeath can be put to an eventual end as well though. An annoying but ultimately feeble attempt to escape the cycle. Undead entities would be on his radar, but he's not out there crusading against them or anything."
Q:: What types of Nethrim are there? Like, broad strokes? Are daemon-nethrim still a thing? Blotlings? Any types that would be widely known but not implemented yet that you're excited for? A: The daemon thing is probably not going to be a thing. There might be daemons that are nethrim and not all nethrim are daemons. In the other game the demons were very loose. He made it work with the lore but it wasn’t planned. He still has to nail down what the term encompass. There are a lot. There is an area that he wants to release at some point that a bunch of different types in there. There are plenty of areas with concentrations of nethrim. There will be more than the typical animated corpses and there will be more stuff in this area when it is ready. Nether has a tendency to imitate a lot so you will things where it imitates other lifeforms. Some places were saturated with nether plants. It has a few crazy forms. Will add some npcs and some lore on the hows and whys.




Arcana

Q: any crazy stories about arcana? A: This place is ravaged by this monster, this happened because some arcanist or equivalent and it summoned something. This location is a smoldering crater and caused a catastrophe. Might be muttering of secret glyphs but won't be teaching it to just anyone.
Q: Are druidic tattoos or arcana glyphs in any way related? A: Clearly there's power in form (this has come up one or two times before). There's a similar theme.
Q: Are the Arcana glyph names derived from a particular language, or associated with a particular culture? (E.g. cosir, I love that one!) A: No they're not. They're all made up. Rias does have one language that he'll use to occasionally get inspiration. If a result looks cool he might shift that around a bit.
Q: Are there "places of power" for arcana like nether wells for sorcery? A: It sounds like the answer is yes, those things do exist in the world! Some are attuned to things differently, too, not everything will be weird in all places. Q: Are any places like that currently coded in? A: Sadly not. It's under the Arcana Is Woefully Underdeveloped Umbrella. He was working on it at one point but then got distracted, as Rias does.
Q: Are there any examples in Lore if not in code of combinations of different Occultism? A: "Yeah, there are at least stories/talks of things like Druidry and Sorcery being merged. Lots of people think the Dunwyr are trying to destroy civilization, they think humans are causing too much damage to the natural world, so they're viewed as them mixing Druidry and Sorcery to do what they do. Outside of that, there could be some ideas of mixing Arcana and Sorcery or Arcana and Druidry. Thaumaturgy doesn't combine well with anything." - Possible example: The darkness trap? Maybe not.
Q: Are there any plans for more Arcana based glyphs that might cause mild sanity or other mental side effects? A: Yeeeees? Yes there are. Rias is excited for them. SOME COULD GET COMPLICATED. WE WILL SEE.
Q: As ESP aura color is the same as chalk color and distyr and such, does that mean ESP is related to the same source as Glyphs? Are there in-character theories to this effect, even if you can't speak to the reality of the situation? A: The theory is the individual's aura is manifested through arcana and esp and assume they are processes that are for whatever reason drawing on the aura of that person. Doesn't necessarily mean esp and glyphs are directly linked but they both draw out the aura a person has and manifests visibly. Q Followup: How is changing aura explained if aura is innate to the person and not an external force? Is changing aura IC or more for player convenience? A: It is in character and you have yo go to the twilight eye (before you could pick whatever any time) and the they will help you attune to your aura. It isn't like you are born are stuck with one. You could say you went there and this is the aura that manifested but also people could go there and say they want to change it. It isn't innate inherent or deeply rooted, it is an effect people have figured out how to tweak and utilized
Q: Ezrynon says, "Hello there.! I just had my usual probbly annoying question, about Arcana updates? I heard it's in the process of being worked on. So, was wondering when we'd be getting the big happy news." A: Rias says, "You'll get the happy news when it's done! But I'm making decent progress and I've had some GMs testing things for me to weed out any bugs or unintended effects. As much fun as it would be to dump all the intended updates at once as a huge Arcanist-update-bomb, I'll probably trickle in the updates as the individual pieces are finished. Two handy things are almost ready! (Maybe three, if you count a new shape beyond Line to add room for a third glyph.)." Ezrynon says, "That's good. It'd be nice to do more useful things with the skill soon."
Q: how do different forms of occult interact? A: You've got the lesser known thing, now, of sorcery and thaumaturgy clashing. As far as mixing... he would have to think. You could say that Arcana is the most mixy, occultists could be using Arcana to catalyse or affect other things. There are also plenty of rumours about the Dunwyr using a combination of Sorcery and Druidry.
Q: If someone enters the lost lands and is undying, and they leave the lost lands by some means, will they remain undying? A: It seems to be tied to the geography so if you managed to get back into another land you die you are dead.Is there a set territory where it ends.We say in the Lost Lands but it isn't tied to dotted lines, but general areas where it is happening. Not human defined borders. Undying assumed to be tall tales. some people believe to varying degrees but it is a world with powers that are real like arcana so people can grasp it may be a real thing. Sort of convenient for it to be in a place where people go but never come back that no one can go to to confirm. can't die then end up in lost lands.
Q: Is Arcana related to Nether? A: Most people would say no, though there are some theories that would say it taps into questionable Nethery power. General consensus, no.
Q: Is there any illusion magic planned for the future, beyond sleight of hand tricks? (edited) A: via arcana there could be some potential for that
Q: Mentioned in the past sorcery mixes with other things? any group projects? A: Yes. Maybe arcana and druidarcana and sorcerersorcery and druidry Love the idea of multi-talent coming together for group projects or cool crafting.
Q: Speaking to Lexx, Nobody says, "First, great post with the arcana suggestions." Speaking to Rias, Nobody says, "Second, on that, can you elaborate on what kind of suggestions you'd like for arcanists? I've enjoyed the scholarly / research feel of figuring out the Krytael glyph, and I've enjoyed testing how all the various glyphs can be used but that's temporary too." Speaking to Rias, Nobody says, "I expect any kind of research how these mechanics work will be temporary unless as Lexx suggested they be unpredicatably shifting in nature." Speaking to Rias, Nobody says, "So, I would love to feel more researchy, but my only suggestion for how to make that a long-term thing is to have go research arcane thing." A: Rias says, "Right. Throwing in more variables that affect arcana would definitely help the experimentation bit." Q: Speaking to Rias, Nobody asks, "Do you have a bigger vision for what that research feel should be like?" A:Rias says, "Right now I'm more focused on just giving them some more abilities than fleshing that particular aspect out, though it's certainly something I want to do. It's hard to help you help me though, because so much of Arcana is arcane and unknown to the players." Rias says, "Oh, but modifier ideas would be a fun thing to crowdsource ideas from. Even if they aren't all used exactly as presented, getting ideas for how the same affected could be potentially modified would be great for springboarding other ideas." Rias says, "Since I want to get to the Triangle and Diamond shapes, four three- and four-glyph circles for Arcanists." Nobody says, "That's fair, I'll finish my post about the variables I've observed, it might help to have some out there to build on. I'll work on some modifier ideas too. Bigger circles does sound exciting." Rias says, "Then I can start throwing a ton of modifier glyphs out there for Arcanists to experiment with, some that are useful, some cosmetic, some weird, and some bad(tm)."
Q: What happens if someone channeling Arcana stepped into a circle? [Tulpa: I'm not 100% clear on this question/wasn't sure if I understood it correctly. That goes for a lot of Arcanist mumbo-jumbo! ;)] A: It would probably depend on the circle. The way it is now is just for game purposes to make the thing work.
Q: Any thought on when we can make Physicker tonics for curing poisons and ailments? A: They're in the pipeline! As far as when, Rias is unsure; he has a lot to do with them. The next Scholar that's going to get a lot of love is the Arcanist! Feel joy, Arcanists, you are next. Rias is, however, excited for Physickers and wants to give them lots of new stuff.
Q: Any updates on where on the list future locksmithing changes fall? Skill effecting speed? Currently it takes about 30+ or so seconds for any locksmith to open a lockbox unless it is on their upper skill range." A: Rias says, "I don't have a When Answer for that one, other than I'd love to do it soon(tm) but there's a lot of stuff that I think needs more attention. (Arcanists, death reform, Societies.) On the other hand, it would be an easy add, so it may well be one of those things where I sit down one day and say "Hey, I'm gonna do this real quick."."
Q: Arcanists? A: Part of the plans for arcanists will be able to prepare things ahead of time. They will draw the diagrams and then add a glyph to store it and immediately use it later. Store up a few. On board with skill or ability to decrease drawing times in the future
Q: Are ESP colors chosen by the holder of them or is it like a reflection of their mind or something spooky arcane? A: It is similar to a druidry avatar question. It is chosen but they can say they were moved by a color or it called to me. Deliberately designed system that is chosen.
Q: Could we have SHAOL weight limit be 55lbs? It'd be nice to not have backbacks drop when full. A: Yes, he made it 50 because that's the limit but didn't take into consideration it dropping stuff. He'll make it work.
Q: Do glyph circles have a zenith? A height at which they no longer can sense souls that enter their boundries? I.E. a bird flying over head. A: Yes; when you step into a circle, it detects it at the level. Could a person jump over it and avoid it? Maybe. It doesn't go straight up forever, there is definitely a zenith and it isn't very high.
Q: Given we cannot read the scholar shelving task books, what is "The Monsters Beyond the Diagrams" about? Is it literal? Will we be able to do anything with or suffer the consequences of these monsters? What are some examples of these monsters? A: The Monsters Beyond the Diagrams... That one's a book on theories that the diagrams are a gateway to somewhere/something else, and there are things there and that's what powers the glyphs. It talks about the dangers of using the glyphs and therefore getting the attention of the beings; overusing them could cause them to look this way. They are Eldritch Horror-style monsters.Q: How old is that book? Pre- or post-Aetgard? A: During Aetgard. Not after the plague; post-founding but still an Aetgardian book.
Q: How does solca work? If I use solca and then use ESP, will it simultaneously do ESP and the entire area? A: Yes. Q: Does it do anything else or is it just the voice part? A: Just the voice part.
Q: If someone cuts up a bunch of floorboards that have been written over with a glyph, what happens A: "Oh God." [Amendation from Serity: 'should probably also clarify that that answer was "it doesn't work lmao" IIRC']
Q: in lore areas of the world where glyphs don't work, are there areas word bardic words don't work. (Lexx's word was explode in that area) A: Yes.
Q: In the past, you hinted that Arcanists in other places can use other things to draw and the magic chalk just makes it easier. What other things do people use for glyph-writing in lore? Should regular chalk work? A: There are other sorts of chalk people use for glyphs, but it wouldn't just be regular chalk.
Q: In-universe, if someone made a large enough stack of shaol glyphs, could it work as a railgun? A: He doesn't think so, it doesn't do anything other than make someting float.
Q: Is there any lore reason two arcanists can’t finish each other circles.A: Probably
Q: Is there anything specific you are currently focusing on? A: I am working on Arcanists stuff, but after this, I want to take a breather to focus on interacting with players and events but won't be putting development on hold. That's what I want for the immediate future.
Q: On the subject of hidden abilities: do you have plans for hidden glyphs and stuff like that? A: Yes. Q: Are you planning on putting them in boxes as plates? A: When it comes to plates, he has several ideas on distribution of them!
Q: Should arcanists horde their chalk? A: I mean, it's useful stuff. (Might make for a cool event someday, but arcanists don't actually have to worry about this.)
Q: What are the consequences for using Solca in town? A: He's thought about them. If someone was constantly making noise, something might happen, but for now there's nothing hard-coded! Noise ordinances are not yet in place.
Q: what is Iarels focus A: might be considered a specialty of her. A lot of people assume a lot of the known common glyphs among in game or other cultures were taught by Iarel to do this thing. It wasn't someone drawing a complex glyph.
Q: Will it be possible to erase another's arcane circle at some point in CvC? A: At the moment it's the way it is because it would suck if you were drawing a circle and others were just like nope, erasing it. He might have to come up with some mechanical way of doing it, there is no lore reason for it being the way it is.
Q: Will it ever be possible to learn the lockbox darkness glyph, can we donate lockboxes to the library for study? A: it would be a nifty thing to do.
Q: Would it be unusual for an Arcanist to lean towards Vandin? A: No, that'd be very believable. Vandin is the Chronicler and has access to a lot of information, or connections to it.
Q: Can you draw circles in flooded rooms? A: If you can you shouldn't be able to.
Q: I'm gonna hop in on the "questions before I forget" train - Do you have a planned usage for the Runes command for PCs? A: Yes.
Q: It is possible to use anomalum chalk in places mundane chalk would be difficult or impossible to use (I'm thinking the beach and shallow water rooms). Is this a magical (or unintended) feature, or a bug? A: It is a feature that you can use it on sand and mud; it's part of the wonderful magic of the chalk. It shouldn't work in water, though.
Q: Should rain disrupt diagrams drawn with anomalum chalk? A: That's reasonable to assume. Will look at it.
Q: Does the chalk we use in the lost lands come from Qettenu, or does it come from another variant? A: As of now, it's mostly a finite supply which originally was made there aside from those occasional finds out in ruins and the like. It's not like someone's in the lost lands producing the stuff.
Q: if someone dies with 'distyr' would their body keep glowing? A: No, he thinks it would shut off.
Q: When you're holding something in your hand what distinguishes something from being a milimetre away from your hand when stepping into a circle? A: That's a good question. ???
Q: When can we have two floaty items? A: NEVER. THEY ARE THE BANE OF RIAS. SUFFER WITH ONE, HEATHENS.
Last edited by Teri on Fri Jan 06, 2023 7:07 pm, edited 3 times in total.
Oh no, looks like I might die as I have lived. In the wrong place at the wrong time
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Teri
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Combat part 1

Post by Teri »

Combat



Q: Does shadow cloak apply to any darkness-based roll, or only stealth? A: it's just stealth stuff. If you have artifice stuff it considers room light, room noise, room crowd, and fog.
Q: Eugor says, "Oh right, uh, I totally meant to write this ahead of time. I'll try and keep it brief. 1. Random NPCs calling out for components sounds amazing, and would make my character more inclined to pay more attention to it. Right, 2. Would you consider for the short term allowing artifice rolls to assist in aiming checks, either by an ability, or just having it as a perk of the artifice skill." A: Rias says, "NPCs calling for components and whatnot might get a little spammy, so maybe we'll consider that ESP channel split idea from a while back where there could be a separate merchant/commerce channel. And you could listen to multiple channels at once, though of course only transmit on one at a time." Eugor says, "That sounds great. Like a trade network." Eugor says, "The color will obviously be riln-silver." [Answering Eugor's second question] Rias says, "Maybe an ability to apply Artifice to aiming chances with certain weapons and in certain situations. I don't know that I'd want it to just be a constant blanket bonus." Eugor says, "There was a suggestion to apply it to melee attacks, is that something you would be considered, or something like you said that would need to be worked out thoroughly." Rias says, "I'd want to come up with which situations it would feel right for, but those situations can be melee ones."
Q: From comments it sounds like there could be a warrior ability with different specialization specific effects on/for/with mounts A: Class specific stuff he loves the idea of that formounts and with dreadnoughts he would love to add more mounted abilities with other classes where characters have the feeling this thing is just for me and specific and to be more effective on the mount and have that benefit. Some are harder to think of more abilities than duelists and nightblades because they do stuff on their feet and hard to think of that they do on horse. Thinks it is okay to a degree as stealth or flippy person you might get less mileage out of a warhorse combat wise, because it isn't what stealthy footwork combat people train for, and it is okay for them to have less and dualists can use the horses as launching pads. Likes the idea primalist's affecting horse as as specific ability, druidry stuff with mounts could be fun opportunities
Q: How come nightblades don't have the means to see in the dark? A: Because that would be extremely powerful. Rias said it was a thing in the other game, but he didn't like how powerful it was.
"Q: How does aiming work? I thought it was based on the end roll, but a roll of 300 vs 0 (100%) hit the leg when aiming at the neck, so it seems entirely unrelated. A: it is it's own roll that doesn't show up anywhere otherwise the endroll would be stacking it too much.
"
Q: How does guarding work, exactly? Is it supposed to be a hundred percent of the time on Melee strikes? Is there a role associated? If so, what affects that role? Sometime in the future could shields have some affect in guarding? At least Kite Shields, maybe? A: There is a roll but is very low, just how the skilled the guard is at melee
Q: How does material sharpness affect weapon damage? For example, steel has a sharpness of +2, but does that bonus apply to only certain weapon types? Damage types? Does sharpness influence damage from ranged weapons, including thrown ones? A: Sharpness is based on damage type but he isn't sure about puncture, and that he will look into it. It would not apply to stilettos.
Q: How does the world look at mercenary work? A: Sellswords and mercenaries have it really well in the Lost Lands, it has a lot of people who are like "IF WE STEP A FOOT OUTSIDE, WE'RE GONNA DIE!", so they look to those sorts of people. Come to the Lost Lands, we want your sellswords/mercenaries. He wants to find a way tp make it more appealing to hire warriors, maybe. Some sort of support to say "OK, the warrior guild exists for a reason, mercenary work is (lorewise) a big thing." Maybe there's a task that can be implemented to get the NPCs into it, and people will warm up to it.
Q: How does tree growing mechanics work? If a specific type of tree is completely harvested from a zone, will it come back naturally? A: It growth is removed other growth will eventually takes it’s place but it doesn’t try to keep the ratio and technically all the trees could be chopped until nothing else is there. It is on the list. But if there is space and it rolls on the chance of those things to grow and it picks one and puts it in there. If you chop all of them down, but he will figure something out maybe, or maybe not.
Q: How to roll dice, aaa. A: Toss command, but roll should be updated to use it also because everyone tries that. Cup and die is going on the list.
Q: I have always wondered who Susannah Buckmiller and Tovah are. You don't have to answer, especially if they're background NPCs that were made up in the moment, but I'm only bringing this up here because my in-character research has yeelded nothing. A: Susannah is a known name and on the town council and they are the director of community/citizens. Reasonable most people would know who they are. Tovah is one of the top duelist trainers of Stormholdt.
Q: I mean a good step with the warrior/non-warrior in regards to combat would be to give non-warriors more ability choices. Currently a big issue with non-warriors is the lack of options in regards to warriors. Even if they weren't as effective, having non-warriors be able to make a conscious decision about what they're doing other than "wait, feint, circle, or attack" would be beneficial. A: Yeah, for sure.
Q: I noticed that Cleaving Blow, unlike staggering blow, specifies that 100% of the Melee skill goes towards the defense and offense rolls for the ability - is this outdated information, or does this mean that Cleaving Blow doesn't take Dodge or Shield Use into account? A: That is old stuff needs to be updated, and doesn't apply, and will be removed to decrease confusion.
Q: I often fill VC with questions I mostly want the answer to for character background reasons. I did see, in the scrollback on question , you offered to help people with their backgrounds if they needed it. Would it be easier for you to take a look at a background on your own time rather than having the questions here? Is there a preferred way to ask for this? Do you desperately regret making that offer in the past and wish it were wiped from the annals of history as a flood of work filled your inbox immediately? A: Would love to help people with their backgrounds, shoot an email.
Q: I think of afflictions as being an open-influence for the GMs where they might suggest activities and stuff that align to goals appropriate to that affliction. Is that an intended line of RP for characters with afflictions, or is that a bad way to think about those afflictions on people?A: Yeah, kind of the thought when people are getting into the unmanageable stages of an affliction. where the decision is, am I going to roll with this or get out of it. Rias doesn't like situations where he has to pull the character aside sending OOC comms, saying hey you should do this. Rias would rather nudge characters towards something with IC messaging. Not as direct.
Q: I'm wondering, once guns are a thing, will we be able to use rifles to snipe? A: "Yeah, yeah. They'll work like any other ranged weapons that you can use from hiding. Line up your shot, get some rerolls and then shoot 'em." They'll probably be easier to detect, because they're noisy. A heftier Risk will probably come along with that noisier gunpowder goodness.
Q: I've always seen Cogg as a more realistic mud, so i'm glad there will be that detailed of an armor crafting system. Also, will you need a wire for the chainmail as part of the craft? Because that's how the links are supported when you make that kind of armor and I feel that it should be done that way because that's how its done irl. A: Chain won't be a bunch of tiny links, some nails or some metal plates/some iron chain rings. Enough item bloat as is. Rias loves multi component items and wants to add more in. Something like a wood shield then leather layer, then possibly metal. So it would take a woodworker and then leatherwork to add leather to make it sturdy and then add metal to it emboss for special effects. Rambled a soft wood shield catch weapon to twist weapons out of foes hands. Someone/nobody/ Speculated another thing with a metal shield hitting the metal part could be a better chances of staggering a person who hits a metal shield because it would rattle their hands holding a weapon/maybe drop the weapon
Q: If growing weed is going to be a thing, or something similar to weed, how would drugs hinder combat, or would it depend on the different types of plant? A: He doesn't know.
Q: If you channel nether while making a clay pot, will you make a whorled clay pot full of evil magic? Or will it just disintegrate? A: Not if you aren't deliberately doing it but you might break your clay like it destroys most others things. Only sticks around as long as you are channeling unless it is a controlled situation or ritual.
Q: Is Arcanist 'Magic' and Sorcery generally considered the same root thing, or are they distinctly different? A: Sorcery is a specific thing and people have found ways to make it do this or that. Some weird material it does this, has certain properties Where arcana is more, we more we know they patterns do these things, but we do not know why. Push the right buttons and these things happen. You aren't utilizing the warmth glyph you aren't understanding the science of heat or anything. We put the picture and glyphs in this spot but and it works. Not controlling a specific thing, but we know certain combinations and they do different things. There is a science to what they do but the general consensus they are distinct symbols that work in a distinct system. It wasn't random happenstance, but they don't know why. They are wizards altering or changing physics from understanding of science or principles. It is really more we got these combinations, and they are having these types of effects. It would be fun to give them more intricate knowledge feel. Sort of like a language we don't understand. they don't know how, or why distyr causes light or something to shed energy or so on. It just works. It can be considered drawing skill and degree of efficiency while drawing fit with higher skill Wants chalks to make things more potent. The circle has many glyphs around the small circle but is pondering techniques or something to adjust it. Wants something with the small glyphs with little tweaks somehow. Get more a feel of not just copying things from a manual but that gives people of trying and experimenting. Still based on general effect of the combination to experiment and tweak. It can be assumed with all the pieces there are little glyphs drawn along following the shapes.
Q: Is cheapshot and counter punch supposed to be unaimed. A: Counter punch, yes because it has stagger effects. For cheapshot, might need a second look/feedback. Also inspired talk about discussing aimed/unaimed. Another thing to consider. He feels if unaimed attacks are not important or feel like any action that isn't aimed is a waste of an action that is a problem. an extra attack. Some pondering on aim/unaimed or adding more effects if you don't hit the chest and debilitations. Add more emphasis on different hit locations
Q: Is it intentional that some warlock combat abilities like binding tendril and essence leech don't appear to scale meaningfully in any way with extra channels? A: He just hadn't considered it/thought of it yet.
Q: Is it still more difficult to Dodge while mounted, or was that removed? A: Rias doesn't know, it was something carried over from CLOK. It makes a lot of sense... but on the other hand it would suck, because no one would use horses then, perhaps. C: The trouble with ranged combat in general, is you want it to be balanced. If you stay far away and hit, and never get hit... well, everyone would do it. It's a tough one and kind of goofy. Once someone gets up in your face, at that point realistically you'd be tossing your bow and getting something else. But we're making it a game, so not going to do that. It is a funny misconception, though, that a quick little person should have a bow... archers were strong. Rias likes slings. They hit hard, but they were hard to use.
Q: Is there a current ruling on the exploitiness of making noise to harm opponents (whether movement AI or rolls) then? Like, should we stop doing it immediately or is it okay until mechanic changes? A: He'll probably just go in there and fix it real quick. He will talk with gm team to try and figure out a better way of dealing with it.
Q: Is there a plan to have tools/abilities that will help people with lower skill gage the difficulty of more complex locks than they're skilled enough to open, or something that will help with cracking obnoxiously difficult ones? A: Yes. He is hoping to throw some of that stuff in for rogues and treasure hunters.
Q: Is there a reason why assassin mark does not work with ranged? A: It's supposed to be a powerful ability, and he doesn't want it to be something you can snipe with from hiding. He wants to give Nightblades more ranged options, but they are more geared around jumping out and stabbing people. Get that dagger into the ribcage, yo.
Q: Is there an age cap on rolls? Are your rolls worse when you're older, or are all ages able to work at the same capability and efficiency in things like combat? A: There's no mechanical debuff for age. We have stories of being old and super talented and capable warriors and stuff, Rias doesn't have problems with that. The only thing that bugs him is when people do something that intentionally clashes, which shouldn't be possible realistically, but they do it anyways because they can mechanically do it for humor purposes.
Q: It'd be awesome if rogues had the ability to knock people out like they did back in other mud. A: knock out one shot is overpowered, but maybe something with a similar effect to mesmerize.
Q: Logging Axe: DF doesn't seem to improve for Marauders IWP ability despite examining as an improvised weapon. Intentional? A: Yeah, otherwise it'd be ridiculous. It's already ridiculous, despite the huge balance penalty. Rias doesn't want it to be pushed over the DF ceiling (or any weapon, really). It's improvised so it has various penalties like the balance penalty; it's not meant to be used as a primary weapon, but Marauders can use it more effectively.
Q: Merin asks, "And the second question. Treasure hunters. I want to have my treasure hunter be all treasure huntery, but I can only do that every six hours or so. the rest of the time I'm trying to find things that I'm not really seeing for the character to keep my bucket full and to occupy myself with. I'd like to suggest things to help treasure hunters be more unique and less like the rogue light that I feel they are. But I guess maybe I'm not sure of what, exactly your intent for them to be is. I know they find things and deal with traps, but mechanicly that involves just the boxes and maybe if you're a bit mischevious stealing from people. So can you kind of shed light on treasure hunters, what your ideal is for them, and what we can look forward to?" Merin exclaims, "Because the way I see it now is they are more non combatants that still can go and see. maybe a greedy scout or a tinkerer or what have you. But if they're meant to be more edgy and using artifice to fight and cheat and be Lara Croft, that would be helpful to know!" A: Rias says, "Yeah, the Treasure Hunter vs Rogue thing has been an issue for a long time that I still don't really have an answer for, honestly. They're unfortunately still mostly differentiated by what they're *not*. They're not focused on shady sneaky stealthy potential-trouble stuff, as that is the Rogue thing. But the Treasure Hunter "thing" has yet to be adequately determined, other than I wan them to have some specialization bonuses with tinkering with traps and their components and stuff, and having some tasks to go out and discover/recover things." Rias says, "So I'm all for more suggestions to give them their own flavor and love." Rias says, "If it continues for much longer that they're essentially just Rogues, we may end up merging them. And then trying to come up with a fourth Adventurer class that has more of its identity from the get-go."
Q: Merin asks, "Two questions. first. When artisans come out, is there a possible respect we would get? I, for one, created one character as a warrior because, I mean, blacksmithing is what I'd like to do but I can't get it higher than 400 and woo fine weapons yay, so I fight to fill the rest of my time. Having had the choice, I'd have made artisan. In fact, I was saving the respect we had for that purpose. Or will we not get that and have to create all new characters?" Merin says, "To clarify, I mean character resets/rerolls like we had a year or so ago." A: Rias asks, "I did say way back when that I'd probably offer a respec when the Artisan Guild is released, and I'll stand by that, though I do think I'll still keep it a case-by-case thing. I don't know that I want some wildly different respec thing to happen, you know? Like a capped perpetually- spooky-robed sorcerer everyone has gotten used to for being spooky and offering spooky services and being followed by a familiar, and then suddenly on Tuesday he's become a flannel-wearing carpenter. That would be weird, you know?"
Q: Might we see more flying/tunneling/swimming/rooftop parkour from some of the rarer, random spawn hostiles? A: Yeah maybe we'll see that. There are some locations that are already set up for that kind of situation that requires you to strategise to deal with special mobs, e.g. snipers, they just haven't seen that much use. When making new areas and new mobs, one of the struggles is that, for the most part, areas with mobs that don't drop treasure don't really get used (non-humanoids and so on). Rias finds himself asking: 'how much effort do I want to put in this, if it's just going to be checked out once because it's neat and then never visited again?' It is a shame because he really likes non-humanoid creatures, but needs to make it worthwhile. One possible solution is to have 'trophy' drops from specific creature mobs, which you can hand in to an NPC and receive riln in return. When making new areas and new mobs, one of the struggles is that, for the most part, areas with mobs that don't drop treasure don't really get used (non-humanoids and so on). Rias finds himself asking: 'how much effort do I want to put in this, if its just going to be checked out once because its neat and then never visited again?' It is a shame because he really likes non-humanoid creatures, but needs to make it worthwhile. There was talk of bringing back collectible figurines, perhaps as random loot in lockboxes. So, it came up a few times that Rias is considering making some please-provide-strings/ideas type posts, and I wanted to highlight that aspect of the above two notes sections (how to make beast-only combat zones more desirable places to battle and more ideas on loot variations). I also wanted to suggest the creation of a new subsection on the BBS in the general category for those 'call for help' type threads, because I suspect they'd be rather popular. I haven't come up with a great name, but so far my suggestion is: > Help the Game
Q: Might we see primal spirits that we can engage in combat? A: Rias wouldn't want primal spirits to be the next major category necessarily, as a fifth type... but the possibility is noted. It's in his brain now.
Q: Now that the population of the game is larger/more regular, is there anything you feel like you wish you'd done already in prep for it, or anything you feel you need to hurry in? A: "I need to remove some thing from the skill list, like lapidary." Are you definitely removing them or still just considering it? "I don't see a reason to keep them in right now, it makes people want them and they don't exist. I'll probably roll brewing into cooking and lapidary can probably roll into masonry."
Q: NPC bounty tasks for warrior-types? Like bounty-hunt monsters or something. A: That's on the docket, definitely.
Q: Of all the active characters we have guardians, when will guardians get more love A: Part of the plan for guardians was to work off the recent ranger abilities to give armor adjust abilities. They could get some there and plus more stuff for combat style. Give suggestions. wants to overhaul stuff.
Q: Oh, I remembered one of my questions, although this is more about a potential bug than lore, maybe; Is it intentional that abilities pierce guards' protection despite it saying that they intercept an attack? If it is, is it intentional that Tactics: Marauder pierce guards' protection, including for the actual attack? If Faye is guarded by Black, and a marauder (bandit ravager, canim scrapper) attacks Faye, it says Black intercepts it, but the pre-dirt kick hits Faye, and I believe that makes the actual attack also hit Faye. A: That doesn’t sound right. Tackles and other abilities if a guard should be able to get in the way if it makes sense an attacker should be able to get between it should work. Taking a look at code.
Q: Once a nether well has formed or a large amount of ambient nether has taken root in a place, are there any known ways to dispel that? Could a sorcerer theoretically siphon it off? (Of course, where would they be siphoning it to?!) Or is it just like... "Well. You done did the thing. And now there's a nether well. Live with it." A: If it gets to the point where there is a nether well that can be used for rituals in the game at that point it isn’t something a sorcerer could walk by and mess that up. In Theory they could do something to contain or lessen, but once it is there it is there. There is probably ongoing study about could they be removed, but it is solidly there. Channeling sorcery in those areas can be a struggle even to control. The control they have there is put into question but can disrupt their attempts at control. There are greater and lesser ones. There may be some instances where lesser ones could mess with and have control, but the ones in game where they have the current effects it is beyond the hope of what is current known for controlling it.
Q: One issue with hiding the character and stealth, is that people can see your rolls, and sure people can say that they'll ignore it but it would be nice to have more options to hide yourself from people. A: It does take into account how much of your body is exposed/how much is hidden, there are a few things you can't hide: build and height, but you can disguise quite a lot of stuff if you're wearing enough stuff covering your body parts. This has come up with sneaky people who really want to be unidentifiable, but he doesn't want to go too into that so that there's no consequences at all -- you have to give breadcrumbs for people.
Q: Only allowing attack/chink from stealth? One frustrating cycle to be put under is having someone ambush with a staggering blow, and utilizing the stagger/surprise timer to run, rehide and attack again. Sometimes all this before the stagger from the first hit falls. This experience is somehow a lot more annoying than being one shotted from stealth. Also being staggered surprise by brutes is not fun either. A: Will take a look and see if there is some weird surprise/stagger adding up times. Stagger is high and stunlocking is on the list to be reworked. Will take a look at the brutes.
Q: Related to the society answer, you mentioned an 'assassin' guild on the last post. As only nightblades have an assassination ability, did you have plans for ways to open it up to non-nightblades, or make it not a given for them like a druid society would be for primalists? A: It's kind of like the Shady Society. Of course, all the rogues and stuff are going to end up there, but you could also join it as a Guardian, styled as a Bodyguard or Thug. Similarly with the assassin group. It's a clandestine group that are taking people out for a cause. Some might be doing it in a typical Assassin way, but others may do so in other ways; for example, a Dreadnought smashing someone out in the middle of nowhere, boom, assassinated. It's more secretive than stealthy, not that stealthy people aren't going to have something of a mild advantage/tendency to seek out that sort of thing. You wouldn't join it and then learn to be an assassin; you'd join it and employ your skills in your own way.
Q: Shield Use currently has a very limited effect on rolls, Shield Use not even affecting shield bash/charge and just Block roll. Is this an oversight, and something that will end up changing? A: He says it should. Shield Bash/Charge should be considered.
Q: So. Not to knock that I'm having fun, it makes me worried about "group intended" content like the new quarter. Need to crash soon, so it would be a definite concern of mine for QnA. Not being encouraged. Clok was awful for that. I'm worried that group content won't be encouraged, and that it will be a case of "get to this skill, or need a group." Or that stuff focused on being made for groups, isn't as attractive as the alternative solo content. A: He doesn't feel that every new content area needs to be pushed as group content, obviously you'd want to group in a place with more mobs and stuff. We could have things drop more treasure and stuff? He'd be open to ideas to help improve group combat encouragement things.
Q: Speaking to Rias, Lexx asks, "My last question is easy! Are the guild skill caps (particularly Ranged combat, in the Caps By Skill page specifically) still accurate?" A: Rias says, "I don't know! I didn't make that page. I don't recall changing skill caps, but I can double-check ranged." Rias says, "Ranged caps look correct."
Q: Speaking to Rias, Serity asks, "So, hello, while Guardians were brought up; first, Stability seems non-functioning aside from knockdown prevention, perhaps after the 10/31 update? At least for dirt kick and tackle, 10+ mins vs. 3 dusklamp marauders had zero time/balance variance in negative effects. Secondly, are there any potential updates in the works for them that you can tease?" Rias says, "Curses, I thought I fixed it." Serity sympathetically says, "Apologies for the bad news." Rias says, "Guardians have been difficult to come up with ideas for. I like the idea of a toggle where you can attempt to guard everyone in your whole group instead of one person (chance-based), and I plan to give them some Gear Adjust abilities for armor as a way to let them hand out some buffs of sorts." Rias says, "Perhaps a preemptive attack when someone tries to attack the person the Guardian is specifically guarding, that interrupts the incoming attack." Rias says, "But that's about it. I have a note file somewhere with some other stuff in it, but nothing else that was nifty enough for me to recall off the top of my head." Serity exclaims, "Oh, that sounds fun. Thank you for the update!"
Q: Stiletto and sharpness wear and tearThey don’t need the maintained because they don’t have the keen edge,Does the material effect the sharpness of stilettos?A: Yes.
Q: Tactics: Nightblade. Bug or feature? If you fend somebody off, you don't get raised risk, same with flipping and tumble, whereas getting past that fend/flip/tumble to a dodge/block does raise risk. A: That's a bug. They should get risk for those things.
Q: Teri asks (muffled by a mask), "Out of the warrior specializations, which do you feel capture what you were aiming for the best in terms of gameplay/feel? Which ones do you think need more work to resemble your headcanon?" A: Rias says, "I think I'm pretty happy with them all except Guardian and Berserker at this point. Not to say I'd consider any of them "complete" yet because they're not and I have plenty that I want to add to all Warrior classes (and other guilds' classes), but I think Dreadnought, Duelist, Marauder, and Nightblade all pretty decently convey their intended feel and style. Marauder maybe a little less so than the other three. But Guardians and Berserkers are still in need of some love to get them really feeling like they're Guardians and Berserkers, and not just warriors with a couple useful but not exactly wow-ing perks. (Not counting druidry access for Berserkers for this particular discussion point.)."
Q: The different types of shields: Buckler, Round Shield and Kite Shield, are planned to have statistical differences? If so, what differences? A: They probably should. The buckler is light weight maybe would get reroll from get a bonus from use for bashing or something. The kite shield might get some kind of numeric bonus or something like reroll against ranged
Q: The help file for Steal indicates that it benefits from Stealth. Since you can steal while unhidden, what benefits do Stealth provide? I can't work out a specific roll bonus. A: That is just obsolete information, he thinks, assume no Stealth bonus. It's probably from the old way it was before artifice was a thing. It does benefit you but not the actual roll; it's more like setting up, circumstantial stuff.
Q: The last time you posted regarding Societies, you mentioned a class you were working on. Can you tell us about it? Or guild-class stuff, in particular, being worked on? Any class updates? A: He has plans for a warrior class that specialize on anti-occult stuff! This includes druidry, sorcery and arcana. THEY ARE NOT WITCH HUNTERS. They just train in negation/hindering techniques. Other than that, nothing solid is in his brain. It's full of mush and liquid and creative void-mass of thought.
Q: There is at least one IC theory that Nether is created by negative emotions (and it seems to be the case with the apparent stories behind the various Nethrim combat zones): do sorcerers require a certain mental or emotional state to channel nether? That is, is a sorcerer who is channeling focusing on the feelings of hate or anger or fear or whatever in order to do so? What role does the focus play in this? A: It's not required. You can be a happy sorcerer. There are theories that there can be plenty of effects that involve mental focusing, stuff like that. That's more in the theoretical or lesser known/experienced stuff. The focus is frankly mechanics before lore: essentially to have a) a way to fasttrack people to learning sorcery, to make it easier for people and b) also deliberately provide a way to disarm a sorcerer in situations that might demand it. The lore behind the focii is not super hashed out at the moment.
Q: Vaelin asks, "Just a few lore questions. How long ago was the first instance of undying documented? About the canim, how do druids usually see them... and are there general history of stormhold that a casual student of the guild be aware of?" A: Rias says, "The Undying thing and how long it's been going on is all very hazy. It's largely regarded by most of the outside world as just some folklore all those qurantined Lost Lands exiles made up. You might, uh- hm. Hrm. I think I'm going to withold further information for a lore studyable I'll sneak in for Octum." Rias says, "The Undying thing and how long it's been going on is all very hazy. It's largely regarded by most of the outside world as just some folklore all those qurantined Lost Lands exiles made up. You might, uh- hm. Hrm. I think I'm going to withold further information for a lore studyable I'll sneak in for Octum." Rias says, "Most druids will probably tell you the canim are at least partially a result from primal influence or power." Rias says, "Whether it's something that's naturally happening to people, or it's a result of some primal entity, or druidic meddling, or it's being deliberately brought about by some person/people/thing/things, that's the fun stuff to speculate upon." Rias says, "Stormholdt history is something I'm planning to add to both NPC dialog and lore studyables soon(tm)." Rias says, "Really want that Nightblade NPC in particular to give some info on the origins of that particular warrior discipline. It's not a huge world-altering lore bomb or anything, but it's a fun piece of history that I'm excited to put out there. But I want the Nightblades to be the ones to learn it first so that they can pass it on to others curious if they so choose."
Q: Warriors have murderloot.
Q: What are the current penalties that fractures cause to characters? A: It makes it harder to stand up if you have leg fractures. Leg fractures give you negative 4 rerolls. If the shield-hand is affected it's harder to block. Climbing is negatively affected by foot, arm, leg and hand fractures. That's probably it at the moment.
Q: What are the plans for differentiating Treasure Hunters and Rogues in the future? Right now they're incredibly similar, with Rogues only getting 1 extra ability (Tactical Dodge) and then skill caps being varied but fairly similar. A: The rogues are going to be more about being sneaky, stealthy, stealing people with a soupcon of skullduggery (the 4S Club); they won't be assassins, those are Nightblades, but they will have sneakier ways of getting involved in combat involving artifice and stealth. Treasure Hunters will be more about locks, traps, and repurposing trap parts for various things because Rias really loves that idea; they will also be better at exploration stuff, but he's working on figuring out how to do that. He also wants to give them a means of arcana that they've discovered through their study of their arcane traps and things.
Q: What determines the roll and CR of nether wells doing their thing? The CR changes each time (despite not being a visible roll?) and the roll doesn't seem to be based on a single skill. Why does channeling in a netherwell increase Risk, which is generally for stealth stuff? A: He doesn't remember. Doing risky sorcery things can accumulate risk, that includes Nether wells. It doesn't seem to be based on a single skill. All sorts of things apply, but it's not one where he's going to flat out say what applies. There is some RNG in there. There'll always be a challenge, it's never going to be 'i'm super good and untouchable'; the intention is it's always going to be dangerous no matter how good you are.
Q: What is the % bonus for chinking with tactics Duelist? A: He'll have to look at the code to find this answer.
Q: What was the design intent behind having multiple guilds with specialties? Will scholars eventually be focused on some kind of scholarly content and adventurers on adventuring content, or are they all intended to be different approaches to the same core system: combat? A: The warrior class is primarily focused on combat, and then the adventurers are supposed to be adventuring and scholars are scholaring, but the ideas are that you're allowed to dabble in whatever you want without stepping on the toes of other people. They can all dabble in the things that their guilds don't typically do --- with scholars it's the hardest to make work well. How do you make scholarly pursuits super engaging? It's difficult. Anything you can do with your skills grants you experience; you don't have to be going out and combatting all the time. Do the thing that you think is fun.
Q: What will weight do mechanically? A: Mechanically it's just more sturdy, perhaps there'll be a small sharpness bonus. He wants to try and figure out how weight could mechanically provide exclusive benefits, e.g. for hafted weapons.
Q: When a farm goes inactive, are all of the items on there still considered when things are rolled over, or is all of that digitized? A: It's all still there, oof. Farms, man.
Q: When an Undying is infected, are they still controlled by the Resen? A: Yes. Undying isn't a complete reset. There was some longer discussion about this and my tldr is undying will reset acute problems (someone just cut my arm off before I died) but not chronic problems (lost a toe years ago and it's long since healed over as a toe-stump). In previous voice chats Rias has also talked about how initial stages of resen infestation will have clear signs so PCs can get treated by physickers if they don't want to become infested (indicating onset will be closer to chronic than acute). Prior voice chats have also indicated undying retain scars and tattoos.
Q: When will Guardians have as many defensive options as Dreadnoughts? As it stands now, their Blade Catch does negligible damage to their hands and has a chance to disarm whatever they do catch (even Guardian shields when they automatically counterattack in Guardian stance). They have practical access to polearms that routinely deny attacks on them and they also potentially inflict having to pick your weapon (or shield) up, which seems to be less likely to work than bypassing extreme reach weapons. A: It's not intentional; Guardians do need some love as an earlier class who needs a bit more attention.
Q: When will there be bonuses for parry while using specific weapons, e.g. swords? A: Something on the cards. Swords, quarterstaffs will give a parry bonus, although it's not yet clear if this will be a reroll or addons.
Last edited by Teri on Fri Jan 06, 2023 6:50 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Oh no, looks like I might die as I have lived. In the wrong place at the wrong time
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Teri
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Combat part 1, undying, esp and twilight eye

Post by Teri »

Combat




Q: Why can't nightblades flipflank? I understand not to make them like duelists but being in the open after the ambush it could help maybe. A: 1. He doesn't want them to be duelists lite cause they also have sorcery and lockpicking. It sounds like it is something they could have, but mechanics wise he doesn't want them to be too similar. Nightblades use underhand moves, cunning and stealth when they can along with their artifice for their style, while duelists are about fancy moves and footwork.
Q: Why is there a 250 damage cap? Are there mobs that are planned to have more than 250 mortal thresholds? Or is it so that you can't exhaust mobs with one hit to the leg? A: Damage used to be calculated differently. Now, it's based on what percentage of your max potential you get. Before, if you were max skill vs. minimum skill you would roll obscene amounts of damage and it just seemed silly.
Q: will metal armor be harder to channel in compared to non-metal?A: yes it will be harder to channel with require metal pieces multi piece thing. Some pieces will require combination of things before it become a full piece. Thought about cloth, light leather and coding was a pain. Chain will be multiple some chain link items. armor skill will lesson armor chink rework it will be a skill roll.
Q: Will players have access to items that could disrupt ESP signal? A: It's a nice idea, perhaps for specific areas. It probably wouldn't be widely/indefinitely available because of the potential for trolling/endless disruption.
Q: Will we ever have a way to engage in "safe combat" for those of us who want to engage in a way to give someone a shakedown IC and rough someone up a bit without the threat of crushing in their ribcage and killing them, etc? Just a different sort of combat mode that doesn't result in lethal blows but still allows you to hurt the other person. A: Yes, he's wondering if there might be a way to do this. As hilarious as he finds it, he can understand that a way to not kill people by accident would be desirable.
Q: You ask, "Frisbee: Judging by the section names, most if not all of the books in the Library of Qamar should be non-fiction, at least as far as the residents of Arad are concerned. I suppose a possible exception is the religion/philosophy stacks, where all your folk tale anthologies could potentially be squished in alongside legitimate religious texts. Is this deliberate? Do authors in this world tend to have that much more of an interest in non-fictional subjects?" A: Rias exclaims, "It wasn't deliberate. It'd be cool to add some fiction and folklore sections!" Rias says, "Find an ancient scroll with bizarre otherworldly creature illustrations on it, study it: "It appears to be a page from the Monstrous Compendium manual belonging to an old Aetgardian game called Oubliettes and Ogres..."."
Q: You say, "Sorry, I just remembered that Kaiju and I were having some testing things going on. Is Mighty Blow still intended to scale with balance held, currently? It still spends five balance, but if you're at 25 you get 4 rerolls." A: Rias exclaims, "Oh. I should probably fix that with Mighty Blow. Or at least rethink it. Maybe? Let the number crunchers come up with a proposal to make it feel balanced!" Speaking to Rias, Fellborn says, "It has one reroll variation currently it seems, and you need high balance to get it. It's good, but staggering blow is still a lot more usable. I'd leave it for now."
- rogue vs treasure hunter - original vision is that treasure hunter will do more stuff with traps. More vision is needed: what is the right way to do traps so that they are meaningful but don't allow someone to do combat exclusively via traps or outclass warriors via using traps?
-idea: Warriors: Nightblades and Arcana. The glyphs aren't stunning, because you have to come out of hiding for them. Since a Nightblade is more focus in two of the glyphs (terlu and another), maybe they would gain a specific ability that grants an extended duration (nothing crazy) or speed-drawing when it comes to these glyphs?Rias likes this idea. He wants to offer options for non-sorcery Nightblades if they don't want to go that route. If it's too OP to be Arcana-Sorcerer, maybe make them mutually exclusive.
-No cap on negative rerolls; might have to be looked into.
-Suggestions from players: RT change, +DF, +roll, debuffs e.g. negative dodge for the next 60 secs. They don't have to be abilities, it could be attached to the gear that you're using.C: Knockdowns should have an effect. If you knock someone down they shouldn't be able to immediately stand up.
C: Escape methods are a main thing for Rogues, a flavour thing. They're not supposed to be warrior-tier combatants. He doesn't want them to be combat experts. On the other hand, he does see them being capable if they choose to go that route. They're obviously not Marauders. C: Adventurers are like the "middle" guild; they can kind of go in any direction but are not like the experts in either direction.
C: In regards to the whole plateau of combat, he does feel like it's very easy to stack rerolls. In general, if you get negative balance it's hard to come back against multiple opponents. Stagger is an issue on its own. He does feel like what's there works, but at the same time it definitely needs some refinement.C: Regarding stagger and reroll creep, he loves the concept of building these up, but it's kind of starting to get a little *too* rerolly. He agrees it's a good idea to tone them back a bit. Please do suggest alternative options for improving rolls.
Q: COGG has a certain rating. What is the thought on controlled substances? A: He'd like to do a lot more with the insanity effects. As far as substances: that's why we have Physickers! They may do naughty recreational stuff, ooh, naughty~. It won't be a huge thing, but it could make for good smuggling tasks.
Q: Exploring Stormholdt: interacted with page; talking to the page gives information on Top of Class Guardian. Do all specializations in all guilds have their own leaders/gurus? A: It's something he's working on. For Stormholdt/the Warriors, he has them all listed out with their histories. He wants to make them. The other guilds, he doesn't have them planned out yet.
Q: Will there be pets at some point, not just for warlocks, for other players. A: "Domestic pets, sure, I think that's fun. I don't know that I'd want people other than specific classes running around with combat pets just because I don't want that to be a normal, given thing. Minions do come with a good number of balance issues attached to them." Combat pets will likely stay to warlocks and druids so far. There may be other options later down the road. Domestic pets would be cool, but he would need the domestic housing set up first.
Q: A while ago, I was told that armor does impact stealth rolls. Is it a flat penalty, or is there an armor use roll associated with it. Is it possible to be as sneaky with armor as without armor given passing rolls on relevant checks? A: No, it's just a flat penalty.
Q: ability/marauder bug fix when T_T valeria does it too (liberi hellions) and gets through guards to kill the squishies A: It is on the list to fix, and he is looking into it
Q: Also, the roundtime from noise-induced-searching affects their defense rolls (e.g. dodge). Is this still fine and will be left as-is? A: He thinks it's okay.
Q: Any advice for newcomers that doesn't involve screaming and flailing? A: Do the tutorial tasks, do Town Hall tasks to earn riln while you figure out what to do. If you want to make money, either take up combat and fight lootable stuff or find a craft you like! The old CLOK advice of "Forage Stuff" is not the best idea here. Don't rush yourself into picking a guild/class! But do it eventually because it opens a lot more potential. Don't be afraid to shelve characters! And you can use SKILL UNLEARN to unlearn choices. You can also use ABILITY UNLEARN to unlearn an ability. There's also an advice thread on the BBS that's stickied.
Q: Are Terlu and iquaj suppose to stack their duration when drawn multiple times? If not, can it be allowed to? It solves a lot of the issues with nightblades focusing in arcana. A: He doesn't remember if he intended to have glyphs be stackable. He'll think about it; it'd be nice, but on the other hand why bother having a higher duration if you can stack it? Original intent: no, but will be considered.
Q: Are there any designs drawn up for how trading will work? A: The hope is that it will have multiple facets; you'll be able to get into certain merchants and purchase opportunities from certain merchants based on your trading skill. People also really want to caravan between settlements, but Rias worries about massive money bins of riln. (New name for caravaning: frontier trucking.) Lots of ideas were tossed around: traders will need to hire goons/make arrangements to guard their caravan. Other things, can you bribe highwaymen, or pay acceptable tolls, etc. Lots of ways of going about it without combat, but very involved. Rias has toyed with the idea of alternative currencies but has never really got into that; would appreciate suggestions/ideas around economy and currency. Would love it if people could just be a trader and make equivalent money to everyone else just by doing that. Don't want traders to just make loads more money than other characters just because they're traders.
Q: are there plans for degradation of other items than armor, tools, and weapons such as clothing, shields (which are technically weapons), and sorcerous focuses? Foci? what's the plural of a sorcerous focus? Tulpa knows English, ask him this one. A: Shields need to degrade, clothes, yes over time and damage from certain activities. A fall or something to put some wear and tear. Shoes and so on from use over time.
Q: Are there plans for physical descriptions from CHARGEN to have in-game effects. For example, character height affecting one's ability to wield great weapons? A: It's one of those things we'll just have to roll with (so no, no plans currently.) Hopefully we don't get an influx of tiny people with greatswords for the sake of it, but Rias doesn't want to restrict players just because their character is shorter. If it seems very silly, the suggestion is to avoid making it a prominent thing.
Q: Are there plans to alter stagger? [Some discussion of it being difficult to counter] A: Incremental resistance to stagger with each application could be a possibility. Nothing concrete.
Q: Are there ways to circumvent the Draumfeldr? A: There are certain people that are considered trusted; it is possible to shield these people from being affected. Supposedly, they are exempt because they have the best interest of their people at heart. Normally it's just automatic.
Q: Are you aware that kite shields vs round shields offer no bonus, and if anything, kite shields just weigh more? A: Rias laughed at this. Yes, he needs to give them something, he added them and knew he needed to add something to differentiate them but then forgot because that's Rias for you. Ideas from Kaiju: Percentage bonus to defense like in The Other Game.
Q: Are you intending other combat tiers in regards to things like Shield Bash, where you can use it without balance. There's no negative to using it. Are you imagining other abilities like that, or is Shield Bash on its own? A: Shield Bash might need a glance if it's too powerful. It would be nice to have other abilities; he wants to make it a thing for Marauders, who would have 'desperate moves' and wouldn't require balance quite as much. It won't necessarily be exclusive to Shield Bash and Marauders, though.Q: Have you considered the fact that reactive shield bash maybe needs a lesser effect? A: I think that'd be the best way to do it.
Q: Armor currently doesn't affect stealth rolls. Is this something that will stay this way, or will it be changed? A: It's supposed to be affecting your stealth. It won't prevent you from hiding/sneaking, but people should see you.
Q: Armor Use: Effects purely encumbrance rolls currently, and with Tactics bonuses, and quality bonuses, how do you imagine 700 armor being worth it for the classes that can get it? Currently following trends, even if plate was 90/180, for a dreadnought you'd end up at 476 for a full suit of fine from a 720 base. Do you think armor use will end up affecting other abilities to make the higher skill more worthwhile for warrior builds to overtrain? A: Yeah, so. The hope is to have it play into abilities more, like the glancing blows ability will probably be updated to take armor and deflection into effect. This may also incorporate abilities that use the armor in other ways as well.
Q: Bloodglass will effect what weapons? A: Things that do slash, hack, pierce and rake. It has a high sharpness. No swords, that won't work, but handaxe could work. Rias then said ooh, a bloodglass flanged mace would be cool.
Q: Can help reroll (or some other document) be updated with all the syntaxes of rerolls? e.g. brackets, ambush exclamation points, etc. As well as clarification on their meanings (is an ambush -3! in addition to the shown normal reroll value, or already included in it?) A: That would be nice. Another one for the pile. the thing in parentheses is how much it was pushed down due to ambush.
Q: Can spears be used in conjunction with Tactics: Nightblade or other things? A: Spears are hand-and-a-half. They don't work well with light, finessey Nightblade and Duelist stuff.
Q: Can you confirm that fishing actually matters because you can fail the first roll and still catch the fish. A: He needs to look at the code as to why this is happening. He thinks it should be that the better the fish rolls against you the harder it is on line durability, as it stands.
Q: Changing topics, can I ask about the Artisan guild? There's been some pretty intense discussion about that this week, and I'm curious if it's prompted any thoughts about moving it up the list of priorities. And if so, whether we as players can help make the build-out easier with specific types of submissions. A: I don't have a specific timeframe for Artisan Guild. The more momentum keeps up, the more likely I will jump to it sooner than later. Please keep in mind to make suggestions that make the Artisans Guild feel useful and meaningful without turning into "don't bother crafting at all if you aren't an artisan." Just like people outside of the Warrior's guild can do warrioring [sic](combat). TL;DR: Make sure suggestions don't invalidate crafting outside of the guild.
Q: Cloak parry does not make a riln sink, but Dreadnought Blade Catch destroys gauntlets? A: Rias is going to get to that; it's one of the many half-baked mechanics he's got there. Eventually tailors will get business.
Q: Concussions someday please? A: That would be cool. Rias would have to study concussions, but he thinks that would be a cool effect. Talyn's Ideas: missing, negative rerolls. Kaiju's Response: Who wants to hear Talyn.
Q: Currently, some combat effects always seem to target a party leader. Why might that be?A: He doesn't know. There isn't any code that he's put in there to say "hit the party leader". NPCs choose their target individually.C: A suggestion was made to include a quicktime command for pull. Rias isn't sure what that solves (if the objection is that it's difficult to parse for screenreaders because of combat spam).
Q: Darkangel asks (muffled by a bandana-mask), "Also, would more dirty tricks be introduced in the future?" Rias says, "Did you have some specific dirty tricks in mind? We've got Dirtkick, and a few others have been suggested like the ever-popular groinkick." A: Rias says, "But in general: Yes, the plan is to add plenty of additional dirty tricks, particularly to fill out the repertoire of Marauders and Rogues." Q: Darkangel asks (muffled by a bandana-mask), "Hamstring, eyegouge, footstomp. I'm just hoping for a reliable way to play a coward. on that note, planting items on targets doesn't work?" Rias says, "And those others are all great candidates for the Dirty Trick List."
Q: Do you have any thoughts of hunting in general at the moment? Do you have any zones you think are too easy, too hard, not visited enough, gaps you think are glaring that you'd like to see to, etc? A: Still pretty sparse and would like to feel out the options and hasn't looked at combat recently
Q: Do you have any thoughts regarding the mechanics with mounted combat? Hot topic today A: Yes, there are ideas to have the mounts to scale with their rider instead of flat base skills and and in the future based on rider skill and your affinity with that mount,would be fun.
Q: Does metal affect crafting when it comes to armor, re: minor components? A: No, it doesn't affect its ability to protect, just the cost.
Q: "Do heavier blunt/crushing weapons do more damage than lighter ones? Like, a copper mace vs something dense like bronze?" A: No, but that's something he's thought about. It'd be a nice perk of the Extra Heavy Material.
Q: "In terms of crafting, can we know what you're more focused on working on? Looking at expanding what is currently available, or adding new types? Like, could we expect to see 2x medium pelts to equal 1x large, or will we see metal armor before? I'm not talking armor specifically, just curious to know what you're looking at branching on." A: He does want the pelts to work more like ingots, so you can use multiple pieces instead of requiring a single piece. He's most focused on more armor types; he's put out padded armor recently, which he thinks is a fun way to include tailors in making gear. He's also looking at plate and making it work. He's trying to decide how complicated he wants it to be; he's also looking to add greatswords. (In here, we talked about Greatswords vs. Longswords and how to balance them.)
Q: And is feint not suppose to surprise enemies when you use it from stealth with certain weapons that are both melee and ranged.A: Needs some poking at to figure out how to choose.
Q: Any chance for damaging-but-non-lethal weaponry for sparring? (e.g. wooden swords, blunted spears, that sort of thing) A: It's been long requested. Having sparring equipment that reduces the chances of further wounds is a good idea.
Q: Any intention for bone plates to make things lighter for part of armor? A: Could be a fun use.
Q: Are there any plans for the big cavalry type weapons: Lances, Pikes etc? Perhaps something to make horse riders feel cooler A: yeah, definitely lances just need to figure out a good way to make them work and not useable non-mounted
Q: Are we going to see variations of crossbows? We currently seem to have basic hand-drawn style variations in terms of damage vs longbows/roundtime, can we expect versions with a pull strength equivalent to heavy Genoese style and arbalests? I realize a current perk with the crossbow is the fact you can reload early, and carry, but in terms of load/fire weapons, how do you imagine this will be better compared to firearms? A: He would like to have some different types of crossbows! They'd just have to be interesting enough, of course; there's the ever-popular crossbow pistol, which might be a thing at some point. He doesn't want things that are more powerful (he doesn't think), because he doesn't want dependable one-shot wonders, even if it takes a long time; those things are not great. Differentiating them from guns, he doesn't know; he likes more and more the pneumatic angle and the idea that Prism gave about canister pressure with more successive shots that get weaker and weaker. So firearms (he got pedantic here and changed it to guns), it'll be more rapid, but lose power each time you fire.
Q: Are you happy with how greatswords have shaped up to be? A: He hasn't really been paying close attention. Dealing big slash damage is fun, especially with non-slash-resistant mobs, but Rias hasn't tracked the numbers.
Q: Are you intending bone/wood armor still? A: "Yeah, it'd probably break really fast, so it'd be a conscious choice." Will it be bone studded, like medium, and would wood be better for druidry? "It could be used in all sorts of different ways."
Q: Armor chink states that it "Requires a one-handed primarily Piercing or Puncturing weapon." Is there currently a way to determine what a weapon's primary damage type is if it has multiple damage types? A: There is not. He doesn't remember how it was determined, either. Silly Rias.
Q: Bit obscure here, but how much can Arcana affect natural forces? I can elaborate on that a bit. We have a glyph that levitates objects, a glyph that blurs a moving image, vice versa. Is the intention for it to be kinda similar to alchemy (as a real-world science) but more temporary in affecting how things work, or does it have a grander scale? A: This one is tricky to answer! He'll have to get back to us on that one. Regarding on-weapon glyphs that generate effects on hit, like force blast: that sort of stuff is possible, but he doesn't know what he'll put in yet. Arcana is still in flux!
Q: Bone and wood, is this one-shot stuff or is this easily craftable, or is it sustainable? A: It's repairable. It will require more replacement parts than other repairs, though. You'll still be able to get a set of bone-splint armor, get it altered, and know you'll never lose it when it breaks. Q: Does that translate into crossbows and bones? If we can repair wooden armor, can we repair bows and so forth? A: He's going to come up with some way to make it so you can have your fancy longbow with a cool description and have it repaired after it gets damaged, through some sort of maintenance; maybe occult, maybe druidic, maybe a craftsman-related thing.
Q: Claws are very ineffectual vs. certain opponents. Is this intended?A: It's intended that heavier armors are very effective versus rake and slash attacks in particular. They're similar damage types, rake and slash; he's happy to come up with things or take suggestions on how to distinguish one from the other.
Q: Do you have a list of weapons/armor you want to include in the game, or is it a bit more haphazard? A: It's mostly just ideas that strike him as being interesting as they occur: weapons that are different enough from what's out there to be interesting, or very cool concepts. Rias does acknowledge that some people are keen on slight variations on existing weapons for flavour, though, so he may accommodate that from time to time. It may be that if you have a cutlass you could get it altered into a sabre, for example. The worry is that if he wants to add something down the line that's a mechanically different sabre there would be inconsistency, but that is relatively easy to address.
Q: Do you have an update on information for Armor chink and armor use? A: It is planned to have armor skill to reduce chances of armor chink happening to you, not coded in yet.
Q: Does armor enc effect check effect swimming through openings, or is it the type of armor specifically? Example: I'm able to swm at enc 3 weight in one location with scale, but with bone splint at enc 2 was unable. A: It just means you've got too high of an armor level or you're carrying too much. The skill isn't even being considered, you just can't do it because of that armor, or because of that weight.
Q: Does the Nether connection fail due to the Nether touching the iron or being in proximity to it? If the latter, has anyone figured out the distance? Why doesn't Nether connection fail as soon as iron weapons touch a sorcerer's skin, ala being hit? A: It might be an interesting thing to say, something hit a sorcerer in the hands to disrupt them. But unless you're stabbing someone in the hands it's not going to be an issue.
Q: For a future question, how do you feel regarding armor values currently that are live and available for the population? I know a while back, you thought certain armor types needed a rework, and I think a lot of us agreed. But you've recently released things almost as good as ridgeleather (if not better). Do you still imagine a huge overhaul, or more minor tweaks? A: He will do that better once we have more heavy armors. We have plenty of light and some medium and ridge will be more entry level heavy and some mediums muscles in on that side of things. They all need balancing.
Q: For the random event armor chink for piercing or puncturing weapons, is the armor chink feature intended to be a general feature of one-handed and hand-and-a-half weapons, or determined more on a per weapon basis? A: It's on an ad hoc, per weapon basis.
Q: Greataxes when? A: Rias has always thought they were kind of silly, but people do love them. We might see them sometime.
Q: Have you thought about how you'll be doing shoe and boot making in the future? A: Not really. He thinks shoe making is cool, but it's something that needs to be balanced around leatherworking armor and stuff.
Q: How does armor chink work as a weapon property rather than the ability? What determines if it triggers? Could the ability maybe be renamed so we can have a help file on 'armor chink' as a game mechanic? A: Everything has its own base chance of armor chinking, and when you get the ability, it just improves that base chance while also giving the ability to perform the armor chink move, which increases it further. So the ability is just an improved version of the overall weapon thing. A helpfile would, in fact, be helpful.
Q: I think everyone admits side-by-side is terribly powerful. We all agree it should be strong, but maybe not as strong. Have you any idea on how to adjust it? Percent change, changing what it procs on, etc? A: Step one is to limit conditions where it can happen. To stop side by side chains some.
Q: If Mining gets a look over in regards to ease/1 point factor, can we get the coal seam back? A: Yeah for sure. Mining is in a weird place and it might be one of those things where yeah if you have one mining you can find copper but finding iron hard and very rare chance of anything else. Scale it up. To make a reason to invest more. Suggestions are welcome. Metal scale and chain will be medium armors
Q: in regard to other foci, are there intents for new foci to be added outside of rings? Are there, like, weapons that can be carved with focus patterns so you can use it for daily-living and for the purpose of channeling nether? A: There are 'maybe' plans for additional focuses for the purpose of channeling nether. Possibly a special merchant.
Q: In the Armor-Chink ability description, it says it works with any one-handed light puncturing weapon. Are there any puncturing weapons aside from polehammer and warhammer? A: There is not. If one was implemented, it would automatically work.
Q: Is it still leatherworking? It shows as splint leather cuirass. A: It's going to be similar to brigandine; you'll make the cuirass and add the splinting to it. Rias will also be adding padded versions as well, so you can turn padded armor into padded splint armor.
Q: Is padded cloth better than soft leather for channeling? Can I channel unhindered in padded cloth armor? A: it is not currently but it will be. Right now, channelling drop rates are based on armor weight. He wants to make it based on material type eventually.
Q: Marcuson says, "Verel had a question and has given the okay for me to ask it. I've also got another question of my own." Marcuson says, "Verel wonders if two-handed chain weapons will be a thing at some point. He'd like to be able to buy a flail for one of his characters." A: Rias says, "Maybe. Probably? I do have a soft spot for chained weapons, and am willing to give them more Rule of Cool leeway despite all the internet arguments out there saying how impractical they are."
Q: Moreover says, "I should remark that it is unseemly for such design of art go on mere average weapons." A: Rias exclaims, "One more reason to look forward to the artisans being able to upgrade the quality of items!"
Q: Should sorcerers be able to channel while holding a chunk of iron-bearing ore? (I actually don't know if they can or not.) A: Not really sure, a bit odd Things that stop nether from being generated is proximity (don't ask Rias parts per million) Alchemical damage does harm the weapon. For mechanical purposes we require material below a certain point, but a sword would need repaired. iron and ferrous weapons do have more protection against nether.
Q: So, when are we going to get to craft bone/wood/metal splint? And repair them? Is there any specific reason some of the other armors lack certain "slots", or the ability to craft them? For example, brigandine gloves and boots are available from stores, but not via crafting. A: The unavailability of some of them is because they look funny in Rias' mind, but he's been convinced to add some of them. Crafting the splint stuff is going to take a bit longer; repairs will require replacement pieces, so it needs added coding for replacing broken pieces.
Q: Visored helmets/greathelms? A: Yeah it's cool. full face covering etcetera soon(tm). There's already one in game from a legacy armor design (it's troublesome and keeps bugging out!)
Q: Weapon types. Are there going to be any new weapon types? A: If you saw them in the other game, you'll likely see them here with the exception of some. We also may get cultural weapons.
Q: What are the common uses for fjelbrons? A: Everything you think that they would use it for: extra-sturdy stuff, tools that are going to last longer, a nice strong hafted type weapon (like an axe). It's not as great for bladed weapons, because they don't get its full benefits, though you could use it for that.
Q: What are your thoughts on plate armor? Will it just be smiths taking X amount of ingots and forging it or something? A: That's what Rias is deliberating on. He wants to decide how complicated he wants it to be; it should be harder to create, but not boring to create so that people will actually want it. Then we talked about options for how it could be implemented that would give more than one profession things to do.
Q: What does weapon quality affect? A: Nothing at the moment, just the price. Open to interesting suggestions.
Q: What is the distinction between Pierce and Puncture in your mind? Additionally, how about Slash and Hack? Bludgeon and crush? Likely a couple similar sounding damage types I'm missing, I don't have a chart here of all of them. A: A lot of the time he considered it the force behind it. Pierce is precise, and the puncture is the force with something heavy behind it like a polehammer. Bludgeon and crush are similar. Less weight like quarterstaff, and crush is better for more armor. Hack and slash are different motions slash different movement hack is chopping where slash is sliding it across. Example from vc you chop an onion, you slice a tomato.
Q: What other weapon bases are you considering at the moment, beyond the greatsword? A: Macuahuitl is on the list! There were also lots of requests/suggestions, so we discussed them.
Q: What's the info on armor use skill you're keen on (Teri is mad)? A: There's nothing new since the last couple times we talked about it. Something about avoiding chink chances could be possible? He's honestly not looked into it at all.
Q: What's the specific benefit to 1.5 hand weapons? How do you feel about 1.5h weapons, do they fill a niche? A: He's happy to improve them in some way if people think they're lacking. But if you have a 1.5h that's as good as dedicated 1h or 2h weapons then why use anyhing else, on the other hand [T: hoho]. The design is such that it can be versatile, he doesn't want them to be as good as a dedicated 2h or 1h.
Q: Will it be possible for future nethertouched characters to wield iron or ferrous weapons if said weapon's handle is non-ferrous? For example, an iron spear, with a wooden haft? Or an iron sword with a bronze handle? A: No, it's a thing where proximity effects nether as well. He doesn't want finagly stuff like "polehammer, iron at the edge, technically X" sort of thing. If the major component is iron, they can't use it.
Q: Will metal armor material effect things beyond durability/weight? Will some metals offer bonuses like certain skins do currently, for damage types? A: Yeah. We can have some that are more resistant. We can, he would love to, but lacks the knowledge on what those bonuses would be. Would welcome suggestions.
Q: will reach weapons (polearms, etc) ever be more of a disadvantage than an advantage? A: long term planned, not yet implemented in any form
Q: Will some of the new weapons shown at these NPC shops like warmauls be player-craftable eventually A: Probably. There might be a couple that are kept unique for merchants, but he doesn't feel the need to do any of that so far.
Q: Will there be opportunities to get all-new items made with our own custom descriptions? A: At the moment, unless specified by the merchant, we like people to bring something that already exists to be altered. We don't like making completely new things. If merchants did agree to this, they aren't going to be functional items like weapons or armor. It's more likely they'd be significant "props" so as not to upset the established methods of acquiring items.
Q: Will there be penalties for magic use + armor blending? Like channel dropping? A: That's already a thing.
Q: Will we be able to get decorative armor (specifically, gold and silver brigandine?) A: This was actually possible, at one point, but it was removed for being too silly. Players can always take armor to merchants for customization, when they're around. In general, Rias would love to add more embellishments and non-functional crafted items, perhaps as a perk for higher skill levels.
Q: Will we be able to wear light armour underneath plate? Like how people would wear gambesons under plate in real life? A: No, plates will be built on top of those in the first place.
Q: Will we ever have nether procs for weapons other than knuckles or fists?"A: Maybe it would be based on specific ability and is trying to think of reasonable and cool. He is pondering a couple ways to approach it. It might be something with warlocks. Could possible a temp buff they could give to others. Another resource would maybe be soul shreds for something.
Q: Will we ever see horse armor? I know this is pushing things, because horses are already good. I just want to be a tank. And a tank should have a tank for a horse, no? I don't think you understand just...quite how much money I would pay for something like this. A: Yes, and it will actually protect the horse. Might be a way to get certain way for certain horses go get them to use it. You won't just slap it on them.
Q: Wood repairs? A: Repairs are always feel weird. Needs to poke at them because wood isn't like adding metal for repairs. Maybe will have it require the resource in the future. Follow up Q: Sinew armor repairs Sinew armor isn't repairable right now and it wasn't intended to be used as a cloth, but it was. He went ewww a lot at it, but went well it is what it is. Limbo space right now.
Q: Would you ever consider upgrading damage types for 1.5h weapons if they're wielded with two hands? The longsword, for example, does pierce damage currently. Would you ever consider a system where it does pierce if used one-handed, but is upgraded to puncture damage if wielded in two hands? A: That would need new code, but it could happen. The worry about upgrading it to puncture is that there would be calls for every 2h that does that to only do puncture, it's not a specialised weapon thing then. There'd be less motivation for different weapon choices.
Q:Perhaps much simpler a question than my others: should torches, lanterns, and lit netherbane oil prevent sorcery channeling, lore-wise, like iron does? If not, why not? A: Not necessary to put in, iron has a radiant effect around that stuff but direct contact with fire destroys nether. Iron is proximity based. Ideally he would love to have it for tainted people to become uncomfy if they have iron in their backpacks (note related to previous question, why nether touched/sorcerers can’t get away with using iron weapons even if only touching the wood, proximity)
Q: Press attacks when? A: He hasn't gotten around to it but he wants it.
Q: Handaxe: DF is the same one-handed and two-handed? Intentional? A: This one is not intentional. It's meant to be better two-handed than one-handed.
-rigging the rules: NPCs follow energy and balance constraints just as PCs do
Q So sort of a question about other people picking up ammo right away being possibly changed." A: That's something he's seen in other games too, where there's a timer for it so you can't pick things up. It is a frustration in this sort of game where people can do that, but it would be good to put in a short timer to prevent it from happening so quickly.
Q: Are bleeding wounds supposed to reopen at certain damage thresholds? A: He doesn't remember what the threshold is. They should, but he's not surprised if they don't. He doesn't think he got around to implementing it.
Q: Can you dual-wield axes? A: No, dual-wielding here is limited because it gets silly in other games.
Q: Should vital parts be the same for Nethrim? A: He doesn't know. Their chest isn't really vital but if you break it in half it should essentially be dead anyway. A lot of vital [targeting] stuff works on Nethrim. The system just kind of assumes you chopped their skull off, etc. Assume it's dead.
Q: Would you be open to rake causing bleeding wounds?A: Yeah, but there would have to be some more involved bleeding mechanic to make that work.
Q: Spears were used in phalanx tactics and were used to keep cavalry at bay. Will there be anything to allow people to fend off/attack something that isn't targetting them specifically?A: It might work. It'd be another guarding mechanic. He has wanted a general bonus to polearms vs. mounted attacks.
-Two suggestions: (1) if someone is holding an item registered to not them, have their corpse lootable for that item. (2) if someone steals, have them briefly be lootable (like 5 minutes or less after theft)." A: That's a cool idea. If you get killed and have stuff registered to someone else, it drops. That might work.









Undying/ESP and Twilight Eye





- Aura colors - knowledge of the name is somehow transmitted with the ESP message (hand-wave as needed, no effect on color blind or partially color blind folk; the pendant receiver is not the optic nerve).
Q: Crime: Lengthier Jail Times. Is that still a thing for extreme offenses/repeat offenders because of Undying? A: He doesn't think he wants to actually do that, just for consideration of the player (being stuck in a month is kind of sad if you aren't consenting to it?); he thinks he'll go to suspension of disbelief. It could be a long-term shelfing thing, but he thinks he would rather make it clear that the towns are upset with you, your rep is bad, you're turned away, so maybe you'll get banished instead of a compulsory shelving.
Q: If someone dies outside the Lost Lands and their corpse is thrown into it, for whatever reason, could they come back as Undying? Or do you have to die within the Lost Lands? Does it make a difference if you throw it immediately after death or, say, a year?" A: Rias says, "Information about the Undying is not plentiful and not particularly solid, but it's generally thought that you have to actually die in the Lost Lands to experience the Undying effect." You ask, "Maina: I believe you mentioned that terminal illness is not reversed by the Undying condition, but do people ever go to the Lost Lands in hopes of becoming Undying, particularly to save themselves from some condition?" Rias says, "As funny as it is to think about some twisted service where you sign up to have your corpse shipped to the Lost Lands after death for that chance at coming back. But alas: It doesn't seem to be a thing." Rias says, "The rumors about the Undying thing are typically considered rumors rather than facts outside the Quarantine, but I could see some people latching onto them just for a hope of escaping some kind of looming death. I wouldn't say it's common, but I could see the rare case of that happening."
Q: Punishments: Would they kill Undying multiple times or just jail forever? A: When it comes to Known Undying, lorewise, they'd probably just keep them confined somewhere to prevent someone from offing themselves somehow to keep them out of trouble/punish them. This would likely be most effective.
Q: Aras asks, "Can undying die of old age? if they do do they just become alive again, live some more and then die again, or do they just end up creating a pile of corpses in some random ally of realy old people?" Rias says, "The Undying need a functioning body. When the Undying 'come back' they don't come back in an improved or de-aged body. Once the body is old enough to die of old age, the Undying can't come back anymore. Similar for long-term health conditions that have gone untreated. Undying are also susceptible to terminal disease and the like." Rias says, "So the Undying thing is mostly applicable to things like sudden death brought on by external reasons. Not the natural/gradual failure of the body on its own." Rias says, "Get squashed in a cave-in in the mines? An Undying could come back. Get Black Lung in the mines? The Undying condition won't help there." Rias says, "So, the Undying still do need to take at least some level of care of themselves."
Q: Are there stories of undying commonly told in the Lost Lands? Any :wink: :wink: notable ones? If you need specifics cause you're mean, any particular stories of undying not dying of old age, in particular A: He doesn't have any specific ones but there are probably one's because they did awesome things who are undying. And ones who die, they have a limited number of lives but don't know which is there last. Tempted to add a randomized undying option where you don't know how many lives. The authentic undying experience trademarked
Q: Eugor asks, "How did the people outside the lost lands first find out about the undying? Was there a first?" A: Rias says, "They heard about it through the clearly insane rumors and rantings of crazypeople from that lawless backwater ruin country." Rias says, "I think it's safe to say most of the outside world doesn't actually believe it's a thing." Rias says, "And those that go in to investigate have this frustrating tendency to not be able to get back out." Rias says, "And just because there has been some confusion on the topic: The Undying thing seems to be exclusive to the Lost Lands."
Q: What do places do with undying criminals? A: Often exile or permanent imprisonment, but usually exile.
Q: What happens to Undying memories when they're killed? What is the recall level on short term memory regarding waking up and remembering? A: It varies. There's no real way to enforce forgetting the past X amount of minutes, though you absolutely can choose to roleplay that way. There's no required forgetting anything rule.
Q: will there ever be the ability to move a character to perma-death later on (after having started as Undying)? A: something that's come up a couple of times. Idunno. I always worry that that would happen and they would be like that's gonna be really cool and then it actually happens --- and then they're like, i don't know that i like that. C: There was talk about a mode where your character has a limited number of undying deaths: you might have 1 you might have 10 (randomized).
Q: Would being Undying affect your ability to just come back from infestation-related death/loss of control? A: If you're Undying and you die, you come back with your Afflictions still intact, lucky you!
- ESP will probably be divided into zones with some capturable 'ESP-enhancers' for expanding one's zones. There probably will be some creepy areas that are ESP dead zones.
- Group tasks - have people sign up for roles and then they get an esp tingle (like mail) when enough people have signed up and are online. Group receives task as a group (possible with objectives assigned to each group member based on role signed up for).
A: Rias says, "I'll go through my emails after I eat dinner after this meeting." A: Rias says, "And I'll try to remember the ones that are flagged but not unread, because I have a habit of reading an email, taking a while to think of how to reply, and then something else comes up and I swear to get back to it later. Butterflies, butterflies everywhere. I delibrate way too long over writing email responses. I should give myself some kind of sentence limit."
C: One of the comments rias often hears: we have a really good community here. It's been really cool to see people responding to events. He's coming back from a hiatus, which has been nothing to do with the game. You guys are awesome.
Q: any particular reasoning behind not being able to have some context on RPA's? I'd really love to know what I'm doing right. Usually I can theorize, but there's no way to be sure, especially when I play characters that do lots of things in a day that might possibly warrant one. A: (I don’t have notes here, but discussion was about it swaying how people react to others knowing who was doing so and hard feelings it could cause)
Q: Aras asks, "Do undying always quickly come back or is that a thing to make playing more fun?" A: Rias says, "The near-instant respawn is for Game Reasons(tm). Lorewise it's something that can take quite a long time, but can also happen somewhat quickly. But not a few seconds or minutes or hours. That's game mechanics over lore. And now I want to start working on the death reform stuff! (P.S. It won't be hours between deaths or anything still, but it will no longer be instantaneous.)."
Q: Eagalon says, "2 suggestions, related to previously raised points. and one lore question." Eagalon says, "My suggestion was regarding the esp colors, well, the suggestion is that perhaps you could reserve it by paying 5000 or similar big amount of riln for a certain duration of time like say double the duration of the reactivating shelved chars." Eagalon says, "And if you still dont play the char in question in lets say 2 months, then that would mean that its not a priority. or may be the duration can be 6 months or how much you pay in advance but it can be done with only 1 or two chars per account. A: Rias says, "A paid reservation could help frivolous reservations, yeah. I'd still want an overall limit per account, but that would be good to weed out the "meh, don't really care much but why not" reservations." Eagalon asks, "Thank you, the second suggestion is related to the point frisbee raised, what if you could name yourself for free the first time but every other time you have to go to the townhall and pay a fee to rename yourself?" Eagalon says, "It would also help the town to know your current name so they would put your current name on the posters." Rias says, "Hmmm, yeah, there might be some merit to the idea of a paid more "official" renaming that could go on records and whatnot. And only allowing it once every so often." Rias adds some ideas to The List.
Q: Is it intended for PCs to be able to just put punctuation over the Pendant Network as a way to circumvent not speaking over the Pendant Network? ex: "esp $laughs ..." or "esp !" A: No, he doesn't love that. There are plans to make it not possible in the near future; you need to say something. Feel free to use speech to convey the same feeling, expression etc. The pendants aren't just sensitive to sounds like microphones, it's about intent and communication.
Q: Is the data sent over the ESP network purely words? Or can they be considered more thoughts of feeling and intent? The latter is how I always assumed my uneducated street rat would know what any of these fancy colors were, hence my question. A: Pretty much walkie talky. We handwave knowing the exact colours. Sort of vision of the colour in head. Need to ID people for game purposes.
Q: Is the voice heard instantaneously throughout the entire reach of the network when broadcasting? A: Yes. Once network ranges get bigger, it might sound faint in the future you know they far. - Undying lore - the pendants worn by corpses should be colorless/gray
Q: Is there any visible action, beyond the pendant lighting up, that indicates someone is speaking over ESP? I've had a few occasions of wanting to emote something related to my pendant. I believe a recent case was something like the following: emote shrugs his shoulders, offering in a bored tone, "No, he hasn't given me any reason to--" he pauses, glancing down at his pendant and opening his mouth as if to say something before shrugging again and returning to his previous line of thought. This works, of course, I was just curious if there was anything else I could do, especially if I had chosen to actually respond via ESP. (edited) A: Talking out loud is picked up by the pendant
Q: Marcuson says, "I've got two technical questions. There is a world cap on the number of quivering bowstrings. I've noticed that there are four crossbows on the market with quivering bowstrings attached. Do those count toward the cap? That might be a problem because those bowstrings do not despawn, as far as I know. On the other hand, it'd be a problem to have people storing the bowstrings at the market." A: Rias says, "Yes, there's an overall cap of those bowstrings that can exist at once in the game. And huh, the market thing might be an issue. I'll look into that."
Q: Question - How long has the Twilight eye been around. (Make sure to ask this with some base in your voice. THEY KNOW!)A: Nobody really knows. Rias knows things. He knows how long
Q: Rocode asks, "Anyway, what does ESP stand for IC? Do we have a reason to capitalize it IC?" A: Rias says, "Extra-Sensory Perception, same as our real world acronym." Rias says, "It's something that dates waaaaay back to before much lore was lore, and it just kind of stuck without much thought since."
Q: Rocode says, "Adding on to a previous VC conversation, you have stated you won't accept donations or patreon, despite our desire to throw money at you. Would you be open to choosing a charity of choice every three months or so, so we as a community could donate to that instead? Would be a fun community project, and see how much we can raise in cycles." A: Rias says, "The FAQ lists the charities I support, including American Red Cross, UNICEF, Natural Resource Defense Council, Wildlife Conservation Network, and uh... not sure if I'm going to keep Sierra Club on there, but we won't wander off into politics here." Rias says, "But having a Charity of the Quarter or something could be fun too."
Q: says, "How do you feel about throwing conflict RP onto people who haven't logged on for ages, but as soon as they're around they're the "excuse" for it? Like, well, XYZ is about, and it doesn't matter if they've done anything to me personally lately, it's my RP so it's their fault."A: Rias asks, "If someone hasn't logged in for a long time, it's probably best to let any longstanding situations kind of get rehashed a bit before just leaping into physical violence, I think?" Q "So, if someone is being a gobby crape as soon as you log on, just leave them alone?" Rias says, "See if the conflict and the RP is still there to be picked back up, and if it seems so, continue on. But probably not best to have someone jumped the moment they come back when they might not even recall all the details of what was going on. Do approach them and the situation, but just kind of feel it out first." Rias says, "If someone pops back in after a long time and jumps right back into it, then it seems reasonable to respond in kind." Q "I'm referring to just coming back in, and someone immediately starting on them without previous engagement since being about."A: Rias asks, "Like Bob logging in, and Sue immediately getting on his case verbally somehow? Like on ESP or something?" Q: "Sure, yep. No prior engagement, or anything beyond the whole acknowledgement that said person is online and around with the pulse thing." Rias says, "I think if it's part of ongoing RP conflict that'd be all right? But also keep in mind that we're all here to play a game and maybe don't just dig into it literally every single time the person logs in, unless they've made it apparent they're interested in participating in that line of RP as well. I feel like nobody would want to be harassed immediately every time they log in, so I would recommend showing some restraint and giving them time to enjoy non-conflift play until they give some sort of pompt or opening or segue into it."
Q: Taliba asks, "My first question are the ones from BBS. Do ESP crystals work when cracked? Could you grind one up and have ESP glitter?" A: ((DEV Rias)) says, "Cracking them would prevent them from working, alas. They're fairly fragile things." ((DEV Rias)) says, "That's why you have to wait for a special rare merchant to get those pendants in nonstandard shapes. There's a lot that goes into making the things work right, and presumably the form of the crystal is important in some way."
Q: Teri asks, "I was waiting to do that. My question. This may have come up before, but when characters speak in other languages on the network their words are seemingly translated. Is it translated to common for those on the network, or translated to a language they can understand? Would it be weird to utilize in an rp way of not speaking common by usage of the network?"A: Rias says, "It's translated by the Power of Bug." Rias says, "I keep forgetting to fix that. Languages should remain language-y over ESP."
Q: Teri says (muffled by a mask), "My next question is about email updates. Sorry! A few have asked about response times, and I assume Octum has been very busy. No one wants to bother you, but they worry about emails bouncing if you did write replies, so they sort of linger in limbo unsure about sending follow ups."
Q: Teri says, "Asking a question from bbs. 'Are there records of the first ever ESP transmission in-game that didn't occur for testing purposes? What did it pertain to?'."Teri says, "I bet it was something dumb, like "is this dubious thing working?"."A: Rias says, "Uh, it might be floating around somewhere." Rias says, "Earliest ESP message I see: 'hello? h,hello? this thing work? hmm need to remember to pay my rent, uh, hello?'." Rias says, "And then it's someone asking how to open lockboxes."
Q: What type of crystal are the ESP pendants? Anything specific? Or just a crystal? A: Like the anomalous chalk, the ESP crystals have no classification.
Q: Who has the longest lifespan? A: He's going to have to think about that (but had an instinctive response that he's going to withhold!)
Q: Who makes the ESP pendants? Are they created by normal people? Are they magically created? A: This is the mystery! It's lost technology! FEAR IT, AND ITS MAGICAL CAPABILITIES!
Q: Will it ever be possible for PCs to interact with Temicotli in some way? A: Maybe that's what the esp network is? that'd be something that potentially PCs could think that they might be utilising. But Rias doesn't like to confirm or deny some of the weirder cosmic stuff.
Q: Will there be new ESP colours in the future? Would that be better more of a suggestion type of thread? A: That'd be good as a thread. He just needs ideas!
Q: Would it be possible for denizens of the Lost Lands to exchange correspondences with people outside of the quarantine? A: Technically possible. The ships that are abletake big things of mail but don't bet on it making it to the destination and occasionally exports. Obviously approved by the quarantine blockade.
Q:Khan asks, "Oh, hey. So. Less a question, and more an observation from viewing question. When these meetings are held, both ingame and on discord, it would probably be pretty neat/useful if that when you logged in while it was ongoing that there was maybe a message just announcing it. "There is currently a discussion ongoing with Staff about the game, and it can be accessed via... etc." I'm not sure how easy that would be to do, but during these hours the game can be pretty empty despite the huge population so possibly just informative?"A: Rias says, "Oh, yeah, that would be pretty neat."
Q: asks, "In regards to policy, if a character is continually antagonistic through words rather than physical actions, is it acceptable to retaliate with a physical response? Are there any lines in this situation, at what point is it "griefing"?" A: Rias says, "If someone is frequently poking and prodding at someone else verbally, I think it's acceptable to see that potentially come to physical blows. It's not something I think we can really have a perfect "rule" on with an exact statement of when it is and isn't acceptable. But as I often say: Don't act surprised when you poke a bear and it mauls you for it." Rias says, "On the flip side: If someone is using this kind of thinking as an excuse, like "I didn't like the tone they said hello to me in so I stabbed them" then of course that's going to be an issue that we'll look into."Rias says, "We trust players to be reasonable, and in cases where things get murky we as staff can always step in."Rias says, "If anyone feels they're being aggressively targeted through some situation like this, please do let staff know."
Q: Chariot asks, "First, is there a follow up story or plan for esp interruption that brings twilight eye crystals into a sorry state, after that morbid mysterious voice on the network?" A: Rias says, "Tehee." Rias says, "I'm glad someone remembers that something actually happened there! I'm sure you'll hear about it again at some point." Rias says, "(And if anyone has any theories, do post them on the Crackpot Theories thread of the BBS sometime.)." Chariot asks, "And a bit of follow up from that question if you don't mind. If I understand correctly, speaking through esp requires at least a bit of focus right? It's not like speaking into a microphone and anything can trigger just because you shout into it right? Rias says, "Correct, you have to be talking with the intent to transmit what you're saying. It's not just idly picking up sound, or the ESP network would be a lot noisier."
Last edited by Teri on Fri Jan 06, 2023 7:08 pm, edited 2 times in total.
Oh no, looks like I might die as I have lived. In the wrong place at the wrong time
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Teri
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Animals

Post by Teri »

Animals

Q: Are animals that leave Tyr-Gwyrd barred from returning, or does the Draumfeldr (and cultural taboo) only apply to humans? A: It is 'solo los hermanos' (i.e. it only applies to humans).
Q: Do snares only disappear after an animal enters them? A: Some items aren't disappearing the way they're meant to due to some updates Rias did.
Q: In the description for beekeeping, it says there's going to be wild bees. Will that be animal husbandry? Is it still on the cards at all? A: Yes. He wants more applications of animal husbandry outside of farms, definitely.
Q: What kinds of 'large' animals are envisaged for Animal Husbandry (either on the farms or in the wild) besides cows? Will we see a 'shearing' style, long cooldown option for large livestock? A: There are two new livestock species in the works, but both will occupy the medium-sized sheds (T: I think this refers to small sheds rather than an entirely new shed-size?), rather than large ones. They're almost ready, Rias just needs to get them to eat their food! He's made an effort to come up with ideas other than just shearing.
Q: Why can't we heal animals? A: Because they technically have to accept. (This isn't going to change any time soon, is the upshot I think)
c Rias would appreciate ideas for usage of the new scales. Trinkets or anything else made from scales
Q: Are there plans to have a recruiter akin to Alorin showing up at Blackwater logging camp so people can get the official sales pitch? A: Maybe, there are plans for GMs to come around and make sales pitches, yes.
Q: Can non-human elements be Undying? Horses, for example, or quasi-intelligent fungi? A: Only been observed with humans
Q: Can we have scale helmets, gloves, boots, and gorgets be a thing A: Yeah, they'll be added in eventually! Fellborn has been bugging Rias about it too.
Q: Do people eat horses? A: In the end, probably, if they're hungry enough. But as a common source of meat? Most would shy away from it, as horses are useful for so much else.
Q: Fortourgy horse maybe someday or no never? A: That's not gonna work. But maybe. Who knows. Rias is weird and may let someone have it.
Q: Has player-made lore ever been made canon? (Especially: historical accounts) A: Rias asks people to avoid fabricating historical accounts and world-building in a big way. If that kind of thing came out, he wouldn't want to have to tell people they were wrong. Basically, don't make up significant historical events (but small-scale stories and the like, where there is some room for doubt or else extreme specificity, are probably okay; use your better judgement, or make a BBS enquiry.)
Q: Horseshoes when? We have nails, and we have horseshoes. A: We can start off for funsies, adding decor to your horse and then eventually we can add coded buffs and stuff. He has to do some research. Talyn knew the answer to this, though, and had ideas about using horse care: unshoeing, having to use blades to trim hooves, the files, et cetera.
Q: How old is "old" in the Lost Lands? A: In the character generator, the oldest you can pick is 80. That would be a baseline to base the age scale on. It's going to vary person to person, but if you're 70, you'd be considered 'old' probably. Rias hasn't thought about it clearly.
Q: I know they aren't a guild, but are Mummers still a thing in the setting? What are they like, if so?A: The Mummers are still a thing. They're still led by Mayhew, who was one of Rias's favourite NPCs from CLOK. They're just wandering around doing their thing. They don't still have a monopoly around ESP stuff, that's more associated with the Twilight Eye. They might still be associated with ESP, however, but he would have to think about that a bit. There are always going to be the rumours that some of them are really weird, and/or seem to have really weird powers. "Is there something else going on here, or is it really just this troupe of performers?" They have this air of mystery going on. Rias wants to bring their camp back.
Q: Lexx asks, "There's a large geological feature southeast-ish of the intersection near to Tarueka - I'm not sure if it's a mountain, a mesa/butte, or just some hills. I can't recall if the room descriptions say, but regardless - does that feature have a name or identifying label that we might know?" A: Rias exclaims, "And hey, if you have some theories on why it's specifically ravens that we see so often, there's that Crackpot Theories board again!" Rias says, "Hee hee. Lexx's Butte. (Another GM's suggestion, not mine.)." Rias exclaims, "But no, at the moment it doesn't have a name or particular description. I should add some though, because it does have its own significance!" Prism says, "Imb4 Mount Mack. 700 climbing requirement to make it all the way up there. When you get there, it's just a giant thornleaf bush that pokes you and knocks you down to the bottom." Rias says, "It's not a mesa though, it's craggy steep rocky hills."
Q: Moreover asks, "And lastly, could we see some more bandages in some of the out of the way places that have shops that carry tools, etc?" Moreover says, "Blackwater logging camp, the new waystation." A: Rias says, "Sure, if you find outposts that don't have bandages but probably should, feel free to post in the Outposts section of the BBS and request they can get some added." Rias says, "Those are both good candidates for bandage-having." Moreover says, "There is often a hospital sited at universities teaching med school , so even bandages available at the library would make sense." Rias says, "The Library needs a full infirmary."
Q: Suggestion for eating grass for moral for horses would be neat A: Likes the idea Follow up Q: Angry horses, current work around is bard for the horse, but Rias intends to take a look at it.
Q: Will there be more ambushes on the wilderness roads, as we had with the koalites? A: For some commentary on this, see the BBS thread 'the lost lands are going to get more dangerous'. Rias does want the wilderness to be more than just traipsing through the flowers. It's the Lost Lands. That said, it's not a death zone *all the time*, but there should be a chance of danger! So yes, he's like ambushes on roads to be a more typical occurrence. It's not necessarily a special invasion or infestation every time something like that happens, it's just dangerous out there! He wants to see more little attacks on the town and stuff like that; that's how he envisions the Lost Lands. At the moment people think it's safe unless you specifically walk into a den of danger, but that will change. He wants a balance between danger and not being stuck trying to do really basic stuff all the time, like going to the library. One of the things rias misses from CLOK: there were bison and coyotes just roaming around (again, balance is important --- he doesn't want so many that people just don't have to hunt anymore). You didn't have to specifically hunt for them. It would be interesting to have more going on out there in the wilderness generally, both dangerous and benign things. We got to talking about tarruks and what they actually look like. Rias says he's commissioned someone to draw a picture of one!
Q: Will we be able to drag as a group? e.g. volmonk corpses are too heavy for one person to drag. A: Sorry about that. Yes we might, he's looked into this before and doesn't object to it but it's very complicated.
Q: Would it be possible for us to get Weight Scales at market? A: Yes, probably.
Q: You say, "One last bbs question, then I'm afk a moment: Some of these festival toys and trinkets are very much suited as stationary items, something furniture weight. Given we have nothing but chairs anyway, could something heavy or supposedly heavy like those huge statues and horse toys be made stationary and janitor proof? It makes more sense than carrying two rocking horses and have stick horses in the bag with 2 encumbrance A: Rias says, "I'm hesitant to add janitor-proofing to things, because then we get them piling up and/or used for silly things. The rocking-horses should probably be made to require two hands to carry around, though I'm pretty sure that code is old and doesn't actually work."
Q:How big are brown worms? A:They could swallow a horse?
Q: Zombilicious says, "Going back to Prism's earlier inquiry regarding us giving ideas for huntables: does this also count for insects that can be collected? I know I already made a moth, but could I also sent you spiders." Zombilicious asks, "What about centipedes, bees, wasps, butterflies, normal flies, and ticks?" Zombilicious says, "Look, I play an entomologist, I have to care about all the bugs, even the gross ones." A: Rias says, "Please send me all the moths and spiders." Rias says, "All bugs are beautiful."
- If you want to suggest wilderness critters, please do. Descriptions for them are helpful.
Q: Is there a reason that small corpses can't be picked up with the GET command, but also can't be dragged?A: Not really, that was an oversight. He probably would end up adding in 'smells of rotting flesh as you're running around'. The original reason was that, at first, there was some weirdness with corpses, some confusion about whether they're items or special types of characters, whether corpses should shouldn't be in an inventory etc.. All obsolete stuff. It could probably change in the future.
Q: Will birds be huntable? Pigeons, pheasant, water fowl, etc. A: Birds can be huntable. We're monsters for wanting to eat pigeons. Apparently we're weird for wanting squab. Then there was a lot of talk about eating pigeons and farming pigeons.
Q: You ask, "From BBS: What does a snowbird look like?" A: Rias says, "The snowbird I have in mind is a smallish mostly-white bird with some reddish-brownish accents on its head and chest, and some darker accents on its wings. But I'm no ornithologist."
Q: What's with the mongoose of Stormholdt? A: Mongooses eat snakes.
Q: Deer don't have a description. What type of deer are they? A: He has to consider it! This will involve research.
Q: Do we have kangaroos? A: Probably not.
Last edited by Teri on Fri Jan 06, 2023 7:08 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Oh no, looks like I might die as I have lived. In the wrong place at the wrong time
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Teri
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Crafting, Materials, skills, and Class questions

Post by Teri »

Crafting/materials


- Bushcraft campsite is potentially on the table, but right balance needs to be struck. Will deteriorate / not be permanent.
Q: Does the Growth ability have an impact on the foraged output of a room? A: It does cause things you can survey to grow back faster. It does actually affect the things it messages about, yes. Animals lose some energy, plants lose some growth progress (those that aren't just assumed background stuff like rooms saying they have foliage or grass but not actual stuff in survey). The Growth effect causes forage/trees to grow up to 2x as fast and crops up to 1.5x (during the duration of the effect). It doesn't affect fish, hunting, or livestock. Just the more planty-type friends.
-Aengelfish might exist in Cogg, Rias does not know yet.
-Rias wants more traps.
C: It might be good to have a separate fishing record for spearfished and angled fish.
Q Is there any chance of getting the "shattered" kind of ESP crystal conversions done at a Twilight Eye like the new exchangeable amulets? A: He likes that idea yes (in regards to the one off festival esp items like the silver rings so instead of them fading forever, he liked Kaijus idea of it being a service charge of 500 or something to keep the item going, instead of swapping a pendant in. (Also judging me the the 100 odd pendants I had, not my fault the market told me to go away! Muaha)
Q: A questions someone sent me "Gaelwood/ other new materials when?" A: Gaelwood should probably happen at some point soon. It will probably be an event. There will be new scale types, but not wyrm scales. More ambient messages in the wilderness was discussed, more birdsong (yay). Prism has ideas about bird hunting.
Q: And this one's only meant as a lore question due to something that came up in chat! Prosthetics. As early as the 1400s, real-life had instances of metal hands, including a famous one worn by Gotz of the Iron hand, that could lock its fingers via its spring-loaded system to things as delicate as writing with a quill. Is there anything similar in COGG's world, how do people cope with limb loss when not Undying? A: He can see stuff like that, especially in places like Khaldea where they love that. To what level, he's unsure; he doesn't know enough behind the science to make adequate assumptions on implementation. If they can find some way to get around a missing limb, with the technology available -- peg legs and stuff. In Khaldea, they're definitely doing fancy stuff. Purely as a lore thing; not for characters generally, thus now. It starts to get dicey.
Q: Any chance we could get different types of Brigandine/Ridgeleather gloves and boots, I.E. spiked/plated knuckles, metal-toes etc? A: Perhaps, sounds like special merchant goods. Rias doesn't want to do spikes, specifically, since people would be expecting extra damage. But cosmetic differences are always fun!
Q: Are there any historical records, for example in the library, that can give us a clue as to the identities of the armies in the Night Meadows? e.g. Based on their Red and Gold insignia and horsehair helmets? A: Not yet, but there will be lore studies dropped about that stuff in the future.
Q: Are there any plans for, if not custom, then a list of choices, such as in totem designs for clothing/leatherworking? I.E. a billowing, short or curve-hugging dress? A: Wants to do it and more suggestion are helpful on bbs
Q: Are there currently any construction recipes that use masonry: A:There is 1, the stone well.
Q: Are we going to be able to dye splints from the festival, or only player-crafted splints? A: Since their base is leather, which is dyeable, they should be dyeable. It might be a little weird, depending on how they're coded, but they will be eventually dyeable. He'll look into it.
Q: Argent asks, "Anyway. Question one, is there ever going to be any way, shape or form in which players can customise gear they have crafted? I know that would sort of kill event merchants to an extent, but maybe we could reserve them for specific things, and have a limited catalogue for crafter players?" A: ((DEV Rias)) says, "I was actually dreaming of gear customization options last night. Or the night before that? I often dream of features I hope to get to while falling asleep." ((DEV Rias)) says, "But yes, I'd love to really crank a customization system up to 11 one day. Add embellishments, swap string order, stuff like that."((DEV Rias)) says, "Add gems to bling things up if you're one of -those- people."((DEV Rias)) says, "I wonder if that'd drive up the price of things like fey emeralds and fire rubies and whatnot." Speaking to ((DEV Rias)), ((Event Staff Fellborn)) says, "I like anything that puts me out of work." ((DEV Rias)) says, "But yeah, it would make GM merchants a bit less special... but I think that's okay. I'm happy to pass some of feeling of specialness off to players and let the do it."
Q: Artisans aren't around yet, but: what about enameled pottery and porcelain or working with metalworkers to produce cloisonne work? A: Rias has talked about regular professions building off artisans. Cloisonne especially would be good for artisans working together. Don't say gemstone, it upsets the lapidary people.
Q: Bronze metals: there are things you can't work by hammer, but there are things that can be cast? If casting, is it OK to cast it instead of hammer it? Is it kosher? Is it acceptable? A: You shouldn't be able to cast things that aren't hammerable anyways. If you have a mold, it's acceptable to cast bronze in it. Why no bronze arrow heads or bolt heads? Rias might have overlooked them.Correction on metalcasting: You can metalcast things you can't hammer from that metal. It's intended to be able to, say, have someone hammer you out an iron short blade, make a mold of it, and then metalcast a bronze short blade even though bronze short blades can't be made by hammering. There are some items types that shouldn't be metalcastable though, like long blades.
Q: Can GMs approve craftmarks, or is that Rias only? A: Not yet. It is something to be worked out and made possible.
Q: Can you melt lockboxes that are metal? A: No. No you cannot.
Q: Crafting: do minor components persist on the server? A: No, the actual item gets destroyed, it just gets shown on the item, so there's no massive bloat there from them. He wants to bundle something else. If he makes items bundling, can be make it where if you hold a bundle, can it work towards item creation? Apparently for fletching it required splitting it from a bundle.
Q: Do the special materials have a canon appearance? A: Most are not mentioned or fleshed out yet. Kobaltarn is blue.
Q: Do you have stats on squirrels owned, trees cut, etc? I think that could be cool to learn how awful we are. A: Apparently the squirrel population is out of control. I can't remember if the rest of this was answered, sorry. There was also a question about the recent changes to prevent mass-dyeing items; the upshot was that, no, we probably won't see any big changes to how it works. Tailors are normally better off compared with other professions, so they don't need the extra advantage. Rias also says we shouldn't worry too much about the difference between thread, yarn, cordage etcetera. Just assume those things are the same.
Q: Does anything affect the spawn rates of fish in specific areas, such as weather or time of day? Or is it more fixed/simplistic than that? A: Not at the moment but on to do list. Fishing in general needs some poking. Throw out fish suggestions. Often will make up things so fish details don't have someone going this fish doesn't live like this
Q: Fishing in Valeria when? A: He forgot to add fish when building it. C: He does need to look at fishing code again. It's very old. It's a tug of war: it's possible to start with a high enough advantage so they just fail anyway, which does negate the tug of war aspect.
Q: Frisbee says, "There are a couple of places, where your character's real name appears, instead of whatever you're generally known by, or a vague description of you. I'm talking about posters, and company roster list thingies."Rias nods. Frisbee says, "It's not uncommon, in a world like this, for people to go by different names from what their coded name is, so I think that just causes confusion, and spoils a lot of things that could have been discovered IC."Frisbee says, "I'm not sure how this could be fixed, except recruit people into a company only when you've named them, and just leave the wanted poster without a name."Frisbee says, "Oh, the fishing records, too." A: Rias says, "Yeah, that's understandable. The flip side is people who do something like "name self as Verungnr, Abyssal Horror, Terror of the Depths" and then get their fishing record, then name themselves back to Bob. Silly stuff like that. But it's something to look into, I agree."
Q: Have you made any progress on non-ferrous castable stuff? Maybe fantasy ores that are more common than Celestium? A: He has not yet, aside from speculative planning. He is excited to do it, though! He starts thinking about made up materials, and this really tickles his bumblebees until he remembers he has other stuff to do.
Q: How big are the logs we chop off of trees? Lengthwise and around, please. A: As big as they need to be for the crafting. Item properties outside of item weight and rough size are not tracked in the code intentionally.
Q: How do i get a mermaid figurine to match my mermaid soap and mermaid candle (and also phoenixes if they don't exist idk i can't craft figurines) A: Rias wants to have a customize option for those figurines, and needs to approve lots more designs.
Q: How do you envision cooking? Recipes like you have now? Making all the small bits and stuff to create bigger stuff? A: He thinks he's going to keep it on the recipe system how it is now. He just has to throw more into it. Bombard him with cooking recipes, everyone. We deserve more food.
Q: How do you imagine horse barding? A: He could see it happening. It'd be cool. You'd need a horse trained for it, the mules won't have it or anything, the chestnut horse won't have barding immediately. Q: Will there be variations? Leather, padding, scale, metal, etc? A: That'd be easy and it'd be good to have options, yes. Crafters of different professions will be able to contribute.
Q: How many rare materials are planned? A: Celestium and sunsteel are the ones most people are aware of. He doesn't really like people wanting celestium just because it's the super-rare thing. He wants to get more out there so it's not just celestium as the top-tier thing.
Q: How rare is fjelbrons intended to be, compared with riversteel? A: He figures about the same-ish, but it's not written in stone. He hasn't released a tonne of fjelbrons because it's not entirely finished yet and doesn't have as much going for it.
Q: How would you feel about adding the basic base-color dyes as unlimited purchase from the dye shop, such as red dye and blue dye, brown, etc. Not black, though. That would be absurd. A: He doesn't know about basic everything, but he could definitely put some colors that are found easily in the Dye Cottage as off-the-shelves.
Q: I found an aster opal; I Googled it, and Gemstone IV came up and I read the description for it and etc. Is it planned for fancy things, or is it just an Easter Egg? A: He has no plans for it, it's just a gemstone here. He's always willing to take suggestions for improved gem descriptions, also.
Q: I tried very hard to limit othergameisms from this list, but this one is sadly an exception. Will fingerless gloves be their own fancy thing as they were elsewhere, or, for the purposes of customization and such, can they be the same as regular gloves?A: Nah, they can just be something that people can make and get. They will eventually be a recipe.
Q: If we have locksmithing, are we going to be able of making locks? as in, taking a container and crafting a lock to put on it? A: That's interesting, sure. File it under probably.
Q: In a certain lore blurb, we're told that jelly-spattered hillant colony husks are sometimes used for culinary, medicinal, alchemical, and ritual purposes. PCs already have access to one of those uses, but could we get hints at what those other three uses might someday be? A: He hadn't really anything in particular in mind. Some stuff to be used for cooking recipes, concoctions to be used for enhancives.
Q: Is excellent warmth max warmth? A: Yes. There isn't an immune-to-cold warmth rating. There might be some kind of special buffs or materials that can grant it, but not mundane stuff.
Q: Is kobaltarn going the same way as fjelbrons, will we see further developments with it? A: He'll have to decide on that.
Q: Is there a reason Kobalttarn isn't in the materials list? A: Needs to add it
Q: Is there a wiki page or forum post about the reputation system? A: Yes, we definitely want some laws that cause disruptions to encourage you to keep stuff to your designated picking spot. Naturally, when more dangerous traps come out, this will be even more important.
Q: Leatherworking: full-faced helmets, will it affect perception? A: It doesn't currently make a difference.
Q: Marcuson beams. "Thanks! And here's the second question I had. You mentioned a few weeks ago that when people say to run metal through the furnace again in order to purify it, that they should not be able to do that. The only reason they can is due to a bug. What is the intention function?" Marcuson says, "Intended function, rather." A: Rias says, "Metal should be purified by hammering, and metal that's "too far gone" to hammer impurities from should be considered ruined and tossed." Rias says, "Don't forgot to toss that flux in during the ore smelting." Marcuson asks, "I see. So the intention is that charcoal should only be used during the initial ore smelting?" Rias says, "Yep."
Q: Modify clothes to make more unique? A: Sometime.
Q: More Unguents? A: There are plans for other types of unguents
Q: Pernick says, "3 - Any plans for some kind of market needs command? As a crafter, it'd be nice to know that there is a lack of, say, arrow shafts on the market." A: Speaking to Pernick, Rias says, "Hmm, maybe an automated sign or something that lists select commmon items that are low/missing." Rias says, "Or an NPC that yells on ESP every now and then, 'Darnit, all I need are some small hafts! Where are all the small hafts?'." Speaking to Pernick, Rias says, "Good ideas. I've added them to The List."
Q: Possibility of metalworked silver/gold jewelery? A: Yes, with time. Hilt/pommel decoration was also discussed.
Q: Release fish when? A: You can do it if they're alive. Obviously not when spearfishing. C: When you drop stuff in deep water, it does go somewhere GMs can keep track of, just in case it's something crucial that's been lost by a player accidentally. The items don't just disappear. C: Shallow water containers: items will remain and not get janitored.
Q: Silver and gold. Is it meant to be as it is now? A: Just kind of luxury item right now. Give Rias ideas please Kaiju and Verels idea/suggestion: gilding items to things, gold gilded pommels over them for shiny factors, or mold system for it.
Q: Until the bandage weaving bug can be taken care of, how many bandages should we be able to make out of one skein, so I don't end up abusing it? A: It's not a big deal, it's just bandages. He'll fix it, but not something to be very worried about.
Q: What is the markup on raw materials? Nobody thinks it could be lower. A: Rias manually sets the price on base raw materials. Nobody meant: supposing you could forge a spoon out of any metal, and you made three out of copper, silver and gold, instead of selling by weight they sell by the metalworking formula. What is the markup on that in the market? It's just a multiplier based on the material.Is there one for everything? It sounds like not.
Q: What kinds of plans in the future do you have regarding cosmetic character changes, E.G. could we ever be able to dye hair? A: Yeah, when it comes to being able to dyeing your hair, he wants it to eventually require being re-dyed instead of it being permanent and stuff. So yes, but it will involve a process.
Q: When are full-sized wagons coming? A: When hoarding is dealt with.
Q: Who is the Golden Lady? A: Find out IC
Q: Will 400 Weaving change anything? A: There aren't any specific recipes out there for that just yet, no milestones at 400.
Q: Will there be more advanced traps? A: Yes, he loves the idea of more traps one more things to get around to.
Q: Will we have electrum from silver/gold? A: Sure, once Rias does armchair internet wikipedia stuff.
Q: Would it be okay to ask for items relevant to that rp even with no function? Like experimental unguents even if they do nothing mechanically? Or should we just like, label a jar. A: He doesn't want to give out props to people all the time, so encouraging RP would be valuable. Label the item, RP it out, etc.
Q: You mentioned having ideas for fantasy cloths and textiles. Any progress there? A: He forgot about it for a while. It wasn't anything amazing, just something that would be neat. The special materials always seem to be metals; he needs to get cloth and wood out there, too.
Q: Will sunsteel be a limited release material, or will it be an alloy that players who manage to get access to celestium will be able to make? A: He doesn't know yet. It could work either way.
Q: Flowers: when you go to survey and see flowers, is there something you have to do to pick them, or is it not coded? A: Right now you can't, but it's planned eventually. It's not high priority at the moment.
- silk - it's rare, it will degrade
Q: Is making shirts out of leather possible or is it just vests, cloaks and coats? A: It probably should be, Rias guesses. He can make it happen.
Q: How rare is fjelbrons? A: It depends on where you are. In the Giganti lands not too rare, takes some special knowledge, and things they are known for and used for sturdy stuff, and for them to show off their strength because I am strong enough to handle the extra weight. special knowledge to make it; sturdy stuff, strong enough to handle it. it's an alloy it's nice, it's extra sturdy it's extra heavy. but it's not some ultra-legendary thing that has supernatural properties.Q: Are we going to be able to smelt fjelbrons soon? A: Probably not.Q: How heavy is fjelbrons going to end up being? Would a character have to be huge to use it? A: It may be tweaked as we get more feedback on it. It might be on the light side at the moment for what it's supposed to be. Q: Would you be open to suggestions on how that might work?A: Sure. He'd try and find some kind of balance-related thing. A character's strength might come into play. Balance management is difficult as we don't want too much micro-management.
Q: Why can't leatherworkers make ponchos? A: Because that would be an abomination? He's not sure yet. He will be looking into it.
Q: Winnowed rimeveil cannot be sold to the market, but must be spun first. Is this a bug or a feature? A: A feature, it seems.
Q: What is your plan on adding gems to mining? A: Rias remembered this had been a prior question and laughed. He is thinking of adding lapidary to masonry or something. He doesn't want raw stones to be thrown into jewelry, but does want them to have to be polished or faceted so they are pretty first.his would be good for benefitting miners and making that riln.
Q: When are we releasing gems for mining? A: He doesn't know. It wouldn't be terribly difficult, but he's hyper-focused on a couple of things right now. Fairly soonish[tm]. He has to remember to do it. (Remember to remind him after Octum, guys.)
Q: If you get an iron-tipped spear, it's .9lbs in the market, but a whittled spear is 3.5lbs. What's the weight for these supposed to be? A: It probably has to do with the whittled spears being one piece, whereas iron-tipped spears have components, and things get ~weird~ when those are handled in the market. Rias is working on that also.Q: What is the weight for a spear in general? A: 2lbs, yep.
Q: Do you have plans for the quality of subparts, nails, thread, et cetera, having any actual statistical or visible effect on the finished item? A: He has ideas dealing in durability and requiring those parts for replacement when repairing. Minor components in general don't have an effect on quality, that's just the average of the major components; things you're attaching, rather than that are simply included.
Q: Magic components? A: Yes, for complex stuff, and maybe for different types of side effects. Example from the chat was having seeds for a tangle root spell, so that the roots *always* have a place to come from, and different seeds might have different secondary effects.
Q: Will there ever be higher quality molds to create jewelry? A: He doesn't know.
Q: Are there any other jewellery items from attaching? A: Rias will have a dig around. This came out of a discussion about shells and their uses (we can already wear them on a necklace, it seems!)
Q: Are signet rings for signing paperwork still in the works? A: There in the works as much as "They're a cool idea, and I want to add them sometime."
Q: Are there any plans for locks, keys and similar? We have strongboxes and chests, but I'd love to be able to lock them up for spooky secret stuff noone can get. A: That could be fun
Q: Are you still considering scrimshaw as a thing? A: "A general carving of bone stuff, yeah."
Q: Before bundling was enabled for winnowed rimeveil, we were always able to get three threads out of each piece of winnowed rimeveil. Now that it's been bundled, it seems to yield less than half of that. Is this intentional or a bug? A: More of a side-effect that Rias is OK with. If it had to keep track of how many it had left per piece, then it wouldn't be able to bundle. Considering winnowing has been reduced dramatically, he thinks it balances out OK; no longer must we winnow and thresh forever to get rimeveil. The server is also overflowing with rimeveil being squirrelled away.

Q: Can we get stats on a few of the new trees A: It's just done by a script. He can add some things, sure.
Q: Do we have glass? A: Yeah. it's not a super luxury material but maybe not everyone has it.
Q: Does a wooden fence gate do anything? Making one doesn't seem to be necessary for fencing on a farm. A: It doesn't right now.
Q: Frisbee says, "Have you ever thought about adding trees that provide more resources than wood, like fruit, for example? I've always thought it'd be a fun activity climbing trees and picking apples, or whatever, and it might even be a minor point of conflict, like 'you stole my apples,' etc." A: Rias says, "Yeah, fruit trees would be fun." Rias says, "We do technically have juniper berries from juniper trees, and amberpearls (the latter not having any actual use yet)." Frisbee asks, "They are pretty. Is that not good enough?" Rias says, "Note to self, allow amberpearls to be strung on thread."



Skills






Q. Will there be rudimentary glass making? A: yes it was in the skill list at some point and he would like to have some kind of glass working. People ask for soap and candle making and since it is one limited skill set minor in scope once he figures out how to implement it. He wants people to feel investing the skill points is worth it. Speculated an other crafts skill and it divvies up in various into minor crafts within, sort of like bushcrafting
Q: Are we going to be able to get mount training? I know our mounts don't train any more, but are we going to be able to get merchants to boost them? Or maybe even abilities to allow a boost to our mount stats. A: Yeah it will be an animal husbandry thing. Could be a whole thing some skill stuff, some will effect mount stats like grit and stuff.\ Oh. So. You need animal husbandry to get the bonuses, or you can apply it to other characters animals? The person with animal husbandry will adjust/buff horses
Q: Can we learn other languages? A: Not currently. If we bring that in, it will be the linguistics skill. I don't want someone to come in and learn all the languages, either.
Q: Could there be introductory/hobby tasks in town for different professions, as a way of showcasing different activities, e.g. shearing, without players needing to dip/unlearn skill points into them to try them out? (Linked to Nobody's forum post about an interactive tutorial as well as Navi's post on Town Tasks.) A: Sure, something like that could be a thing.
Q: Curious for any info about how exactly intuition effects skills. A: Rias is going to pass on that for now, mostly! It helps with catching bugs. And with splashing defence.
Q: Herbalism: studying plants to understand effects? A: Possible interesting mechanic, via Lexx and Talyn. Rias' main struggle with herbalism is "How can I implement it as a skill and not have it step all over Physicker Toes?" Physickers don't have enough skills to eat up their skill points, so having Herbalism as part of their skillset would be good.
Q: How will affinities be handled? Will they be trained separately, or trained up as you use certain abilities? A: Affinities will be happening on their own. You won't specifically increase them; it will be increased based on what abilities you use and skills you use, and Staff will be able to go in and adjust them to reflect your character when it comes to non-action-bound affinities. There will probably be a cooldown to a degree, also, so you can't just spam-raise affinities.
Q: I think maybe this has been touched on from a different angle before, but are there any plans to open certain skills to the public, even if it is only for rp purposes at the moment? My specific examples would be dancing and music. A: Yeah, dancing and music just don't have general trainers at the moment because there's no way to skill up. Once they're implemented, they'll been open for everyone like Storytelling.
Q: Leopard asks, "Okay so, physicker abilities! If a physicker has trained all the way up to 700 mostly to gain the max time of reflection that one can provide as possible, is any other sort of ability going to ever be put in place for those who did manage to fully train the skill to 700?" A: Rias exclaims, "Yeah, it's safe to say at this point that all the classes still need a lot more abilities. Physickers have more concoctions lined up for future abilities, and of course suggestions are always welcome!"
Q: Might there be other uses for pneumatic steam apparatus? A: Sure, but he doesn't want it to be anything game-breaking, or invalidate skills, or be crazy. Please suggest ideas for other uses for the machinery. Bear in mind this is 'make it work', flaky tech --- not incredibly intricate steamwork stuff.
Q: Might we see different kinds of climbs that require specialist equipment, in addition to a simple scale according to difficulty? For example, ice/glacier climbs/walks that require crampons, picks or alpenstocks? Or even 'caving' areas? Perhaps a more open ended way to put it: could you see it becoming more involved than it is now, or are you happy with it (especially regarding its status as a skill that doesn't require practice)? A: Really likes those ideas, please give him ideas
Q: On the prior project (and maybe the early days of Cogg? I can't 100% recall), instead of numbers there was a descriptor applied to each "level" of skill. Do those general descriptors still apply to the range of 0-700 we have here? If so, could that get dropped in a page or helpfile somewhere? A: They were initially used, but removed because they were a bit misleading and didn't work as well with the variation in skill caps. People didn't like not being "proficient" in skills and it caused even more complaints about lack of skill points.
Q: questions about ciphering. Is there a skill planned with how things are going or are you more or less okay with people using their own encryption methods.A: mechanic would take the fun out of it but secret languages are fun. Room for both where it is all the player skill, and there is also room for one that requires a flag the character knows this particular ciphers. Thinks the ciphers are cool
Q: so, we saw the coal merchant recently. Are we any closer to actually seeing a coal mine? Even if it is just the fjelbeist zone.A: After he looks over mining a bit and reworks the skill.
Q: Teri says (muffled by a mask), "I caveat this with I've not tested this recently, but a lot of people comment on ranged training slower than melee (Where I would guess they trained melee first, then ranged after.) My experiences for training ranged was if I only used ranged against something that would give skill gain, I could get.3 skill gain, but if I used feint, dirt kick or any melee attacks the skill train for ranged was.1 (Or nothing if I couldn't get exp with melee) Is it intended if you use the combination of both, it applies the skill gains of the highest skill to both? I did not test how both may increase at the same time as my melee was maxed when I observed the rest." A: Rias says, "Oh, huh. I wonder if that's what the issue is with ranged that people always bring up but I can never track down." Rias exclaims, "I'll write that down and investigate!"
Q: We had discussed custom items being made by players via a special command when they have applicable skills. Is this still planned, and if so, do you see it replacing NPC merchants? Is that a concern? A: It's still going to be a thing; it'll probably involve only doing so many and taking time to apply them. It will likely affect the value of NPC merchants, but NPC merchants will be able to have you get your stuff done immediately, whereas players will involve finding someone who has a slot open for it.
Q: What skills or stats, if any, determine how beach-combing goes? A: It looks like it's just luck. It's not skill-related... but there might be other factors (nudge nudge).
Q: What the reason is behind higher medical skill not reducing the roundtime suturing, as well as if higher medical skill just discounts time-cost and increases the length of therapy? A: He thinks it has bandaging roundtime as well and thinks it should do suturing; he'll have to add that. Suturing is pretty old and big-chunk round-time thingies. He hates to think of partial suturing, so it will have to stay a big chunk.
Q: What, specifically, determines whether a disguise counts as a new identity for other people to remember? When I asked on #question, it was said that as much as a different colored cloak should do it, but I tried two different masks and they had the same identity. Are there plans for future expansion of the disguise command, perhaps making it skill-based? A: It's based on your short description. A different coloured cloak isn't going to change the fact you're a tall lanky man with blond hair, etc. If there's a disguise item that masks your hair colour, then you're going to show differently; you're not going to be recognisable to people who saw your character with their regular hair. There may be an item that disguises builds, it is something that he'd like to dig into deeper. On the other hand he doesn't want it to end up like: "I can do horrible things and now I'll put on a hat and escape/nullify the justice systems and all kinds of other consequences". He would love to hear ideas but do keep that kind of thing in mind. This is why the guards check your face when you walk in; putting on a disguise would just be kind of goofy.
Q: When it comes to tracking: the higher you get, the more tracks you can track separately. The higher you get that skill, can it increase how long we can find those tracks? A: Rias hasn't looked at it in a while, he had to look at the code.
Q: When surveying, you can see all the herbs that you can pick, right? Or is it reliant on skill? A: There's currently nothing anyone can't see through survey, though it might be changed in the future.
Q: Would you ever consider post-cap gain? Like, 100k for 1 skill point, or possible "cap upgrade" where you could spend X amount of XP to increase a skill cap. Not skill, just a cap. A: With post-cap stuff, he doesn't know that he'd want to do skills. It'd be a whole new thing to then balance, so, don't know. Let's see if we can come up with some good ideas [on the BBS]. It would probably have to be a whole discussion of its own.
Q:, "First, I'd really like to be able to use the capacity of a skillet or pot to its fullest when cooking." "Example, putting 5 raw meat in there to get 5 seared meat."A: ((DEV Rias)) asks, "I'm sorry, did you just bring up cooking?" ((DEV Rias)) removes an unrealistically massive uberite banhammer from his miniature spiral galaxy (open). ((DEV Rias)) says, "Cooking needs an overhaul in so many ways, so I'll add that to the list. Assuming you mean something in the vein of cooking more than just a single egg at a time."
Q: Zaeed says, "Thank you, the second is regarding the duration of felling and chopping trees, would it be possible to make the max time to 1hr for each? because current duration is way too much. even for real life trees." A: ((DEV Rias)) says, "I'm happy to re-evaluate tree-chopping times. Starting a thread and getting several opinions on it would be a good idea. I also think the bigger issue with trees right now is the de-branching process."
Q: Is there a way to destroy snares yourself? A: No, they're just meant to go away after a bit. (You can build new ones and your oldest ones will be destroyed)
Q: Is there supposed to be somewhere we can raise our stone masonry over 200 at? The mine is capped at 200, and I couldn't find a trainer to get me to 400. A: He wanted to find a better place than the mines to train it; he has to add more to it. (There is a location that is rarely reachable, I'm not certain I should write it here or see if people ask ic?)
C: We do need to have crab/lobster pots in game at some point, maybe.
Q: Will there be alternative investment opportunities other than farms about town? A: Frickin' farms man. He doesn't want the town to change style/tone, it's been built to give off a certain feel and atmosphere. Riln sinks for players that would try to change the feel aren't great, so there's that limitation to bear in mind.
Q: Will modifying be more than what we have? Like a chance to make fancy things with modifying them in a list of adjectives to add? A: Yeah, there will be a more robust customization system at some point in the future with the ability to shuffle words around and add stuff.
Q: Will we see the ability to disguise your own tracks? A: Trackers being able to attempt that would be cool.
Q: Will be any intention of lockable items in the future? A: Could be neat.
Q: What's the best way to give feedback or such about hidden abilities? A: It's not like they're super ultra take-it-to-your-grave secret, post on it and be circular if you want to; be vague if you can. Definitely avoid location, names, etc. If you have to ask about those, mail cogg@contrarium.net -- but don't wheedle lore out of him!



Class questions


Q: Adventurers have lootboxes, crafters will have crafts What will be or is the intended primary source of income for Scholars? A: Tasks would be an easy answer and keep up with others. Would like to give them more services to do. Physickers can heal and sell unguent. He would like to have others classes to be able to provide services. Something to not ruin the economy. or Something to set standard payments like npcs setting rates
Q: Any updates on whether lockpicking skill will affect lockpicking times? A: It's on the list, but way down on the list, at the moment.
Q: Are Treasure Scavenge, Treasure Hunter's Eye or Wanderer's Eye affected by the Perception skill in any way? The helpfiles do not mention it, but I would just like to have it confirmed that it wasn't perhaps forgotten. A: Yes they are. Perception is the primary influence on whether those occur or not. Smaller items are harder to discover than larger. If you hide a tiny thing it's going to be harder to notice for those who have those abilities.
Q: Are you considering an alchemist specialization for scholars? Temporary cosmetic change items could go in there. A: Yeah, that could be fun.
Q: Next lore dump on lore items when? A: Rias does love those items and wants more. It's next on the list for the quick dopamine fixes. Q: Can lore items currently be found in lockboxes? One of the best things about charmseeking is that you can find really niche, rare things that give glimpses into the lore of the game. A: No, but that could be cool to do, to have lore items in the treasure system.
Q: Rocode asks, "A library system has been mentioned as a thing for The Future(TM). Will there be an incentive for writing books, and could there be a way of donating books before a formal system is written?" A: ((DEV Rias)) says, "Yeah, I've been excited for an in-game player-supported library/knowledgebase for a long time, but it's one of those things that's fighting for priority time. A book/document donations mailbox number might serve in the meantime." ((DEV Rias)) asks, "As for incentivizing or rewarding, hmm... any ideas?" Rocode says, "A form of RPAs would work, I think." Rocode, "Since it is long form asynchronous RP." ((DEV Rias)) says, "(Also, I'm absolutely going to rope some Scholars into screening submissions for the Library. Delegation!)." ((DEV Rias)) asks, "As for incentivizing or rewarding, hmm... any ideas?" Rocode says, "A form of RPAs would work, I think." Rocode, "Since it is long form asynchronous RP." ((DEV Rias)) says, "(Also, I'm absolutely going to rope some Scholars into screening submissions for the Library. Delegation!)."
Q: Zaeed asks, "I have 3 suggestions. first of all is a suggestion regarding a bank account system. would it be possible to have a joint bank account where you can give or remove access to people in your company?" A: ((DEV Rias)) says, "Company bank accounts are on The List.((DEV Rias)) says, "Possibly even company vaults, as some kind of paid perk."((DEV Rias)) says, "It'd be neat to have a little Company treasure/gear room or something."((DEV Rias)) clarifies, "And I meant paid in riln. Not microtransactions."

Q: Frisbee asks, "Anyway. I just wanted to say thanks for the new primalist bonuses. I've been enjoying them extremely. Do you think it would be a sensible suggestion to add a thing to the bed of moss effect where you could expand the foliage for one more person, possibly at the cost of resources like energy or whatever?" Frisbee says, "Like, I'd love to invite somebody and tell them let's stargaze together, or whatever." A: Rias says, "Hmm, that might be kind of nifty, sure."
Q: If there is basic, no-frills channeling, is the method taught/used differently by the different guilds? Or even the different specializations within the different guilds? A: This sort of thing would apply if you look at channeling as meditation; you're focusing will and preventing something else from breaking in. So channel footpad/strength/adrenaline would be like channeling, but they don't use the same technique, it's just different forms of channeling your will to make something happen. So a generic version would be meditation.
Q: Is silent walking or footpad suppose to effect hostile NPCs as well? It does not seem to do so. A: If we're talking about not noticing someone come in, it doesn't apply to NPCs; they're looking a lot, it's meant for other PCs. If it worked on NPCs, there'd have to be some sort of pseudo-hiding.
Q: Will there be an option to decrease the frequency of messages concerning stealth (glances from group members)? Perhaps something to do with levels of trust?A: Happy to consider suggestions. Please make a BBS post if you're inclined!
-basic first aid stuff will be more widely available as physickers abilities are expanded (enhansives, poisons, disease treatment)
-Pain stuff: hitting morale or sanity or something. Allows options for numbing agents. Field splinting might be a thing later on, not on really bad stuff, obvi. We want to make sure Physickers have stuff to do.
-Poisons maybe to come out? Possible long-term poisons requiring Physickers (think fractures).
Q: What is the extent of the Undying's Healing as it pertains to subtle muscle damage and scarring. I.E. Do scars heal? If that's the case, would tiny skin imperfections, birthmarks, dry skin rashes etc heal as well? What is too little or too much to be healed? A: General idea is vague. If you get a wound and if it has had enough time to become a scar it would stick around and same for ideas or long term disease. If they lost a limb and they didn't die for a long time and die later they would be missing that limb.
Q: With the latest addition of the infirmary in Stormholdt, two out of three of the assistants will not tell you their names. As a Physicker, so few colleagues are willing to give you their name. Would that be something to attach to the lore? A: Hey, they're busy. There are also just some times where he doesn't want to get into a whole thing with a doctor, just wants to get patched up and back out there.
Q: Would NPC patients having fractures and frostbite be possible? Will there be clothing repairs? A:Yes, both of these are in the works.
Q: Would it be possible to steal random stuff? Socks. Anything. ANYTHING?! A: That'd be fun, yes.
Q: Do you have plans for more complicated acrobat commands? A: Yeah, it would be cool to have acrobats and artificers have commands similar to storytellers. More BBS threads, more ideas please! He may bring in a deck of cards as a prop for some of these artifice tricks.
Q: Can pruning be put in for farming, to help mitigate/fix a missed day's work? A: Mending to make up for absences would be a cool thing. There was some discussion of what it might mean to leave a field "fallow" to allow the land to recuperate. Also falling trees/storms &c. are an attractive idea, but shouldn't just be a giant drag or long sequence of irritating disasters inflicted on players.
Q: Are there any actions outside of stealth that create risk? A: Probably.
Q: Does room noise affect ability to hide/move in stealth? A: It doesn't, but it probably should! (Thunder, rain, that kind of thing).
-Poisons maybe to come out? Possible long-term poisons requiring Physickers (think fractures).
Q: What is the extent of the Undying's Healing as it pertains to subtle muscle damage and scarring. I.E. Do scars heal? If that's the case, would tiny skin imperfections, birthmarks, dry skin rashes etc heal as well? What is too little or too much to be healed? A: General idea is vague. If you get a wound and if it has had enough time to become a scar it would stick around and same for ideas or long term disease. If they lost a limb and they didn't die for a long time and die later they would be missing that limb.
Q: With the latest addition of the infirmary in Stormholdt, two out of three of the assistants will not tell you their names. As a Physicker, so few colleagues are willing to give you their name. Would that be something to attach to the lore? A: Hey, they're busy. There are also just some times where he doesn't want to get into a whole thing with a doctor, just wants to get patched up and back out there.
Q: Will guilds (aside from the planned merchant/artisan guild) ever be added? A: Maybe, but doesn't seem likely at present. Would need a whole cohesive group of classes that don't fit the existing guilds.










Class questions Druids


-Druidry scope migration - druidry was originally just "nature" like powers from the world/plants/animals. Current druidry instead has primal forces and entities, which are broader and in some regards more alien and ineffable. Having some kind of primal forces or primal entities connected to the moon or oceans or tides is potentially viable (primal entities are varied and strange after all), but making whirlwinds that toss people and blasting out lightning are not in the druidry scope.
Q: From what I recall on the Other Game, druidic powers/spells were limited in their function and scope re: insects. Is this still the case for Cogg? (edited) A:Kind of. Can't recall if it was a no to insectes. It can affect insects but will affect them differently from other critters. Does affect lizards, insects and fish but may work in different ways or different limitations from other animals.
Q: Does Vitality focus on the tattoos or does it "go into them"? A: It's not only in the tattoos.
-Skill caps: might be beneficial for scholars, who don't have ton of skills at higher caps someone is a one-man consortium (looking at you) Would this count for Guild-capped skills, like Druidry? The idea there is to have each druid ability a base thing, and depending on your class, you get XYZ because you're this or that class. Sort of like tactical dodge. He likes that more than restricting abilities.
Q: Are druid tattoos necessary for the bond? A: There was druidry before tattoos and ways to do it without, but these are the easiest ways to do druidry and form the connections. Others have formed bonds without the tattoos and someone discovered it helps people open up to it with minimal effort.
Q: Can we have more gender-neutral responses (red text of death, etc.) to female toplessness and male toplessness, for the purpose of ensuring male druids and female druids are allowed to have the same amount of skin revealed? A: We may get chest wraps changed to not count as coverage of skin; he doesn't want everyone walking around naked, though. Put your darn clothes on.
Q: Does channeling druidry have a feeling? A: Nothing thought out.The ritual conducts power to these other entities and other stuff and it will be different to people on their beliefs and how they interpret it. Experiences are dictated by their interpretations. Still is a specific thing which works a specific way, and it can't be reformed. It is fine for people to say "when I use druidy I feel they are weightless in the ocean." Someone else, of a brief sensation of sitting in a circle I know I am being watched measured and stared at and weird feeling of being watched and feeling a connection.
Q: Is it possible to have a partial druidry tattoo, or does it have to be the full body? A: it has to be the full body, at least for this particular method. it is assumed there is a team of people doing this and not just one person.
Q: Is there an IC/Lore reason (that players/PC would be privy to) behind why a specific Avatars are associated with specific people for Druidic Commune? A: Not really, people can say they chose it because they felt an affinity, or felt moved to make that choice. Designed by humans and is a utility
Q: Lexx asks, "Druid stuff! Vitality says it will decrease "the duration of sicknesses" - does this impact the lethargic affect from the lockbox trap? Or does it affect anything currently coded in to the game at all?" Lexx amends, "Anything coded into the game that players encounter, rather." A:Rias says, "Vitality doesn't affect the lethargy poison thing, but that's not a bad idea. It'll affect diseases once diseases are a thing, which they sadly currently are not. (More physicker concoctions once they are!)."
Q: My character being druidically inclined, I've imagined primal forces being a sort of 'sense' granted to someone that forms the bond. Being given that ability to perceive (in their many forms) the forces primal. I may be thinking it pretty different but, how might a druid explain what these bonds are to those without that sense? A: It'd be hard to describe, really, so he's having trouble figuring out how to voice it. A lot of people might explain it as feeling a pull from a lot of different forces. He'll be able to explain it better once it's on the wiki.
Q: On societies, though slap me if someone asked this before. Do you intend to do anything special for, say, druidry-focused societies as society-specific abilities instead of say, exclusive services/gear? A: He doesn't want to do societies that are based around exclusive skills, they become no-brainer options for people who have that skill and they become very exclusive to others joining. He wants them to be more broad scope/cause that anyone can join. There are groups out there that are focused on these things, but they won't be joinable for gameplay. They're too narrow in scope.
Q: Tessa says, "Schweet. So I was just kinda curious. It relates only slightly to an email I shot your way this week, but I was curious if gm's ever considered different methods of accessing the network? Playing as one of my other characters, you really learn how much people rely on the network to get help, and it has really been between life and death sometimes for her." A: Rias says, "We've got the ESP network on a pretty cut and dry idea of "it projects what you audibly say" to keep the concept simple and avoid any confusion on when and where and how it should work." Rias says, "So communicating without literally speaking out loud would be best for something other than the ESP network. Like druidic communion, for example."
Q: What if someone failed the druidic initiation? What happens? A: Either they die or... It doesn't work out for them. It could potentially mess with them in some way.
Q: What's a safe age to get druidry tattoos at? A: It will depend on the group. Likely minimum a teenager
Q:Druidry commune When someone flashes their avatar what is it like? A: Brief mental image or brief memory feeling or sort of impression like the network.
Last edited by Teri on Fri Jan 06, 2023 7:11 pm, edited 4 times in total.
Oh no, looks like I might die as I have lived. In the wrong place at the wrong time
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Teri
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still going

Post by Teri »

Character and cosmetic

- Handedness: Most stuff has been developed to not be hand dependent. Might be feasible to have a toggle option to set left-handedness to get with left hand first.
-Potential barber w/ simple hairstyles (if you have string ideas for them, send them to Rias).
Q: When are we getting our barber? A: Sometime.
Q: And secondly: I'm sure this has been answered somewhere before, but is it planned to have the ability to adjust your hair style? Tying it back, up into a bun, letting it loose, etc?"Rias says, "Ability to adjust hairstyle would be handy, for sure! Hair-adjusting items have been on The List for a good while."
Q: Are all "names" actually keyed to the player? Will you have to ever have to worry about two 'blue-haired hooded short men' getting mixed up? A: if disguised then your character would assume that's the same person. If you made two characters on the same account that appeared the same... eh, GMs might step in and say that's pretty meta, we can't really be doing that.
Q: Reslior asks, "Are there any plans for facial hair to be a thing?"A: Rias says, "Yep! Facial hair comes up fairly often, and every time I think "I should have a system for that"." Rias says, "I'll probably start it with just a barber shop in each town where hairstyles can be updated. Should be easy-peasy."
Q: What are the extents of personal character customization plans in the future? I.E. Will we ever be able to customize our character's walking styles (Maya bounces west), higher level of description via look Maya command etc? A: Maybe. But feels it knocks him out of the feel of things. Considering it, but meh. Would need to be convinced. For facial features etc: Would be happy to add more if kept to a standard and without different writing styles. More hair description options, or nose, eyebrows, nails and nail polish. Give suggestions on bbs
Q: Will we have any ability to style/control the length of our haircut at any point?A: For now a merchant thing, but likes the idea of something people could do. A system for hair length/beards
- Makeup items: would be cool to have items to temporarily alter/enhance description (nail laquer, war paint, powder, lipstick, etc). Great use for herbalism (herbal perfumes).
- Plague doctor garb could have been a thing in old plague Aetgard (great Octum suggestion)
Q: Are there any plans for coded dominant-handedness? If not, why? A: Because the code works with it going to the right first, but he thinks it would be pretty easy to have it be an option so that people can pick and choose. Nothing requires you to have something in your right hand (except there are a couple that need to be stripped of that requirement).
Q: Would you be willing to create makeup items that affect your description temporarily? Warpaint, nail polish, etc. A: Yes, he thinks that would be a fun thing to be able to add to the code. But probably it's coming out Sometime. It'd be cool to disguise yourself with makeup as well. Maybe perfumes also! He now has an 'oo' moment and thinks it could be part of Herbalism along with other potentials (incense, candles, etc.)
Q: Belladana asks, "Last question. will we be able to look at the tattoo markings like other custom things we get?" A: Rias says, "So it's slightly limited in that you can't have, say, a single tattoo going from your hand, up your arm, and down your torso or something." Rias says, "They're not currently look-at-able for additional detail, but that's planned."
Q: Can Brigandine Pants hide something small like tights or Trousers, so that I can get the excellent legs warmth without visibly wearing two pairs of pants? Secondarily, can Brigandine/padded Pants get bound by belts, so that people can actually see the pouch and sheathes I carry around? A: Maybe
Q: Chariot asks, "Wooya, good plan for my next rp! Second, and this is on someone else's behalf, is there a possibility of getting moddifiable multiwearable slot containers like back/belt quivers, to apply to something like back/shoulder basket and also wearable farm baskets alike?" A: Rias says, "I'll have to think about that. I don't know that I want too much meta-maximizing of large wearable containers and inventory. We already haul around quite a lot of stuff on us."
Q: Fur hats and glove liners when? A: That'd be nice since it's getting cold. Rias will have to play with that.
Q: Do the warmth categories of clothing have gradations? Can two items have the same warmth category and one offers more warmth than another? A: Yeah, categories are categories; it's not an instance of 1 is 1, 2 is 2, etc. 2 things could show up in the same category and have a slightly different warmth factor. Layering does work. Q: But there is gradation in excellent? (not looking for immunity, just want to know when to tell people to stop adding layers). A: He couldn't find it. He thinks once it says Excellent, you have as much warmth as you can get.
Q: How old is "middle-aged" in the Lost Lands? Is 50 middle-aged, or geriatric? A: "I dunno, I'd probably say middle-aged."
Oh no, looks like I might die as I have lived. In the wrong place at the wrong time
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Teri
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Unsorted of one hundred plus questions

Post by Teri »

Unsorted of one hundred plus questions. Etc




- LORE BASIS: Cogg v. Clok Was time shifted to make things different or is it just a bunch of little things you want to change because?Do we have a Loki situation going on? "It's not a result of time travel or anything like that. You'll have to go expore around and see what you can find."
- Lost Lands is a great place for mercenaries and sellswords, because lots of danger. Suggestions for how to make hiring PCs as sellswords more viable would be appreciated.
- maps - Players can make maps, but keep in mind that ascii maps aren't useful for everyone. Rias hasn't wanted to systemically generate maps because they might have forbidden knowledge
- No Tiodor NPC because no negotiation with Liberi. There is a deliberate barrier there. Remember, the Liberi do not want to be your friends.
- Ragni can be visited and chatted with after the tutorial task is finished
- Rias describes the genre as gaslamp because there isn't the crazy tech of steampunk, but it's a little steam. Mid fantasy, magic isn't unheard of, but it's also not up to 11.
-- Porcupines climb trees. Someone wanted them to fall while logging. Rias really liked this idea. Also bears.
--- He's excited people are sending in Character Dreams! viewtopic.php?t=940
-LET THE COYDOG IN THE INN! #LoveTheCoydog is it baktu? check the feet.
-Shouts outs from Rias: Thanks for joining vc and being interested in the world. Thank you to players who helped with Octum things and big thank you for doing all that, Everyone be aware players did a lot of writing and descriptions.
-Temicotli is the Way of Dreams.
A: Rias says, "We enjoy knowing what drives all PCs, and a good way to keep GMs informed of that is uses of the THINK and RITUAL commands. Info can also be included in the character's backstory which can be supplied via the BACKSTORY command. It might also be neat to have some sort of notes command where players can list various tidbits about that character that they'd want to also be viewable by GMs that doesn't also include their entire backstory. Hmmm... butterfly acquired." Maina exclaims, "Just to avoid the entitlement concerns if it isn't exclusively related to backstory!"
C: [promissory] Notes are not stealable, by the way. We just didn't want that, it could be horrible for players.
Q From Silly: I have a character that is allergic to specific foods and I want to make sure if it'd be fine to emote the effects of those allergies, like eyes swelling up and things, or if there is some rule against doing too much to a char's description. A: That's absolutely fine if you want to do that.
Q Would it be possible to inspect package contents before accepting them? A: He will ponder a policy for cod package sand look into the contents before paying.
Q: Why do handcarts expend energy twice when moving around in the overworld, even on a road, but only once when moving around in non-overworld areas? A: You're probably seeing the energy required for you moving (moving through rooms in the wilderness has an energy cost, as opposed to rooms within non-wilderness areas), followed by the energy cost for pulling the handcart.
Q: "So, perfect situation, we've had some CvC recently that ended up resulting in a death, that ended up feeling almost kind of unsatisfying. In the end, it didn't have much consequences for those who were killed, beyond an initial death. How do you want that approached after?" A: "I dunno. It's a less than ideal situation, I'm not really sure how to approach it differently. As far as death consequences go, that's something we need to find a sweet spot for so that we don't want to rage quit but also that it does have consequences so you aren't just walking away from death." Q: So you'd prefer if we handle it as we have, dealing with the offense via killing them, but now it's done and dusted. A: Yeah, though continue to pressure them and tell them, "Hey, you know, you haven't returned the thing." But we also don't want to make it a habit of killing someone until they do what we want them to do. Rias doesn't have a clear answer how to 'solve' this sort of situation.
Q: /sigh Does Mayonnaise exist? A: It shouldn't, yuck. Yes.
Q: A post came up recently about farm functionality for Inn rooms, allowing certain people access to yours? Any chance? A: Could be, but it wouldn't be like farms where you could just go in at any time. Perhaps players would 'hear a knock at the door', look out the peephole, accept or decline, then the guest could hop in. There could perhaps be an option to toggle allowing people to knock on your door (know where your room is in the inn) so you don't have someone obnoxious constantly knocking. Also perhaps an option to enquire at the desk as to whether the player is in their in rooms and receiving visitors.
Q: A sillier question, but how often are new randomized login messages added, if ever? A: Whenever Rias might feel like adding another one that's good!
Q: Any new thoughts on enchanted/ensorcelled objects and how they might show up? A: Oh boy, that's a tough one. He snapped a lot and said he remembered an idea and to hold on. He had the idea last night while falling asleep, and now has written it down. Anyways, it's something he has on his radar but it's just floating around. He hasn't done a whole lot of thinking on it. (Also, regarding the idea he remembered, he says we'll find out when Octum stuff comes.)
Q: Are Blood Transfusions a thing in the Cogg world? Would any of the cultures possibly be experienced with that sort of thing? I've read IRL the Inca did Blood Transfusions, because they all usually had similar blood types, so it usually worked for them.A: He wants to say maybe. He doesn't know enough about that process, so it's a maybe. He apologizes.
Q: Are there any plans to implement making alloys in bigger batches? A: That's considered a bug; he's not specifically trying to prevent people from making multiple ingots.
Q: Are there decency laws? A: Not yet, but they will eventually be implemented. (Yes, getting arrested while naked is a thing)
Q: Are there going to be guild specific tasks with riln as the reward for doing them?A: Yes both guilds and societies will have tasks and to have a feel of actually doing something towards furthering their societies.
Q: Are they exclusive unionized bounty hunters? A: Possibly? It has an underlying cause behind what they're doing; it's not just a hitman guild, though that might be something that they do, it's not everything that they do; they have something they're fighting for.
Q: Are we allowed to put multiple-paragraph Commons Board postings on the BBS instead, if they have many paragraphs and things? A: Yes.
Q: Argent exclaims, "Hi. This is my first one of these, so I am just honestly excited to be here, and laughing like an idiot half the time. I had two questions, but first I just wanted to say thanks, to everyone, for being part of what I consider the best game in existence, and letting me be part of it. Anyway!" Speaking to Argent, ((DEV Rias)) exclaims, "It's great because you're here!"
Q: Can I send zone ideas to you? A: You can send them to cogg@contrarium.net.
Q: Can we carve our names into the summit by the library? A: That would be kind of funny. Then the library has to establish a graffiti committee.
Q: Can we get in-game events announced in Discord announcements A: Yes, and also may use Discord Events if we can automate them.
Q: Could a slave serve to earn freedom? A: A slave wouldn't be able to choose if they joined the military or not. If a slave did end up in the military and they ended up doing well, it's possible they could be elevated out of the slave class. It would just depend on where they are and what the local officials want. If the one in charge of the slave class wanted gladiator games, then that could be a thing. It would be dependent on the administrator.
Q: Did you see the horrible datelist timeline [from @Nobody]? A: Yes rias enjoyed it. He had one comment: it's making him want to make a really vague, generalised timeline, with the usual disclaimer that it's written by NPCS and so can't be assumed to be completely accurate. C: @Nobody wants people to understand the scope of timeline; splitting things into ages.
Q: Do Liberi attack eachother? A: If you haven't seen it then... who knows.
Q: Do the constellations that were for Madrim and Atros on CLOK mean different things on COGG? A: Rias wasn't that keen on including them because they were created by somebody else. Yes perhaps they're still lore-relevant but not necessarily mainstream, or maintained. Rias hadn't thought about them honestly. He had beef with the name Atros. With constellations generally, if players want to assume that constellations have the same general connotations (like the plough being associated with the harvest, etc) in COGG, that's okay. He's not going to stop you. One of the reasons he stopped working on constellations though, is that he didn't want it to just match up with real-world astrology. He didn't want people worrying about it not matching up.
Q: Do you want help with wiki editing/building of guide text for systems? A player was asking a lot of questions about how the weather system worked on an OOC level a while ago and I was thinking "help weather" could list how weather works on an OOC level. A: Yeah! If you want to help on the wiki who doesn't have an account, send an e-mail to cogg@contrarium.net and ask for an account! Make sure you send your account name to them; he wants them to match.
Q: Does that mean the black market cross is not going to be a thing? Or at least not initially. A: He says it will be a thing, like smuggling between towns. He doesn't expect it to cause issues, but maybe. Still, it's the same people/amount of accessing the markets. He's overhauling right now, too.
Q: Eugor says, "'The policies mention playing multiple accounts at the same time, but that kind of implies that we're allowed to have multiple accounts. Is that something there more for GMs who have their own GM account and player account, or is anyone able to host multiple accounts, just not play them at the same time." A: Rias says, "It specifically mentions situations where multiple people are playing from the same location, like two family members in the same house." Rias says, "Those cases need to be approved by myself. It is not allowed in any circumstance for a single player to play multiple accounts/characters at the same time." Rias says, "And to clarify, no player should have multiple accounts, either. This would be effectively getting around the alt limit, which I hope goes without saying is against the rules and the point of the limitation in the first place."
Q: Eugor says, "A simple request really. Possibly make it so that when we die in the OOC arena while holding one of the oval leather balls, we drop it on the ground where we died? I bet we could make the whole experience loads funner than simply going at it, though that's fun in its own way as well." A: Rias says, "Sure, dropping the oval ball on death in the OOc area would be cool. And then we could bring the flags back for Capture the Flag. Hey, knockdowns should make you drop them too."
Q: Eugor says, "Ah here we go. Will we be able to expand upon the tattoos we have received at the festival? If an artist comes around and we want them to touch it up or make some adjustment." A: Speaking to Eugor, Rias says, "Sure, some tattoo touch-up and expansion is possible. We can have a merchant just remove one and re-add it with an updated description. And eventually it'll be possible to add long descriptions to them."
Q: Follow up: Do we know where the capital if aegard was A: Maybe but not going to commit to it yet
Q: Following a concern I voiced on one of the suggestion topics, is there any consideration on lowering the number of wood spawned from trees? It gets insane how it is now and may as well contribute to item flooding and server crash. We have too many logs and branches to work on and at least 1/3 of them or even half get janitored because people can't stay til the end for it, +storage issues and everything else. A: It has been considered a while.
Q: For those of us who play characters who struggle with Common, it would be comforting to know that the Library of Qamar had books in other languages, which they might study. All the shelve books ones are in Common, judging by their titles, but I'm curious if there are any additional ones that are not. A: The tasks are in common, so they are do able to be done by everyone, all sorts of languages
Q: Given that the Other Game is gone now, would you still prefer us keeping "hidden lore things" from the Other Game obscured/hidden, or are things on Cogg potentially different enough that that doesn't matter? A: He thinks if you have to wonder if you should keep it more obscured, keep it more obscured because a lot of stuff is very similar.
Q: Have you ever given NPCs talk about recent/current events? A: No, not really. He would rather do it through the rumour system.
Q: How difficult would it be to code something like 'listen to <character>' or 'focus on <character>' to tune out background noise in a room? A: It would be a little fiddly to make, but it would be possible. It could tune out conversation and eat messages unless something is directed at your character or your name is used. More was discussed about this and ideas were bounced around.
Q: How exactly long has it been since Aetgard fell? Was it during the plague or did the plague just finish it off? The plague was 100 years ago so people who lived in the Lost Lands would they remember anything from the plague? would they have 2020 trauma. How about hearing about the Wyrvardn and their deeds so they want to strive towards that in character development? A:The plague caused the downfall of Aetgard and it is considered an oddity that there is so little knowledge and quiet big and connected and weird how little records or knowledge to be found. Not much is known in lost lands or outside the lands, like Khealdea but the records are missing. Many theories about it than the plague. Societies: if your character wants to know or join the Wyvardn that is fine, but they aren't assumed to be known in every household.
Q: How many rooms will houses have? A: To start off, houses will be glorified inn rooms, but they will get upgrades later that allow for extra rooms. They'll have some strict storage restrictions to ensure no issues with the bloat on the game.
Q: How pretty is the code for Cogg? Also, if you are willing to tell me, what language(s), library(s), et cetera do you use for it? A: He can't speak to how pretty it is; he's biased! He uses Python to code it, because it's a beautiful hobby he uses and isn't looking for efficiency. He uses the Twisted networking library and other fiddly nitpicky stuff that is largely custom but also things like the DarkSky API for weather and stuff.
Q: I am expecting a non-answer for this question, trying to be vague here since it's rather IC information and I hope you will understand what I'm talking about, but there is a rather suspicious PC who is doing certain very odd things. Without GM intervention, is it possible for other players to also do these very odd things at this time?A: No. It is a thing for that character. It isn’t a thing just anyone can do. See if that thing can be a thing.
Q: i understand the name is set at the beginning of creation, but is it reasonable to have a second name as in a common name and names in the mothertongue of the character? A: Yep.
Q: I'm guessing if you go to the other area, boom your head goes off? A: if you haven't done anything to make them specifically hostile to you then you can walk up to the gate but the guards just won't let you through.
Q: I'm not sure if it's an appropriate question for this specific chat, but I heard somewhere that warlocks were unlikely to get animation or necromancy as an ability in the future, is that true? I would be sad if this is the case, even if they aren't strong I'd still love to have them. A: Warlocks will definitely be getting animates. They might have more limitations than they did in the Other Game, but they will definitely be getting animates, including the version that never got put into Clok, which is Gollums.
Q: I've asked about exports/imports to the Lost Lands before, but I'm curious if there are any notable exports or imports among the nations.A: Raincheck. A BBS question, probably. (Posted to BBS, will be answered some day.)
Q: If items are placed in chests in the world will those items persist, or will they get janitored? A: It will persist. The other stuff will get janitored. A good rule of thumb: never assume you can just drop something and it's gonna stick around. If items are stored in a permanent container, then the stuff inside will be permanent as well.
Q: If killing and stealing do not give exp, and the reasoning is to not promote the action, how is CVC conflict reasoned for things like resources and other CVC oriented things like that. A: There is no logic behind it. Rias simply doesn't feel like stealing and killing do not require giving XP from players.
Q: Ironcross says, "I dislike the shelving system because I feel that it punishes people who can RP multiple characters without issue. I feel that everyone should be able to have their characters active and switch between them at will, providing they're not being silly about it. Then, if someone shows that they're unable to RP multiples at once, then they could be restricted from doing so. IF the shelving must remain, I wish the time would be 7 days rather than 30." A: Rias says, "I know it's not a perfect solution. I do prefer in this case a preemptive/preventative approach rather than a reactive/punishment one, though. That said, it might be a good discussion to start on the BBS so others can weigh in with detailed thoughts and discussion. I'm pretty set on keeping things as they are, but there's always the possibility I might be convinced otherwise."
Q: Is Aelwyn in game, or are they only mentioned? A: They exist, but they don't pop around commonly on a standard loop. They won't show up every evening at 7. It's an NPC you'll almost never see.
Q: Is anyone in Khaldea or other parts of the world researching flight? A: He imagines they have but they haven't gotten far. They have plans drawn but they aren't out there flying around.
Q: Is Blackwater ever going to do the fighting ring? A: Yes. Has to be balanced, though, so it needs to be figured out.
Q: Is it possible to do emote that does language swaps? A: It may be possible in the future.
Q: Is it possible to get something we can wrap sit-down food with to take it with us? A: He doesn't know. It could happen for certain types of sit-down food, sure. Kebabs sound cool! Another point of sit-down food: getting people to be on-location, though, for RP opportunities.
Q: Is Muhsin of Tarsu still alive, or is he a historical figure? A: [T: I think he's dead, right? I can't actually remember the answer. Something like: go look at his statue. I should do that again.]
Q: Is the mentor system a school based system, or is it more a one on one "Hey, you can swing a hammer and look interested in the trade" sort of thing? A: The apprenticeship thing is very preferred. They want to find someone who's willing to teach them one-on-one, they have to prove themselves worthy of the teacher's time. They do have vocational schools where you can visit and see someone work and they can teach a class. Other than that, for general education, it's picked up communally. Some people are more there to teach/give education, but they don't have a school curriculum persay, they just have a "It Takes A Village" setup. Do the Civil Priests encourage youth towards a trade? A trade, or finding their talent/thing and ways to be useful. It's a general virtue they teach.
Q: Is the never page still a thing here? A: No. But he should go look at the other one and see what's on it.
Q: Is there 'chat' stuff to discover from NPCs? A: There are lots of references to lore stuff, some references to people, some references to locations. There's one a small puzzle thing that he's not sure people have put together but they've found the area it alludes to anyway.
Q: Is there a character limit for long descriptions on items? A: For long descriptions, there is not currently a hard character limit, though now that people are asking, we may have to make some! Please don't make a novel.
Q: Is there a coded difference between upper and lower half-masks? Should it be possible to wear both and effectively have full mask coverage? A: Needs to look at the code. Upper and lower should give full mask coverage, submit bugs. There is something wonky between the upper and lower masks.
Q: Is there a connection between the mug on fire city and Valeria? A: Yes. Tiodor says so.
Q: Is there any set series of situations regarding breaking the basic CvC rules, and such? How do you perceive people breaking those rules and the consequences/punishments therein? A: "I always hope it ends with talking to them. That's my go-to, chatting a bit. There have been cases in the past where people couldn't refrain from it after I them to take a break, so I've had to lock that character or ask them to take a break from the game. If things get insane, there's also the option of banning something; it's happened in the past, though not over CvC. I don't have a standard procedure over it. It's case-by-case."
Q: Is there in game lore about dusklamp's keep? A: Yes (Tulpa: I don't remember if this was elaborated on in discussion, I don't think so).
Q: It feels dirty, but I'm curious of there is any policy or rule about falsely signing posts on the in-game boards as someone you are not. A: He doesn't like the idea of people doing that, because it'll catch on and then the post boards become useless. DRAMA. EUGH. But as of now, there is no policy aside from "Rias does not like it."
Q: It is okay if you have no specific numbers, but what are the physical characteristics of the quarantine wall? How tall or thick is it, what is it made of, or is it uniformly the same all across? A: The wall is fairly uniform, and it's mostly built out of stone. He's not sure about what kind of stone yet, but he'll think about it; it's definitely tall enough that you can't just pole-vault over it. Similar to the Great Wall of China, but he honestly doesn't know the specifics of the Great Wall. He'll look into specifics! It's not the full length of Arad; it connects to the Spine Mountains.
Q: Lexx asks, "Following up on Maina's question about character direction/character driven-stuff - you posted a request asking for Character Dreams a while back. Any chance of bringing that back as something we can fill out, similar to (but maybe separate from) Backstory? Maybe limit it to one (non-retired, and maybe have the Retire process clear the dream out) character with a Dream per account?" A: Rias says, "Yeah, I've wanted to have a setup like that since I had the idea to get character dreams. Something to consider along with the "character notes to share with GMs" idea."
Q: Maina asks, "Thank you! Second: What is the best way to let the GMs know about character direction stuff, re: the earlier question? And how... common do you want that to be? Like do you want to hear about the direction of every character, if they have a direction to tell you about? Or only more extreme cases, like godhood-seeking or barrier-breaking?"
Q: Might we see lingering consequences of bone breaks and significant injuries? A: For the sake of the game being a game, wounds are completely healed after treatment. If you wanted to roleplay lingering pain, aches etcetera, that's fine.
Q: One of the lore bits mentions the Old Kaldrgate Highway. Presumably, this is the east-west road leading to the abandoned canyon village. Is Kaldrgate a specific place? I thought maybe it was the abandoned canyon village, but now I'm not so sure. A: Needs to eyeball it
Q: Outriders A: It is a pretty small group there can be differing opinions and can be a controversial topic
Q: Prism: 'A not in character related question, but a question nonetheless. Rias, what kind of music do you jam to when you’re getting creative?' A: Rias uses music to keep himself focused, depending on the task. Without anything in particular in mind, if he's just doing coding stuff he'll default to synthwave. Usually something that isn't particularly loud or something without lyrics.
Q: riln - is it common everywhere? - A: not really, used some in Khaldea and primarily lost lands
Q: Rocode says, "Secondly, I myself have no inclination of shelving characters any time soon, but as a newbie I did have negative experiences with this, so I thought I would bring it up. It would be nice if there was an option when shelving a character that they would retain their Aura Color for a limited time during shelving, perhaps a month or two, to prevent newbies like me from inadvertently causing conflict or confusion by accidently selecting a color that was "taken" by another---." Rocode says, "There has also been concern of "color sniping" when a character is shelved. I think it would be nice for everyone involved if a color could be locked for a bit of time." Rocode says, "I think it is also important for someone to voluntarily be able to give up a color when shelving as well, if they DON'T want to lock it." A: Rias says, "Maybe with some kind of limit as to how many can be reserved. We could run out of colors if people knew they could rotate and reserve several of their favorite colors 'just in case I play this character at some point in the future'."Rocode says, "That is a valid point, but the two character limit and some sort of shelving/reshelving delay could possibly help with preventing abuse." Rias says, "Good call though. It can be heartbreaking to lose a favorite character's color just because you wanted to take a breather for a bit."
Q: Silly says, "I'd also like to know if certain thinks I send are too confusing. It is meant to confuse, what with the char being the way she is, but I don't wish to make it frustrating for the GM's. (I'm unsure if it's clear what ones I'm refering to, because I've only sent a few of those so far.)."A: Rias says, "If we see a thought that seems confusing we'll probably peek in and see if we can glean some context, but if they're meant to be confusing that's fine! I haven't heard any complaints from staff about being frustrated by thinks, so I think you're all right."
Q: So what do you feel about getting cooking to 1, and using tasks and for for EXP? A:Thinks it is goofy but yeah it is up there with other silly things if they really want to, if that is their jam you do you.
Q: Some characters keep journals. Do GMs have access to read these? Do they have interest in reading these? Is there a way we can help enable GMs reading these if they want to read these that doesn't require coding a whole new journal command for poor Rias? A: There are some kind of 'hacky' ways to look at the text in pretty much any item, but there's no easy way for them to quickly look at, say, Fred's journal. It's always nice to look into a character, though. GMs could look at items from literally anywhere, they don't have to be in the room with the item. A GM could do a search for journals, it'll tell them which room they're in, and they could read it. C: Rias might try and find a way for players to indicate to a GM that they have carried out a particular task they have been set in order to move plots along. It might just need to be something that GMs try to keep in mind, making communications easier by giving players a specific set of instructions, and then a specific way to say it's been done.
Q: Some way to distribute writing. News stand instead of the commons crate A: Likes the idea
Q: Speaking to ((DEV Rias)), Roen asks, "I've heard through the teri that rias@contrarium.net eats emails/replies. I'm imagining quite a few replies were never received. Should we create new emails to cogg@contrarium.net to continue those conversations or might something be fixed with rias@contrarium.net in the future?" A: Speaking to Roen, ((DEV Rias)) says, "Yeah, my email provider is apparently hated by Gmail and a few others. I'll probably just need to bite the bullet and use a different one from COGG communications. I'll do that after this meeting. It'll still go through the same email address, though." ((DEV Rias)) mutters a subversive "Resist the tyranny of Big Tech!" under his breath before turning
Q: Speaking to Rias, Eugor says, "When are the zithrak going to take over? Also, what are the zithrak? In other words, I like your tattoos." A: Rias says, "Fear the arrival of the wild zithrak. It is like nothing any of you have ever faced."
Q: Speaking to Rias, Gorth says, "The fact that you can't survey while swimming makes me want to ask if there are any watery places with trees or other things that would show up in survey, just to taunt us. A: Rias says, "No underwater trees as of yet."
Q: Speaking to Rias, Rocode asks (muffled by a skull), "Awesome! Thirdly, will nominate eventually work with disguised individuals, or is that an intentional design choice?" Rias says, "I'd like nominate to work on disguised individuals you have assigned a name to. It's just a pain with how the intro/disguise system is set up and I haven't sat down to come up with a good solution to it yet."
Q: Speaking to Rias, Rocode asks (muffled by a skull), "Second, with the introduction of tattoos, will we get a command to temporarily show off something underneath clothing?" A: Rias says, "Yes, I was looking into a way to SHOW one's own tattoo to either a specific person or the whole room a day or so ago." (the changelog for this command <CHANGELOG> (General) It is now possible to show off tattoos. To show a tattoo off to everyone in the room, syntax is show <tattoo>. To show it only to a specific indiviudal, syntax is show <tattoo> to <target>. Tattoos can be shown off this way regardless of whether they are covered by apparel.
Q: Speaking to Rias, Rocode says (muffled by a skull), "With the recent announcement of an auction, would it be possible for us to get a mechanical system in place for future events, player run or otherwise? Mail tallying is quite a chore, and I am sure Fellborn grows even more murderous with each letter." A: Rias says, "Agreed. I was thinking about that when Fellborn said he was doing one, but didn't have time for this event." Rias says, "I also hope to get the merchant line system working in time for some custom merchant work this year at the Octum Festival. It keeps track of lines of people waiting for work and such, similar to our conch system here."
Q: Speaking to Rias, Saladbowl asks, "About socials, some are said to have subcommands. Will there ever be a way to see those subcommands without EXTREME TESTING?" A: Rias says, "Maybe! I'd have to spruce up some very old legacy code to do it, but that sounds like one of those therapeutic projects when I don't feel like working on what I should be prioritizing."
Q: Taliba asks, "I forgot, one more question from bbs. What breed of dog are varhound based on?" A: ((DEV Rias)) says, "I'd say imagine a direwolf and an Irish wolfhound once loved each other very much."
Q: Teri asks (muffled by a mask), "A while back, wheelbarrows were brought up as a possible item to help bridge the gap between nothing to handcart. Is that still a thought? If so, where abouts are we with them?"A: Rias says, "Still a thought, but still just a thought at this point. I think they'd make for a decent first step before the large-investment handcart."
Q: Teri asks (muffled by a mask), Republic flag, when?"" A: Rias says, ""I've been thinking up ideas for the Republic flag! My current idea I'm toying with is kind of boring, so I'm trying to think of a way to spice it up a little."""
Q: Teri says (muffled by a mask), "I was curious about any info/ideas for possible tattoo touch ups the future, say, someone getting a current tattoo customized, or removed." A: Rias says, "Touch-ups, additions, and cover-ups, sure. Not so sure about removals - tattoos are forever! Have someone tattoo a nice dark shadowy wraith over the name of your ex." Teri says (muffled by a mask), "Could be a good riln sink, removals are *expensive* but I've gotten mine with the assumption of no removal."
Q: Teri says, "I had a follow up question about containers being modified, and thoughts on holsters for different locations. Hip, shoulder and so on. I made a bbs post about that and was curious after chariot's question. I had some rambles on hidden holsters too, but future future things. It only being on the belt made me want other locations." A:Rias says, "Yeah, having holsters adjustable for different slots would be neat."
Q: Teri says, "Lore as written suggests that the world has exactly one moon." "Does that moon parallel the real world lunar cycle or does it have a different lunar cycle?" A: Rias says, "Same as ours, for convenience's sake."
Q: The king of Aetgard at it's height, was it a bloodline, or appointed by council. A: Hasn't figured it out. Started out as bloodlines some people spoke against it, uprisings and things. There were debates over bloodlines that were murky but the bloodlines were all over. Not as direct bloodlines. As it got bigger and bigger, Aetgard became an empire, but they had kings of local places and a high king. Some of their draws to get people to join that were part of independent groups, hey you can come be a king too and titled instead of just a chief. It was a way they convinced a lot of people to join them.
Q: The plague is still a worrisome thing. Would there be plague doctors, and why isn't that a thing yet? A: "I hadn't really thought about it, but it'd definitely be cool. It was an Aetgardian thing, and I'm sure it's persisted somewhat through the fall."
Q: The room description for the South Courtyard Path in Stormholdt Castle mentions a public inn visited by 'travelers and merchants' as well as residents. Will we get to see more of the settlement in Stormholdt at some point? A: Yes, it's a place Rias wants to expand and add more flavour to. There will be additional things to see and visit, including the inn.
Q: The STRIP command sends things to the footlocker container. Could we have it going to wardrobe instead? A: Yes, could probably have it set that way.
Q: There are behavioral questions I often come up with that I'm not sure are appropriate for Voic Chats like this. Is there a better way to ask these? A: These [above] questions, sure, they're fine to ask.
Q: There was a post a while back regarding hiding log in/log out messages. I know I have had some concerns about the possibility of people taking OOCly-motivated revenge across characters before on both COGG and The Other Game; I am generally more comfortable only having people know my alts if I tell them. Did you have any thoughts on this, either for or against? A: Pondering it after this question. One can use logout instead of disconnect and it doesn't show when switching characters.
Q: This is a purely hypothetical question, obviously, but if there was some kind of ARG happening in or around the COGG project at some point, do you think that said hypothetical ARG would still be happening today, or would it have stopped/fallen off by now? A: He's heard talk of such things and noticed some subtle oddities here and there, and hopefully nothing less subtle happens because that would just encourage us. We're all crazy. Of course there is not an ARG. If there was, it's been too subtle lately. But there isn't one. This is not the droid you are looking for.
Q: This is a silly question, but I was curious as to the history behind the glance social emote. When used with no arguments, it shows what our PCs are holding in their hands. A: It's just what Rias was used to from the MUD he used to play. You can also use the hands command.
Q: To continue the sudden tonal whiplash: what sort of suggestions are more helpful? Less helpful? If there's any tips you have for how people can make the most effective suggestions, either with formatting or content, I'm sure we would all welcome them?A: Getting suggestions at all is great. No preference but it is nice when people give suggestions like abilities like in existing formats.
Q: Vaelin says, "I'm just curious about the monuments in the halls of remembrance... will they be statues, plaques, stone tablets or? I was not sure what to request ic so I sorta just threw in save the kitchen sink." A: Rias says, "They don't necessarily all have to be the same thing, but they're all going ot be pretty small. No life-sized statues or tall obelisks or anything like that. Rather, stuff that can be fitted into niches in the walls. They'll have a tablet/plaque/etc. for the person's name at the very least, and additional words can be requested, but no novels. I should probably come up with some standardized options and rules." Rias says, "And of course the little items like you see with Dylan's, how it has the miniature Stormholdt banner, some miniatures of personal items associated with him, and that."
Q: Ways to get in touch with NPCs: A: post to Common Board with thoughts.
Q: We can rent both rooms at the same time, is that intended? A: He might look to limit it, but for now he's not really worried about people abusing it for hoarding things.
Q: we can smell coffee from the Parlour. WHEN. I just want the coffee. Fuck the Parlour A: The parlour will probably have tea.
Q: We discussed the possibility of decreasing the amount of time to get your mount after a death, for riln. And you were interested, how do you feel about it now? A: It would be a good riln sink
Q: We recently had a CvC. Somebody had stolen an item, but there was no other roleplay from then on except from the party that the item was stolen from. Said thief was killed, but there was no RP; they stayed AFK and they had no interest in talking and thus their character was killed. What is the policy for RP on character killing? A: You need to have a reason. We have a CvC policy to handle situations like this and should be adhered to.
Q: What about drug use/smoking in game? A: There will be smoking pipes. Other examples may exist at some point, but Rias doesn't really want it to become a major theme as that wouldn't be quite right for the setting.
Q: What are the real world analogues for the homeland languages? Are any tonal? A: I am not a polyglot or researcher, so I don't want to tie anything together like that. Language is not my area of expertise.
Q: What do you find most fun about making/running the game? A: Making the game, it's fun to put these weird ideas into some form of pseudo-reality and share it with other people. I wanted to write books, but I couldn't pull it off; the next best thing was creating a game. It's fun to interact with the players, see what they do, see how they interpret the world and what kind of place they want to create. The thing I enjoy most is the whole shared experience. It started as a project to teach myself code.
Q: What does "voidglass" look like? (which also probably answers: what does "voidglass black" look like?) A: It's obsidian-ish. Spookier, darker, eats sunlight but is glassy. Sort of like Vanta black (except that guy is a jerk, don't applaud him). Voidglass was an accidental holdover from working on a different world, but it works here, so it's staying.
Q: What historical era would you consider to be the best fit/analogue for COGG? A: Not sure! Rias says he's not a historian. Maybe pre-industrial stuff, as per teri's suggestion.
Q: What is an 'aum'?A: An arbitrary unit of measurement. Because Rias is silly.
Q: What is policy if I have a specific word that I want to emphasize that's in a different language? E.G. there's a character in a book I'm reading who refers to another character as 'barbarian' but in a different language, and the author wrote that word when she's speaking that book's version of English. Can I do that when speaking Common? A: Switching languages can be a pain IG, but bringing in other languages causes the same issues as above. Ultimately: Don't bring in other languages.
Q: What is that shimmer that happens when I enter the library? A: That's a very good question.
Q: What is the appropriate way to handle things like people talking in meme-speak in-character? As an extreme example, if someone starts going around calling people their 'pogchamp' or how they 'can haz turnover' or something. People have expressed a desire to avoid 'RP police' in the (recent) past, but we do have a language filter because Rias (as I recall?) finds real-life swears immersion-breaking to some degree. Along similar lines, are there any policies about using famous character names from other franchises? These both seem also immersion-breaking to various degrees. A: He doesn't want meme speak and that he prefers avoiding being too modern and to keep things in character. One thing makes his eye twitch and certain phrases he hates frequent uses of are ‘like’ and ‘you guys’ (They aren’t against the rules or anything, but happen to be one of those meh ones for him) . In cases where it is going on, send them a gentle, non-judgmental tell to keep in character. Likely they will defensive try to not be judging or concendescaing (it will likely be difficult at times.) In cases where they are out of hand, excessive and jarring, report it or email and about the person doing it. Q: Along similar lines, are there any policies about using famous character names from other franchises? These both seem also immersion-breaking to various degrees. A: He hasn't worried about names as much with his time around but he would like it to be avoided. It wasn’t an official policy and he will be adding a reminder to the character creation page about avoiding it because are you trying to be that famous character or just share the name?
Q: What is the significance of year one/zero in the Aetgardian calendar? What happened, or supposedly happened, 1221 years ago? Is it widely known in character? A: Rias is passing on this one for now. He hasn't been happy with it yet. It is a significant date, though. He has to decide how much to tell/ how much to keep secret.
Q: What is your official stance on roleplay requirements for performing antagonistic actions? A: Answer boiled down to it's tacky to avoid all consequences, but to say to someone 'you can't run away' is also meh. Remember to be entertaining to your fellow players!
Q: What is your opinion on character gambling? A: If people can come up with stuff to do with them, he thinks it's awesome.
Q: What is your policy on songs/stories? Obviously don't bring modern stuff into the games, but if we have songs, is that allowed? Parodies, etc. A: He doesn't want to see a modern song brought in (i.e. Britney Spears songs, putting in Cogg names). If it's old stuff that can be dressed up into fantasy Cogg type stuff, that's fine. Don't do things that are recognizable even if it is fantasy (Misty Mountains from LOTR, for instance). Plenty of modern musicians do covers of things, or traditional stuff and spruce it up, so that's fine; it doesn't have to be all-original. We just don't want situations of "Oh, I know that song, they just swapped out the words."
Q: When can we climb trees? Let us climb trees. A: Climbing trees gets weird. If you climb a tree, is that a way to nope out of interaction? Can you pew-pew them from the tree? Can melee users not get you? It gets dicey. However, for exploring: when he has time to build new areas up trees.
Q: When can we eat soap, gems and chalk? A: Sleight of hand, or actually? If actually: gross, there are some weird people.
Q: When I've envisioned affinities in games, it's like the triangle in video games where it sways. Will it be like that, or a flat percentage? A: They'll all be percentages. As one goes up, the others will go down, so you can't have all the affinities. He's still deciding if he wants it to be an All Affinities Affect One Another or categorized. Affinities are supposed to be small, supplemental things, not core things that require being 100% in something.
q: Who if any in the lost lands may make icecream? (Sort of joke question while editing the title to reflect the new time.)A: Yes.
Q: Who was the king of Aetgard during the plague? A: Hazy knowledge.
Q: Why are some areas 'go wilderness' to exit, while others are more specific? Do the more unique exits have any additional qualities? A: This is just because sometimes 'go wilderness' doesn't seem as natural as in other locations. If you're in the sawmill, it's just out, because you're exiting the sawmill. Technically, you're in the wilderness map, but it would be weird to type 'go wilderness' in that instance. There's no hard or fast rule with this one. Some exits that change depending on the direction you access them from may be looked at, e.g. the footpath/road to access farms and the gate/portcullis at Stormholdt.
Q: Will it be possible at some point to get destriers? I can't remember if this has been brought up before. Always wanted Mourn to be one, and I'm still jealous of the ones that were on offer at the last festival. A: Yeah. It is tempting to make them an uncommon thing because they are uncommon. They might not become an off the shelve shop but doesn't plan them being super esxlusive.
Q: Will NPCs desire/need mercenaries also? A: Rias is hoping to do something like that. Lexx also wants rescue jobs/tasks for people with swim/climb.This is a thing Rias wanted in Somnium. Nobody wants group tasks to guard and guide. Rias likes this idea a lot also.
Q: Will there be a spider area? Spider area some day? A: Spiders are amazing, Rias loves spiders. Someday, something, somewhere.
Q: Will there still be a certain statue in an orphan play yard if it opens A: Yes, when it opens. When people stop being horrible. Villains trying to establish themselves going on down to the village.
Q: Will we be able to do the Kontiki splash/log flume thing at Blackwater sometime? A: Yes. Rias has wanted to do that forever, so yes.
Q: Will we have more guilds added later on, aside from the Artisans guild? A: There's always a possibility, but he's not sure how likely it is. He's got his hands full with the three as it is. He's always happy to listen to ideas, but he has no plans.
Q: Wish says, "Will there be a day when we can climb into the treetops and play tag in the canopies? (I'm a dreamer)."A: Rias says, "Maybe in a particular area? The problem that always comes up with a general climbing trees mechanic is that it always leads to people wanting to ranged attack from safety, or at least be able to be untouchable by melee, and stuff like that."Rias exclaims, "But a forested area of trees with an extraordinary number of conveniently low-growing branches, that could be a thing!"
Q: With Sanity, are you still planning on flavor text when your sanity drops to a certain point? We do the gibberish and possibly twitching, but say we're Paranoid or below, maybe you get flavor text that pops up to only them. A: Yes, Rias would love to do that. Sanity stuff is very make-it-up-yourself right now, but he absolutely wants to do that and will take suggestions on the BBS. Talyn will be writing a post about it that everyone can add to.
Q: Would it be possible to know the sender of packages within the mail system? A: Should stay anonymous for the packages as people wish, but may include an option to add their name along the cod.
Q: You had posted for dreams & things for your characters. Did that end today or tomorrow? A: It ended today (9/10/2021). Q: Will that open up for other characters in the future also? A: Yes! He just wanted to make sure we would actually do it instead of putting it off, giving us motivation to get it done. Also, this stuff can be changed later; he just wanted a concept in our minds, causing us to think about our character and share it with the GMs. He wants to keep it to one character per account, though. And he intends to have it in-game to be stored.
Q:is avery on the council? A: Rias is trying to decide. THere are different lore points from CLOK.
Last edited by Teri on Fri Jan 06, 2023 7:09 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Oh no, looks like I might die as I have lived. In the wrong place at the wrong time
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Teri
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Voice Chat Master list of the past years (rough draft)

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Done, for now. You can post after this one, and I will probably reorder these the future
Oh no, looks like I might die as I have lived. In the wrong place at the wrong time
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