Re: (TFT) It's all in the storytelling

[Pasha and or Rick Smith <pnrsmith@istar.ca>]

Hi Everyone,
Justin, I think that David and ??? (I lost track of who
started this thread) are talking about PK's (Player Killers) in
an Online Computer Roleplaying Games.  PKers are a real 
problem in most of these games and the people running the 
world have had to deal with it in one way or another.  The
system where the PKer slowly starts looking like a demon is 
actually more clever than most systems I've seen.

I'm sure that they don't have the PK problem in 
their own face to face campaigns.

Rick


> Remind me never to play in either your or DMG's campaigns.   The concept of a RPG DM/GM/FM is to act as a storyteller not a killer or "Monty Haul".  I'm surprised either of you have players.  But then again hopefully you have grown out of that middle school/junior high mentality in the many years since then.  I know I can scare the hell out of my players more with a sound than with an physical encounter.  Scary sounds behind a door turn more players away than a dozen gobbo's. Randy and Rick know how to do this well in their Pbem games (Rick's is over but Randy's is still running in Sanctuary).
>
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: <mailto:dseagraves@austin.rr.com>Dave Seagraves
> > To: <mailto:dseagraves@austin.rr.com>Dave Seagraves;<mailto:dseagraves@austin.rr.com>tft@brainiac.com
> > Sent: 1/14/2001 4:46:18 AM
> > Subject: Re: (TFT) the challenge of computers, and idea
> >
> > David writes . . .
> >
> >
> > >     People who like killing other players will get instant
> > >gratification.  They will get nifty looking horns and spikes
> > >growing out of them.  The more PCs they kill the more demonic
> > >looking they will become . . .
> >
> >
> > Great idea!  Players trying to play their characters realistically would
> > be able to easily identify the buttheads.
> > Idea: Have the game track who attacks who first.  If two characters fight
> > and one dies, the winner is now hunted and harassed by NPC law enforcement
> > types unless (a) it was a case of self-defense (i.e. the winner didn't
> > attack first), or (b) the victim tells the game somehow that it was a duel,
> > fair fight, or similar, and the winner shouldn't be punished.  (Of course
> > the game should have an "arena" that characters could enter where there are
> > no consequences.)  If the culprit is killed or caught, the NPC guardsmen (or
> > whatever) did their job, and the player loses his character.
> > Idea: Make people pay real money for every character they create, perhaps
> > somewhere between 5 and 20 dollars, but the first one or few are free.
> > Combine this with the above idea and players might use some other outlet for
> > their sadistic tendencies.
> > Idea: Each (registered) player can only have a limited number of
> > characters, perhaps even just one, or perhaps only one per class.
> > Characters which are killed/captured by the guardsmen are lost forever --
> > the player can /never/ play the game (or that class) again unless he buys a
> > new copy of the game with a new registration code.
> > Idea: Players who have never lost a character to the guardsmen can have
> > their characters themselves act as guardsmen and help the NPCs hunt down the
> > offending characters!  If desired, guardsman PCs can look at wanted
> > characters and then decide how to handle taking them in (or down).
> >
> >
> > Sorry to be off topic, but I'm a veteran Diablo player and this was right
> > up my street.  Diablo has had its share of "player killing" (an obvious
> > misnomer), but I actually don't mind other player's characters attacking my
> > characters since it occurs within the context of the game.  It's the blatant
> > /cheating/ which I find irritating (and for which I verbally attack the
> > /players/ for).  Any idiot can use Autokill.