Random Questions

annys

I've been dying for the chance to wonder about trivial stuff out publicly with people. And with enough luck get a few answers here and there? Thus, a thread for miscellaneous, perhaps minor, things you haven't had addressed by the release of lore so far!

I'll start: I haven't noticed age in the descriptions of races on any other IRE, which leads me to (fingers crossed) posit that age might be a relevant thing in this mud? Some kind of actual mechanic, even?

Devina

That would be very cool, if age was included. Rather than us being the rare forever-living individuals that we were in other MUDs -- especially since religion seems to be so much different than before.

Villanox

I have a feeling age would take advantage of mindsims, your old body dies and you get downloaded into a clone

Baedundariel

Hm, each race description has a life span category.. I wonder if death by old age will exist, or if technology will assist with avoiding that type of thing.. heh heh 

Devina

Villanox said:

I have a feeling age would take advantage of mindsims, your old body dies and you get downloaded into a clone

This would actually be a very interesting way to go about it. Rather than simple resurrection or something.

Aurelius

Those age ranges won't have any mechanical effects - races don't actually have big mechanical differences for balance reasons. 

However, age is a thing in terms of your appearance. You can describe yourself however you want, but when someone looks at you, they see some characteristics about you determined by the game, like height, eye color, and age-appearance. I talk about age-appearance because technology exists in Starmourn to rejuvenate your body substantially. You might be 200 years old, but look 25 years old, for instance. If you don't rejuv, you'll eventually (could be a very long time depending on how long your race lives) look old and decrepit in the sense that the game determines that you do, though again, we can't stop you from describing your old and decrepit self as young and vital in the free-form description of your character.

Devina

@Aurelius -- that is a fabulous thing. I'm really pumped just for this particular mechanic regarding descriptions, allowing us to have a really varying level of appearances more than just "young and pretty". I never see middle-age people. Or even much variation on height and colors.

Aurelius

Devina said:

@Aurelius -- that is a fabulous thing. I'm really pumped just for this particular mechanic regarding descriptions, allowing us to have a really varying level of appearances more than just "young and pretty". I never see middle-age people. Or even much variation on height and colors.

You're even going to be able to get fat or skinny in Starmourn, though again, those won't have any kind of mechanical effect. You can just ignore food if you'd like, though you'll eventually look emaciated. Similarly, if you don't move much and eat a lot, you'll get fat.

Villanox

That sounds really cool actually, would not eating have any other effects besides your character becoming a walking twig? I know in Achaea not eating food (unless you're logosian) can cause some damage, though never experimented to see if it would kill you eventually

Devina

Aurelius said:

Devina said:

@Aurelius -- that is a fabulous thing. I'm really pumped just for this particular mechanic regarding descriptions, allowing us to have a really varying level of appearances more than just "young and pretty". I never see middle-age people. Or even much variation on height and colors.

You're even going to be able to get fat or skinny in Starmourn, though again, those won't have any kind of mechanical effect. You can just ignore food if you'd like, though you'll eventually look emaciated. Similarly, if you don't move much and eat a lot, you'll get fat.

You cannot see my spastic octopus-flailing excitement right now, but it's present. Here's a question also: will there be a way to randomly generate a race-typical name based on race like there is in Lusternia (and I think Aetolia and probably Imperian, Achaea and was in Midkemia)? Because I... Am an RPer, and while I know this game isn't RP-enforced or anything, I do like things that sort of promote ... uh ... RP.

Jekk

That's a pretty neat mechanic, excited to see how it plays out

annys

It's really neat that it's not just fluff in the lore, but mechanical fluff in the game!

It seems like there's going to be a lot of stuff with a new approach about it in this system, regardless of games we come from before. It's fantastic to know that with all the neat combat and environment innovation stuff, RP got a little love, too.

Might I safely assume there's even more fancy RP-widgets and stuff we're not used to seeing in IRE?

Aurelius

Devina said:

Aurelius said:

Devina said:

@Aurelius -- that is a fabulous thing. I'm really pumped just for this particular mechanic regarding descriptions, allowing us to have a really varying level of appearances more than just "young and pretty". I never see middle-age people. Or even much variation on height and colors.

You're even going to be able to get fat or skinny in Starmourn, though again, those won't have any kind of mechanical effect. You can just ignore food if you'd like, though you'll eventually look emaciated. Similarly, if you don't move much and eat a lot, you'll get fat.

You cannot see my spastic octopus-flailing excitement right now, but it's present. Here's a question also: will there be a way to randomly generate a race-typical name based on race like there is in Lusternia (and I think Aetolia and probably Imperian, Achaea and was in Midkemia)? Because I... Am an RPer, and while I know this game isn't RP-enforced or anything, I do like things that sort of promote ... uh ... RP.

Last name, yes. In fact, you will be forced to pick from a list of race-appropriate last names. First name, we're not sure on, though either way, you will be able to choose your own first name if you choose. 

Amondrask

Aurelius said:

Devina said:

Aurelius said:

Devina said:

@Aurelius -- that is a fabulous thing. I'm really pumped just for this particular mechanic regarding descriptions, allowing us to have a really varying level of appearances more than just "young and pretty". I never see middle-age people. Or even much variation on height and colors.

You're even going to be able to get fat or skinny in Starmourn, though again, those won't have any kind of mechanical effect. You can just ignore food if you'd like, though you'll eventually look emaciated. Similarly, if you don't move much and eat a lot, you'll get fat.

You cannot see my spastic octopus-flailing excitement right now, but it's present. Here's a question also: will there be a way to randomly generate a race-typical name based on race like there is in Lusternia (and I think Aetolia and probably Imperian, Achaea and was in Midkemia)? Because I... Am an RPer, and while I know this game isn't RP-enforced or anything, I do like things that sort of promote ... uh ... RP.

Last name, yes. In fact, you will be forced to pick from a list of race-appropriate last names. First name, we're not sure on, though either way, you will be able to choose your own first name if you choose. 

How will that factor in with families? If you end up with the same last name as another player, will you be related, or is it more a case of you're both Xarazi's, but of different family lines?

Aurelius

Amondrask said:

Aurelius said:

Last name, yes. In fact, you will be forced to pick from a list of race-appropriate last names. First name, we're not sure on, though either way, you will be able to choose your own first name if you choose. 

How will that factor in with families? If you end up with the same last name as another player, will you be related, or is it more a case of you're both Xarazi's, but of different family lines?

Depends on how you want to play it. It's a big galaxy, and you could either be related or not. Lots of Smiths in the rl for instance - they're definitely not all related. We're not going to have any kind of family code at release.

Devina

I like the race-appropriate last names. Having a name-generator (just for ideas) for first names would be useful (in my mind), but being able to choose your own is always a good option. You come up with interesting ones sometimes.

Tecton

Aurelius said:

Amondrask said:

Aurelius said:

Last name, yes. In fact, you will be forced to pick from a list of race-appropriate last names. First name, we're not sure on, though either way, you will be able to choose your own first name if you choose. 

How will that factor in with families? If you end up with the same last name as another player, will you be related, or is it more a case of you're both Xarazi's, but of different family lines?

Depends on how you want to play it. It's a big galaxy, and you could either be related or not. Lots of Smiths in the rl for instance - they're definitely not all related. We're not going to have any kind of family code at release.

But definitely something on the cards for post-launch!

Villanox

The real question that everyone is asking internally though, is when

Jekk

I'd retire again to play in something Tecton is heavily involved in, so glad you're here; glad for the last name generator too. That'll help with the RP for the races that are going to take a bit to get used to.

Tecton

Villanox said:

The real question that everyone is asking internally though, is when

When it's done! We're working day an night trying to get it finished ASAP. 

trey

The real question here is how much do I have to bribe one of you to have a ship that's faster and more maneuverable than anyone else? I don't even care if I have any real weapons on the thing, I just love the idea of being the fighter pilot version of Daffy Duck, bouncing around the black of space while dodging enemy fire.

Skara

Speaking of retirement, what are the admin thoughts on it?  I've got a character I'd retire for credits to work with in Starmourn.  But I could see how that might be a touchy subject, a balance between the game's need for immediate income and the desire to create investiture in player characters.

Villanox

I believe it was said retirement credits wouldn't be allowed at first

Pollivar

1. Will there be any way to develop a last name of your own, under admin approval or something?
2. Will the admins be taking any IC roles in this game beyond possessing NPCs? Important characters, like Gods in other games? Perhaps you're intending them to be members of Elder Races?
3. How different will living in Scatterhome be from the other two, more organized and 'opposed' organizations? Will it be feasible to be a 'mercenary' at all?

Amondrask

Are there any plans, tentative or otherwise, to have a function similar to the other level 100ish rewards from the other games? Dragon, Demigod, etc status. Note that I don't really care about the crunch involved, but I am super interested about the potential RP such things bring. Transcendent humanity style, Kith ascension? The possibilities!

Sagex

Amondrask said:

Are there any plans, tentative or otherwise, to have a function similar to the other level 100ish rewards from the other games? Dragon, Demigod, etc status. Note that I don't really care about the crunch involved, but I am super interested about the potential RP such things bring. Transcendent humanity style, Kith ascension? The possibilities!

I know based on my time in early stages with Lusternia and Midkemia that they did not have anything outside of level 99 until a few months later.  They may also do something a bit different since this is going to be a depart from their traditional fantasy based games. 

Jericho

I really hope they don't put piloting or having a ship behind some severe gate that only the top echelon of people will have. 

Sagex

Jericho said:

I really hope they don't put piloting or having a ship behind some severe gate that only the top echelon of people will have. 

Somewhere in their faq ship and piloting is for everyone i believe.

Jericho

Good. I couldn't be a pilot IRL due to events shutting that door for me. So I can only live vicariously through my mind. 

Goat

So, first off, some build up to my question...we've seen 'sides' in every other IRE game. Some have two sides. Some have three. Will we be forced into sides in this game as well? Or, given that its a completely different genre, will I be able to be a neutral person who can form a Mercenary group like I want? I have some ideas for it that I've really been fleshing out the last few months, and I don't want to get my hopes up too much.

Sagex

Jericho said:

Good. I couldn't be a pilot IRL due to events shutting that door for me. So I can only live vicariously through my mind. 

Can I pilot a ship in Starmourn?

Yes you can, and not just you either, snowflake! Ships are going to be accessible and easily obtainable by players very early on in their characters' lives. from their faq on the starmourn website