Mugging

[aruna]

It could work much like pick pocketing and backstabbing.

Then be a pick pocket or an assassin...

1) I'm going to ignore the fact that some people probably want this solely so they can jack NPCs for easy money. To me, adding a skill with just NPCs in mind is simply ludicrous. The heart of Armageddon is roleplay.  Preferably with other roleplayers.  So if you really want to mug an NPC, wish up and have him animated.  

2) If you do want to mug a PC (or an animated NPC), I see no real benefit from a mugging skill, at all. With what you're proposing, one of three things will happen: either the person will pay, or fight, or run away. These outcomes are the same (but a hell of a lot more fun, with room for creativity) if you emote sneaking up to someone, holding a knife to their throat, and saying "Give me all your 'sid."

[Tamarin]

Naw, I don't like this idea.  Especially considering the general hardiness of Zalanthan people, most citizens aren't going to worry about one guy with a blade.

Uh, I reckon the majority of people would worry plenty if the guy has a blade out and they don't. While they may be hardy that does not mean that they can actually fight. Hardiness and combat ability are two very different things. I don't like the threaten idea myself but to say that your average Zalathan is not going to be worried about somebody pointing a blade at them seems a bit much to me - some may not but I think a lot would be.

That wasn't my point.  My point was that they aren't going to cower in fear and stick around to get mugged.  They are going to take off like a bat ouf of the hellpits, and there's nothing that this mugger can do except take a couple of swings.  If you want to get good at mugging people, practice subdue.

[Trenidor]

A good RPer will act out everything...being beat up to beating others up.

Ah the age old Arm question...What should be coded and what should be RPed...To which I anwer, go play a MUSH and get back to me in a week.

- That said - Why code when you can RP? Because, sometimes the code enforces RP...

The idea of threaten would be to do away with random sappings which remove interaction and the infamous n00b walk away:

Me: Hey don't move or your dead.
A noob walks east.
me sighs.

Yes yes, I get annoyed by it as well, but if you RP it, and you RP it well (have hide on, and when they walk past emote putting your knife around their throat) wish up and ask if it was real enough. If the imms agree then congrats you just taught someone a lesson, and you got a nice leisure suit from it.

There are alternatives however:

bash
emote holds ~knife up to %pushed-over-guy neck

say Move and you're dead.

-or-

Subdue guy

emote puts his knife up to %guy neck

as well as several other things.

but, the first one should work if you RP it up to the imm at hand's expectation.

[Delirium]

It is perfectly possible to mug someone code-wise with the proper combination of skills.

You want to be a mugger, take the guild and/or subguild that will give you what you need. I see no need for some 'threaten' code to do all the thinking and hard work for you.

[SRB]

Sap is heavily underrated. I suggest you people try it out before pushing any other ideas.

[LBO]

That wasn't my point.  My point was that they aren't going to cower in fear and stick around to get mugged.  They are going to take off like a bat ouf of the hellpits, and there's nothing that this mugger can do except take a couple of swings.  If you want to get good at mugging people, practice subdue.

Why wouldn't your average citizen cower a little if suddenly confronted by somebody holding two swords? PCs don't because they know that they can take a single "grevious wound to the neck" but still be able to run away codedly like there's nothing wrong with them. Think you could run far if in real life if somebody stuck you in the neck and back with a knife? Would you chance letting somebody who is holding two swords having a couple of swings at you or give him your money? Some of the population who have trained in weapons may well be fine with handling themselves and know how to extract themselves from a sticky situation but a lot wouldn't.

I suppose its a result of the code in place that is influencing people's decisions. There's no real damage taken from a grevious wound that won't go away after a short while. There's no blood loss code which would mean that a couple of quick strikes in critical locations could possibly leave you bleeding so badly that you would not able to run far from your mugger without collapsing. If these were in place would you think a little differently about running away?

Without these in place the best I can think of is to work in a team. One to subdue and the other to rap them on the noggin soundly. Of course then we'll have the complaints of the auto-subduing muggers / raiders. You just can't win  :wink:

[Bestatte]

Ugh, this whole "mug" idea is kinda icky. I hate the whole coded permissions thing.

The raider wants to kill you. [Type ACCEPT DEATH to allow, NO to refuse.]

The f-me PC guy wants to make hot sweaty monkey love with you. [Type MUDSEX YEAH to allow, NO to refuse.]

The thief wants to steal from you. [Type OPEN POCKET to accept, NO to refuse.]

Blech blech and more blech. Might as well make it a first-person shooter.

[Tamarin]

Blech blech and more blech. Might as well make it a first-person shooter.

load shell bfg
etwo bfg
shoot bestatte

:twisted:

[halfhuman]

I didn't suggest any permissions thing when I first talked about the mug command.  I didn't suggest that it works on PC's either. (Well, maybe twinks ) If I see a PC that looks week enough for me to mug, I RP it. I've done it before.   I only suggested it because, as a mugger, I had to beat the living shit out of NPC's just to mug them.   I'll admit that it could be used alot by twinks, but lets face it, so could steal.

Reading these posts has given me a few ideas for a potential mugging.  There's still the matter that using Mug would get you wanted by the authorities, which always ends the same way:  with a super-fast Allanak soldier attacking you seven times, before you even notice that he's on the screen, then you seeing the kank at the end of the tunnel.  That could cut down on the whole over use issue right there.

[sjanimal]

*bump*

[Tamarin]

Yeah...bump...I don't like this idea.  Use what's already available.  If you can't do it as it is, you are either not smart enough, you don't have enough people, or you just haven't tried all that hard.

[halfhuman]

heh... heh... that was kinda an IC info thing, wasn't it?    :oops:    Woops.

Anyways, just a thought of mine... I can see, now that I've got different points of view, that it really isn't one of my better ones.

[Tamarin]

It wasn't a great idea, but I'd say it wasn't a bad one either.  The thing that I think most people realise, but some don't, is that you can't break every tiny little skill that exists in real life into an actual coded skill, mugging for example, when the parts that make up the sum are already included in the game.

[Agent_137]

I kinda like the idea. Has a few tricky things like, "what if they just walk off?"

But then, they do that anyway...