Idea of disguises and such.

[creeper386]

I was just thinking and was wondering something. I know there are masks and different things that change the ldesc/sdesc and such... could this be included to include more then one object working together to change those things. Maybe like disguise kits that aren't just one object but several different objects that work to disguise yourself. Although most would be pretty obvious your in disguise wouldn't show your true self unless you removed it. Also could come in handy with full or partial suits of armour although maybe one part wouldn't conceal much to certainly conceal yourself a full helm, with neckguard, chestplate would kind of hide who you are, and certainly more full suits. Could be interesting for more advanced troops or nobles armour, something like,

A tall figure in a full suit of  magnificently crafted armour stands here.
A short figure in a half suit of shiny bone plate stands here.
A figure in a half suit of shiny bone plate stands here.

And such along those lines. Just wondering if anyone else thinks it'd be interesting or useful.

Creeper

[Angela Christine]

I think it would be cool, but there would have to be a priority system to keep things from getting out of hand, ldesc wise.  Nobody wants to see:

A tall figure in a dusty, hooded grey silk cloak embroidered with silver pixies, a dusty black silk face wrap, and a bloodied full suit of magnificently crafted armour stands here.

And Tek help us if Lord Overdressed get injured sets a custom ldesc or sits at a table, changing "stands here" to "is lying here bleeding heavily," or "sits stiffly at a scratched baobab table, spine ramrod straight."  Oh, the horror.

I would suggest the following priority:

A hooded cloak with the hood up (the hooded cloak will at least partially conceal other items).
An unusual mask, just really eye-catching masks like ones with big bird beaks
A fancy, eye-catching set of armor
A hood or cowel not attatched to a cloak
A facewrap, bandana or veil

So you will only see "the figure in the grey sandcloth facewrap" if the person isn't wearing a cloak with the hood up, a stunning set of armor, or a cowl, because those other items would partially conceal or detract attention from a simple facewrap.  Thus shortening sdescs and causeing great rejoiceing.

AC

[DrunkenSalarr]

While we're at it, why not make a disguise crafting skill.  The better your skill, the better the disguise you could make.  You know, at low levels you could make elf ears, round ears, maybe even bald scalps (out of real skin of course).

Then at the higher levels, you could get really morbid and be able to craft head objects into masks.

Code Select Expand

>craft head into mask
you craft the head of the speckled-faced man into a mask.

>wear mask
you put on a mask of the speckled-faced man.

It would change your sdesc into that of the previous owne of the head.  It would make for some very interesting RP.

This goes into the realm of Ldesc changing and then there are a few things to consider.

Would a man who is distinctive as being the 'the tall man with horrid face scars' be considered disguised in a suit of armor? or a set of rags? probably not. As his distinction in life revolves around his face. However a face-wrap, or a veil, -and then- different or unusual clothing could go a long way.

On a new example. If I was "the short, bald man" that always wore thick chiton armor I might want to get some nice high-heel boots (which I think should affect height), a turban, then dress in normal clothings. This way the distinctive features would be masked and changed.

Then there are disguising items. If someone wore a fake mustache, a wig, and maybe a fake beard even if they appeared as '<worn on face> a fake mustache' I think it should be up to the player to decide if their character could discern such. Maybe through closer examination of the item they realize a bit of adhesive uncovered with whiskers, or something.
Like "a set of fake elf ears" might seem fake because of the word in the description of the item, but if you saw a person from far off and they did an sdesc change would you be so sure?

that would be a neat concept in itself, distance perception changes like "the short bald man" to "the short bald half-elf" or something when wearing ears. Or all sorts of things, maybe confuse people for woman, or different races. I dont know... getting off subject.[/quote]

[gfair]

It's a worthwhile idea, but it makes the game congested with ldescs.  I can't tell you how unpleasant and impossible it is to play in a tavern when you have several people and one or two wear a cloak and facemask and emote any more frequently than once in a very long while.  Allowing people to include any two pieces of equipment in their ldesc is, in my opinion, going to be a major headache.

Facemasks and cloaks, or should I say hoods up, can very quickly dominate a player's screen if one or both are in place. And there are times when I think people so attired are deliberately texting-up the screen for humour. Take, for example, the command "nod <person>".  That takes on new dimension when you have one person with mask and cloak nodding to another person also with mask and cloak:

The tall and thin male wearing a brown sandcloth facemask and a brown and yellow sandcloth dustcloak nods to The humongous female wearing a white silk facemask and full-length brown cloak.

This emote example never happened with this specific text, but I've seen it done.  Now imagine it happening frequently, as it could in a conversation.

I've seen a reduction in the number of people wearing facemasks leading me to believe that either it got boring very quickly, or was deliberately altered, so I'm arguing against the idea on this basis - adding anything more than the char's sdesc is unacceptable, IMO. It's a great idea to add spice to individual descriptions, but it doesn't fit well in Arm.

[Delirium]

Perhaps cloaks should cover facemasks when both are worn at the same time?

[Sandferret]

If cloaks (hoods) covered facemasks, shouldn't they cover the face too?

Or would looking at a hooded figure with a facemask then return 'This person is masked'?

[Angela Christine]

If cloaks (hoods) covered facemasks, shouldn't they cover the face too?

Or would looking at a hooded figure with a facemask then return 'This person is masked'?

Well, I think it depends on the kind of mask.  

Many masks do not change your main desc, just your sdesc.  From a distance the most notable feature about a person might be their big hooded cloak, the fact that they are also wearing a think sandcloth facewrap might not be immediately obvious, especially from two or three rooms away.  When you look at them you would see in their equipment list that they are wearing a mask in the face location.

The far rarer masks and wraps that conceal your identity would still conceal your identity.  If someone looks at you they would see the mask generated description regardless of if your hood was up or down, but from three rooms away they would see you as the figure in the hooded cloak if your hood was up, or as the figure in the mask if your hood was down.

That's in my ideal dream world, I don't know if it is possible or appealing to the staff who would be the ones that would have to impliment it.   :wink:

AC

[The Lonely Hunter]

As I heard from staff directly (when I thought my mask was bugged), masks no longer change or hide your mdesc.

[creeper386]

I'm not saying things like having a massive long sdesc. I'm talking about different disguises. Like a group of items that change your ldesc thats peppered with things from your stats.

Like say your in a full suit of armour. Who you are is not very likely to be noticeable. Although that type of armour is going to be very rare in Zalanthas just because of the heat.

Although to really use it decently I could see a few more things having to be added. Like an input for eye and hair color so it could be used in the short description, also could make more use for dyes and such instead of only tailors and general crafters using it or something.

I'm also not saying it would be really common or anything either. Kind of like the masks or face wraps that changed main descriptions back before since now they don't I guess.

Although it'd be alot of work and I'm not really suggesting it be implemented because of the scale it'd really need to be done at to be good... I'm just wondering peoples opinion on it.

Just as an example, lets say your playing a tall hefty guy... Well a half giant, and your a grand gladiator for some rich house. And you have a full suit of nice chitin armour. Full helm, visor, all fitted together, something probably most nobles wouldn't even go to the trouble to have... People could maybe see...

A half-giant in a suit of yellow chitin stands here.

When normally your ldesc is...

A dark-skinned, purple-haired half giant stands here.

And most likely a cloak would cover that up, wouldn't stack with anything. Which I think there needs to be some sort of preference with things, because now sdescs can get WAY too long with a cloak and veil or something it's just crazy, but the main thing behind this idea, instead of your main description it's more of a generic description of someone in that clothing with things peppered as in your height and build and such.

I don't know... I think it'd be nifty. Kind of like in societies with excecutioners. Normally they were picked for their size, but so things don't get personally they are completely disguised. Although then most everyone that is about that size is avoided... Noone can be picked out.

Could also have things like some mean templar but noone knows really what he looks like because when he's out he's in this really scary suit of armour, basically the templar himself isn't known as him but this mean suit of armour. While in normal garb he can go tromping about without it.

But yeah, thats all. Creeper.