Re:Guidlines for Creating Mutants

[FantasyWriter]

http://www.zalanthas.org/gdb/index.php/topic,36622.msg480935.html#new

Mutations available to players should never exceed a certain threshold.  Mutations should be more about making a character sub-human, rather than super-human.

If a mutation will affect you so strongly that your base race is no longer discernible, it is not acceptable for play as a character.  Your base race must be READILY apparent in both your short description and your main description.  Mutant is no longer acceptable as a short description keyword.

If a mutation might otherwise be deadly towards you (translucent skin), or give your character a severe power increase (laser beams from your eyes), it is also not acceptable.

Being a mutant may dramatically change your social standing, but it in no way changes the culture for your race.  Mutant dwarves still operate like normal dwarves, and mutant halflings still eat you.

While mutations are more prevalent in some areas, they are by no means the majority of any civilized population.  Minor cosmetic mutations (extra finger, mismatched eyes, mottled skin) may be applied for in any standard application. If a mutation would have a noticeable effect on a character's lifestyle (claws instead of fingers for instance), forcing them to adapt differently to mundane activities like eating, holding weapons, ect, the concept must be applied for with a special application.

Mutations that give an advantage (armor plating, stat boost, infravision) may be allowed through a special application, though each will be closely examined for potential imbalance and abuse.  Beneficial adjustments will only be accepted if they are coupled with appropriate disabilities.  Ie, armor plating without the ability to wear normal armor.

My heart sunk when I read this.  Although they have not been a big percentage of my PCs, my favorite concepts have been mutants (yes, both were spec apped and had mutant in their sdesc and both had their race in the first sentence of their mdesc since people looking at them closely WOULD be able to tell).
I can think of many mutations in a Fantasy-based world full of Magick that would make someone --at first glance-- not obviously human/elf/dwarf at first glance.

I guess I am posting this mostly for than anything to ask why the sudden interest/change as I thought the documentation was rather clear beforehand?


http://www.armageddon.org/general/mutant.html

Mutations abound on the surface of Zalanthas, and many have gone so far as to become species in and of their own right, such as the deadly psionic gaj, the Thryzn who assisted in freeing the north, the animate cacti known as Thornwalkers, and the fierce insectoid kryl.

Humanoid races are similarly prone to mutations, whether they be humans, elves, dwarves, or one of the common racial mixtures. Most mutations are small: oddly colored eyes, a bald patch, strange coloration, elongated ears, etc. A few take a more drastic form: scaly arms, horns, extra or misplaced limbs, and a smaller handful are lethal. Midwives are accustomed to the making the choice whether or not a child should live, depending on the lethality of his or her mutations, a fact that explains the high incidence of "stillbirths" among the nobility, who are less tolerant of appearance outside the norm.

Lacking a scientific rationale for mutations, most attribute them to magick, whether this be a commoner blaming their two-headed baby on an angry magicker or Silt Sea dwellers (mutations do seem to be more common along its shore) simply explaining it as "the Sea marks some for its own". Those knowledgeable about magick tend to refine this view and blame the mutation on a preponderance of one element, such as an albino baby being "Whira's mark", too much exposure to dreaded Nilaz, the antithesis of the other elements, or a result of sorcery. In the minds of many, mutantcy and magick-wielding are inextricably mixed, and any normal-seeming magicker is assumed to have some secret hiding beneath his or her robes.

No one has undergone a study of how magicks affect the embryonic, but there do not seem to be more mutations within the ranks of any given group, including magickers, with the exception of those living near the Sea of Silt.

In Tuluk, where the Thryzn of the Northern chasm played an important part in defeating Allanak, mutations of all sorts are not openly reviled, although only someone truly aberrant would wish one on his or her child. However, the link between mutants and magick remains there as well, and the strong bias against magick may influence some to react to a mutant with unease, timidity, or prejudice.

You are welcome to give your character mutations. Try to avoid clearly lethal mutations and mutations intended to give your character some sort of power or advantage. Anything that will involve a code tweak or special building must be cleared beforehand as though it were a special application. If you are a new player (have played for less than month), we strongly suggest running a regular character.

[Gimfalisette]

Looks more like a clarification than a change to me. Playing a mutant is supposed to be along the lines of playing a 'rinthi or UTer or city elf or breed; it's a reason for society as a whole to be prejudiced against the PC, not a method of being accepted or gaining an advantage. It should be a deliberate disadvantage taken on willingly by the player, in most cases.

[Uruz]

To write these guidelines, I pulled heavily from the existing documentation.  The problem was with players ignoring things like "Most mutations are small. A few take a more drastic form".  There have been changes, listed below, but mostly this was posted to serve as a reminder of the original documentation, and the place of mutants in the world.

The changes made are that "mutant" is not acceptable as an sdesc word, and that heavily mutated characters (which should be very FEW, as mentioned in the original documentation) must now be special applications.

Sure, there are mutations that are so severe that they would completely obliterate knowledge of your base race.  However, these have been deemed completely unplayable as characters.  You may be able to imagine the potential for abuse when the base race cannot be discovered by getting a good look at a character.

[FantasyWriter]

Gimf:
The change was that mutants (even those without spec-app-requiring code quirks) can no longer use mutant as a noun without spec apping.

[Gimfalisette]

The change was that mutants (even those without spec-app-requiring code quirks) can no longer use mutant as a noun without spec apping.

Doesn't seem game- or concept-breaking to me. Now you're "the blue, horned man" instead of being "the blue, horned mutant." I'm sure other PCs will still quickly and easily figure out you're a disgusting, freaky mutant.

[FantasyWriter]

Cool beans.  Thanks for the clarification.

Were there more "mutants" popping up than before, or were some people just not including their race in their mdesc?

[FantasyWriter]

The change was that mutants (even those without spec-app-requiring code quirks) can no longer use mutant as a noun without spec apping.

Doesn't seem game- or concept-breaking to me. Now you're "the blue, horned man" instead of being "the blue, horned mutant." I'm sure other PCs will still quickly and easily figure out you're a disgusting, freaky mutant.

It does if you wanted to play a flavor role (like a creepy thing that lives at the edge of the desert/forest/sea) that people should have to actually get close enough to see exactly what it was. (albeit, most of these would be spec apped anyway).  It was a complaint by any means.  Like I said, both "mutant"s that I played were spec apped.

[SmashedTregil]

I suppose too many people disregarded racial docs while playing mutant? Like a mutant with dwarf base race pretty much living life as a human. Or a half-elf one and so on.

[number13]

This seems to me more of a clarification and standardization than anything new.  I've been guilty of apping for very weird things, but the only weirdness I've ever had accepted has fit into these guidelines.   That particular character worked out very well -- probably much better than the more extreme characters would have.  Partly, I think that character worked because his weirdness was somewhat subtle.  

If a line isn't drawn in the sand, then all sorts of strangeness can result. There isn't a clear difference between a person successfully apping a mind flayer (seen it), a furry cat-woman with twitching tail (yes), winged pixie faerie, beaked owlbear, or five-headed chromatic humanoid-ish hydra.  An obvious line is helpful for being able to say 'no' and preserve the general flavor of the world.

When something honestly weird does show up, the appropriate shock value is present only if 'something honestly weird' isn't the status quo.  (see also: magickers/mindbenders becoming mundane expected encounters)

[Qzzrbl]

The only thing of this I don't get is that "mutant" is no longer an acceptable keyword, and that your race -must- be clarified in your Sdesc and Mdesc.....

I had gotten an e-mail from Staff after having a mutant application rejected (I play -alot- of mutants), and it read as follows:

"Unfortunately we are no longer allowing mutant applications that do
not include the race in the sdesc and main desc.  This is primarily
for fairness sake.  A pc from a distance should be able to tell if
that short or tall figure is most likely human, dwarven, half elven,
half-giant. . ect.  By not including the race, a player has to guess
on assess what they are looking at racially (including racial
abilities).  An official post about this is fourth coming."

Right.... So if I see "The tall, muscular man." from a distance, I really have no clue what race they are.

And the Staff even made it a point to make half-elves even -harder- to identify, so why pick on mutants all of a sudden?

That was literally half the fun of playing a mutant, watching people try to guess at exactly what the fuck you were.

[ibusoe]

Yeah, I think that the concept that descs may not be in any misleading is more problematic than it's worth. 

I question that any player needs to be able to tell, at a glance, my character's age, sex, race, background and class.

If this goes much further, we might as well just have open character sheets posted online for all to see.

"Unfortunately we are no longer allowing mutant applications that do
not include the race in the sdesc and main desc.  This is primarily
for fairness sake.  A pc from a distance should be able to tell if
that short or tall figure is most likely human, dwarven, half elven,
half-giant. . ect.  By not including the race, a player has to guess
on assess what they are looking at racially (including racial
abilities).  An official post about this is fourth coming."

[Qzzrbl]

"Unfortunately we are no longer allowing mutant applications that do
not include the race in the sdesc and main desc.  This is primarily
for fairness sake.  A pc from a distance should be able to tell if
that short or tall figure is most likely human, dwarven, half elven,
half-giant. . ect.  By not including the race, a player has to guess
on assess what they are looking at racially (including racial
abilities).  An official post about this is fourth coming."

And that little bit I've got bolded, that's another thing that kinda gets to me....

Racial abilities are generally total OOC knowledge. it's just silly that they require me to clearly state my character's race so other characters know what "racial abilities" to look out for.

[FantasyWriter]

A pc from a distance should be able to tell if
that short or tall figure is most likely human, dwarven, half elven,
half-giant. . ect. 

Then why do cloaks show "the short and thick figure in a hooded robe" instead of "the dwarf in a hooded robe"?

[FantasyWriter]

No, it wasn't a troll... If we can tell that the blue-scaled humanoid with horns is a half elf (i am assuming because of his body shape)--from a distance--, shouldn't we be able to tell that a half-elf sized figure in a blue cloak with a horned helmet a breed, too?

Edited to add: emphasis on --from a distance-- (sdesc)

[Clearsighted]

No, it wasn't a troll... If we can tell that the blue-scaled humanoid with horns is a half elf (i am assuming because of his body shape)--from a distance--, shouldn't we be able to tell that a half-elf sized figure in a blue cloak with a horned helmet a breed, too?

Edited to add: emphasis on --from a distance-- (sdesc)

I think that's a good point. I liked the mutant sdesc word too, and people could always 'assess' them to get an idea of the race, regardless. Maybe people were just writing too many crazy mutant descriptions.

[Myrdryn]

Posts deleted.

You guys just like to nitpick.  You're on your own.

[Thistle]

"Unfortunately we are no longer allowing mutant applications that do
not include the race in the sdesc and main desc.  This is primarily
for fairness sake.  A pc from a distance should be able to tell if
that short or tall figure is most likely human, dwarven, half elven,
half-giant. . ect.  By not including the race, a player has to guess
on assess what they are looking at racially (including racial
abilities).  An official post about this is fourth coming."

And that little bit I've got bolded, that's another thing that kinda gets to me....

Racial abilities are generally total OOC knowledge. it's just silly that they require me to clearly state my character's race so other characters know what "racial abilities" to look out for.

Since I'm the staffer that wrote this, I will clarify here.

A dwarf has the racial ability of being STRONG AS FRIGGIN HECK!! that is not an ooc piece of information, this is ic, you see a dwarf, you see something really strong, regardless of if it states the level of strength in the desc.  So, if I see the short, ruddy skinned dwarf, I know that typing 'hit ruddy' might result in serious consequences.  Where as if I see the short ruddy skinned mutant, I don't know what it is right off.  It could be anything, a short human, a shortish half elf.. ect. 

What we were seeing is mutant applications that appeared to be specifically hiding the race, giving them the mad abilities of the base race, without the other people around them being able to tell -this is a dangerously strong race- like dwarf, half giant or mul.  This is unfair.  This is a large part of the reasoning for this clarification.

[Qzzrbl]

Even if that were so, the Staff could have just said, "Stop making over-the-top armor-plated tentacled mutants." instead of saying "mutant" is no longer a keyword and that mutants must clarify their race in their sdesc and mdesc.

[Nyr]

We don't even have any npcs with mutant in their sdesc.  I just checked.

[MarshallDFX]

It's not so bad, your sdescs just have to be in this form now:

The slimy, mutated dwarf.

[Thistle]

It's not so bad, your sdescs just have to be in this form now:

The slimy, mutated dwarf.

This.

[FantasyWriter]

Posts deleted.

You guys just like to nitpick.  You're on your own.

I'm not trying to nitpick, and I am sorry that it came off that way.  I'm just trying to offer a different point of view.
I believe that some things are strange enough not to know exactly what they are from a distance.

One of my old "mutants" for example:

the clawed, razor-toothed mutant

The height, weight and overall mass of a dwarf, this short reptilian mutant stands just a little over three and a half cords tall.  Blueish-gray serpentine scales cover his massive, sinewy body, showing hints of iridescence as they ripple with each breath.  Like strips of chitin armor, larger, thicker bony scales cover the more delicate areas of his body--the back of his hands, elbows, and lower back, around his neck, and across the front of his shins and chest.  Long daggeresque claws erupt from what would be the first joint of fingers, and from the ends of his wide, bootless feet, and grey, razor-sharp teeth jut up from the lower jaw and out over his upper lip forming a permanent, menacing grin.  His slanted black eyes are set halfway down the front of his flat face with a flared up nose sitting between them, and a single chitinous plate crests up from the base of his skull and extends out over his eyes, shielding them from the harsh rays of Suk-Krath.

Look him over up close and you would have KNOWN from his build that he was a dwarf, but at first glance from a distance, I don't believe that would have been the case.

Not to mention all the well written NPC mutants out there.

[Gimfalisette]

What we were seeing is mutant applications that appeared to be specifically hiding the race, giving them the mad abilities of the base race, without the other people around them being able to tell -this is a dangerously strong race- like dwarf, half giant or mul.  This is unfair.  This is a large part of the reasoning for this clarification.

This makes sense to me, because to be honest, whenever I saw a PC sdesced as "mutant" I just automatically assumed that meant they were a human mutant. I guess I could have been wildly and disadvantageously wrong. So I'm glad for the change.

Even if that were so, the Staff could have just said, "Stop making over-the-top armor-plated tentacled mutants." instead of saying "mutant" is no longer a keyword and that mutants must clarify their race in their sdesc and mdesc.

It's less staff-intensive to make a policy and enforce it rather than chase down all the players who may be trying to do this and individually enforce something where there's no stated rule.

[Qzzrbl]

"Unfortunately we are no longer allowing mutant applications that do
not include the race in the sdesc and main desc.  This is primarily
for fairness sake.  A pc from a distance should be able to tell if
that short or tall figure is most likely human, dwarven, half elven,
half-giant. . ect.  By not including the race, a player has to guess
on assess what they are looking at racially (including racial
abilities).  An official post about this is fourth coming."

And that little bit I've got bolded, that's another thing that kinda gets to me....

Racial abilities are generally total OOC knowledge. it's just silly that they require me to clearly state my character's race so other characters know what "racial abilities" to look out for.

Since I'm the staffer that wrote this, I will clarify here.

A dwarf has the racial ability of being STRONG AS FRIGGIN HECK!! that is not an ooc piece of information, this is ic, you see a dwarf, you see something really strong, regardless of if it states the level of strength in the desc.  So, if I see the short, ruddy skinned dwarf, I know that typing 'hit ruddy' might result in serious consequences.  Where as if I see the short ruddy skinned mutant, I don't know what it is right off.  It could be anything, a short human, a shortish half elf.. ect. 

What we were seeing is mutant applications that appeared to be specifically hiding the race, giving them the mad abilities of the base race, without the other people around them being able to tell -this is a dangerously strong race- like dwarf, half giant or mul.  This is unfair.  This is a large part of the reasoning for this clarification.

Maybe I don't share your view on racial abilities, my characters tend to judge other character's strengths and weaknesses from the other character's mdescs, and assess helps out alot too.

If I see a short, ruddy-skinned mutant, who is actually a dwarf, then that would generally be made clear by his size and weight, and I'm sure his mdesc would have it known he's a short, stocky, hairless chunk of muscle.

Short humans can't get as short as even the tallest of dwarves, and even still, dwarves tend to weigh more.

Does the staff cut back the strength stat of a dwarf that's described as frail and unhealthily thin, but has Exceptional strength? Because that's misdirection right there, and could also be considered unfair.

If I see the short, ruddy dwarf, and I type "hit ruddy", I know I'm about to hit a dwarf.

If I see the short, ruddy mutant, that's shorter and thicker than a human could manage, and is described as being hairless and stocky in the mdesc, then I still know I'm about to hit a dwarf.

Staff should lean more towards having players throwing in more racial features in their mutants, rather than forcing them to label their race right off the bat.

[ibusoe]

Since I'm the staffer that wrote this, I will clarify here.

A dwarf has the racial ability of being STRONG AS FRIGGIN HECK!! that is not an ooc piece of information, this is ic, you see a dwarf, you see something really strong, regardless of if it states the level of strength in the desc.  So, if I see the short, ruddy skinned dwarf, I know that typing 'hit ruddy' might result in serious consequences.  Where as if I see the short ruddy skinned mutant, I don't know what it is right off.  It could be anything, a short human, a shortish half elf.. ect. 

What we were seeing is mutant applications that appeared to be specifically hiding the race, giving them the mad abilities of the base race, without the other people around them being able to tell -this is a dangerously strong race- like dwarf, half giant or mul.  This is unfair.  This is a large part of the reasoning for this clarification.

Thanks.  That actually clarifies things.