I think its brilliant.

[Galdun]

Alright...here we go.

First, the Pitch:

Leaping back against the cold surface of the massive wall, the archs of his spine pressed tightly against the rough sandstone, the ebon haired man lifts his worn, bone scimitar up defensively, his quivering hand clutching the faded leather grip with all his might, bracing for the blow.

Without hesitation, the massive, disfigured half giant forces an impatient grunt through his flared nostrils as he sends a bare foot with abrupt force, under the ebon haired man's raised scimitar and into the center of his chest.

The sound of bones snapping effortlessly like twigs beneath steel boots fills the murky air as the ebon haired man keels over, coughing thick blood onto the sandy ground.  His palm slides against a jagged rock beside the wall causing him to cry out in muffled pain.

With a slanted, toothless grin, the massive, disfigured half giant brings his gargantuan, obsidian cleaver down upon the staggered, helpless frame of the ebon haired man, carving deep through his flesh till it halts against the thickly packed sand, separating his motionless body into two separate pieces, equal in length.

-Mantis Head-

A Day Later (Different Character)...

Standing over the body of the ebon haired man, The well tanned inspector asks the frail limbed boy, "Looks like we'll have to file a report.  Poor fecks' all banged up...just take down some notes on the appearance of his body, perhaps it will lead us to some further conclusions.

You (Frail limbed boy) think to yourself...
"Uhhh...it just says 'the body of the ebon haired man'...that's it.  Case closed.  If only there were some way...

To see what the body looked like after the death!?!?  Well perhaps there is a way with the use of well implemented code and other fancy things of the sort!  I propose, if it is indeed possible a code that would allow players to leave their last bit of a role-playing mark on the Zalanthas soil upon which they now lay.  A code that will give people a way to make a slightly longer lasting impact on their recently departed world.  It would also aide other players in figuring out how the pc died.  My idea goes a little something like this...

So, imagine this...you are the ebon haired man...you've just been cleaved in two by a raging half giant.  Now...you've just died, but you don't see the mantis head yet.  You see something along the lines of...

Enter Death Position
(Now you type...)
lays here, sprawled out in two pieces, murky splotches of blood, faint on the wall.

Then...the Mantis Head.

Now, when the inspectors arrive in the morning after the murder, they see...

The body of the ebon haired man lays here , sprawled out in two pieces, murky splotches of blood faint on the wall.

Its like changing the ldesc of your corpse.  It seems reasonably easy and at least for myself, would add such a wonderful element to the game.   I think its great.  What do you guys think?  Think we could get an idea like this off the ground...if yo

[Galdun]

If yo-u like it of course.

[Reiloth]

I think this is a generally good idea -- somtimes its puzzling how you're supposed to tell the difference between someone who died of poisoning, and someone...say...cleaved in two.

oho.
:twisted:

In some cases the murderer will codewise 'get' the body, then 'drop' it with an ldesc modifier, as to show the means of death. Unfortunately, not all murderers can pick up bodies (weak elves) nor will they always be around for the death (In the case of poison).

When I was first reading this I thought it sounded like the  Forensics idea that came up a few times in the past. But, I'll just leave that where it lies.

Considering the above though, I still like the idea, even though a part of me just wants to get some closure from the insta-mantis head. The instant head gives a good... jolt, as if you know, you died. Though changing your body's ldesc is a way to effectively...  end your story. I don't think it's so much a matter of code as it is a matter of how people want to die. Sort of like the ghost idea that pops up from time to time.

[Carnage]

It can easily be abused.

Enter death position
lays here KILLED BY HARKALOV THE MASSIVE, DISFIGURED HALF-GIANT

And knowing some players they'll go, "Hmmm, this looks like the work of Harkalov. Book him and kill him, boys."

In an ideal world, this's a great idea. But this isn't an ideal word and am sorry to say something like this wouldn't work too well.

[Marauder Moe]

I think I agree with the others (Even though I was once one of those suggesting the 'ghost' idea.  I've since come to understand why that idea isnt that good).  Letting players set their death descriptions has more potential problems/abuses than benefeits.  Now, perhaps something like this but done automatically by the code might be better.  Depends on how far the staff thinks it should go, but you might be able to tell if one dies by combat (perhaps even the type of weapon/monster), poison, starvation, dehydration, falling, etc.  Perhaps something like this couldbe included in a command to examine bodies (I do still think there should be a way to view a dead player's or creatures main description for a little while after death).

[Sephiroto]

I like the idea.  I don't think that it would have a significant impact on the game world.  I too see much potential of absue.  But, for what its worth, it could be set as a karma option, or staff deemed option for those deserving.  Assuming such a thing would ever be implemented, that is.

My 2 sids.

[Anonymous]

Considering the level of maturity amongst the general population of players, the only abuse I would forsee if this code were to be used would be mostly overly ridiculous deaths...to gory and the like.  But better something, better anything than nothing at all.

[Salvo]

When you are fighting, it says where you have been struck. So when you are struck with significant damage in a certain place, it should show up that there's a wound there.

[Cenghiz]

Enter death position
lays here KILLED BY HARKALOV THE MASSIVE, DISFIGURED HALF-GIANT

C'mon... We've got immortals with mortal killing steel katanas. Which idiot will do that while it's obvious that all his karma would be removed? I don't know much about the code (I'm interested and examining the Smaug code, but this is different for sure) But I believe they may understand if someone used such a think as a death message.

[creeper386]

An idea like you have Salvo, wouldn't work with the current code... It'd require at least a major change, and probably partial over haul of whats going on to add something like that in. I'd like to see something like that... But not to a major degree where the code determines everything thing... But don't really forsee it happening unless a skilled coder get a BIG lull in the common every day duties or keeping a MUD alive.


Creeper

[Salvo]

An idea like you have Salvo, wouldn't work with the current code... It'd require at least a major change, and probably partial over haul of whats going on to add something like that in. I'd like to see something like that... But not to a major degree where the code determines everything thing... But don't really forsee it happening unless a skilled coder get a BIG lull in the common every day duties or keeping a MUD alive.


Creeper

Ok. Well I probably shouldn't be in this forum because I know nothing about code, it was just a thought.

Lots of love and kisses.
Salvo.

[JollyGreenGiant]

The last mud I played on had damage types built in to the corpse code.  It was very simple - whatever type of damage the killing blow was determined what got inserted into the description of the body.  There were something like ten or eleven different damage types that the game recognized, including cutting, piercing, blunt, fire, cold, electricity, poison, etc.  I doubt something that uses a simple "what was the last damage type I took" code would be too complicated.

If you want a player to write the corpse's description, let the killer have that option.  It rules out NPCs, granted (unless something gets hardcoded), but the killer would be less likely to give too much away.  It would still require some honesty, but you could make the corpse description optional (and let the killer do it from a distance, say an option to do it for the last player killed, so he can still run like heck after the deed).

If you combine it with some hardcoded "covered with horrible slashes" or "bled out from multiple puncture wounds" kind of description, you could just let the killer "tag" the corpse description after the hardcoded desc.  Marking a corpse with a clan symbol could make things interesting.

[Lazloth]

A corpse is just an object and can be manipulated by the same governing rules.  Help drop.
My characters have used this mechanism before.

[Anonymous]

That also goes both ways though, the killer could then make it look like the death was different to keep any suspicions away from them as well.
I think that I'd like to have some clue as to how someone was killed in the desc of the corpse, but I think it should be something up to the code so as to prevent abuse from either side.
Personally though, if I came across a corpse with a desc like Carnage described I'd ignore that entirely and just be happy the twink's char was dead. :twisted: