The Big Thread of Conceptual Curses

[The7DeadlyVenomz]

Recently we've discussed giving mages curses. There have been a number of persons who think this is a clever idea, in theory, at least. So here's this thread, where we can spitball ideas concerning this idea, whether that's in how it's cast, or about features or ideas about curses themselves.

How they're cast: I think the caster should usually have to be in the room with the victim. I think it should be a silent cast, invisible to all but the most observant. I also think that the victim, unless they notice the cast itself, shouldn't be aware that they've been cursed for some time - like the messages one receives from poisons and spice, allow the damning information to trickle in.

I think the length of time the victim is under the curse should be correspondent to the power at which it's cast.

# of Curses: For playability reasons, I think people shouldn't be able to be affected by more than 1-3 curses at a time. I also question letting a mage maintain more than 3 curses at a time.

Curse Ideas:

• Unquenchable thirst in various degrees.
• Unending hunger to various degrees.
• Decreased strength or endurance or agility.
• Aversion to sunlight.
• The shakes, making hiding or sneaking harder or impossible, probably harder.

[Jihelu]

TBH I like it.

Not sure how it would work codedly. Someone might come in this thread screaming "BUT X Y AND Z ALREADY KINDA DO THIS" But you can't do something like this to someone in the Gaj without getting tackled by 47 different sdesc'd half giants so, nah you can't really do something like this.

[gotdamnmiracle]

Nausea/ vomiting (possibly of things not normal to be vomiting)

Strange hallucinations (echoes, not skelle code)

Sweating profusely

Craving only dead or rotten foods (corpses and rotting foods, aversion to normal ones)

General confusion or daze (mild drunkenness effect plus echoes)

Animal disharmony (normally docile animals have a chance to become hostile, possibly including mounts at higher levels)

Tdesc mutations (benign, often appearing as illness symptoms)

Corona (you tend to stand out in crowds for no particular reason)

Hmm... let me think...

[Brytta Léofa]

Decreased perception: scan and listen skill reduced for the duration.

[lostinspace]

I'm against a cap on curses, and instead think they should function like barrier or scan. When a curse is up, your max mana is reduced. I'm sure there's a reasonable range that would result in 2-3 curses for the average mage, and 1 or 4 for the more extreme mana ranges.

Some ideas I have, split out by magick type
Rukkian:
Uphill both ways: Increased stamina drain when moving.
Weight: Just a flat 10 stones of dirt and dust someone has to carry around.
Lowered Strength: Strength drops a level
Things breaks easier: The armor and tools they use are more prone to breaking or degrading.

Vivaduan:
Thirst: Need more water to not be thirsty
Minimum intoxication: Should they drink, their intox won't drop below semi-intoxicated until the curse is removed.
Potent Poisons: Takes 2 cures to fix a poison, or maybe poisons are much more likely to take.
Animal Distrust: Reduced ride skill and animals you fight all flee at 1/3 hp.

Whiran:
Harsher storms: You direction sense is significantly reduced.
Ringing ears: Listen is much harder to make use of.
Bad Luck: -1 on all skills
Whistling winds: The wind blowing across your body makes a light whistle. Occasionally echos the room and breaks sneak/hide.

Krathi:
Sun's curse: Sun sickness sets in much faster.
Cold Forge: Increases rate of failure when crafting.
Light in the eyes: Ranged attacks less likely to land.
Cauterize: Wounds heal slower.

Those are just some ideas I have for the current mage types, I figured I'd throw in 4 for each, and they can either be assigned randomly when cursing or tied to the sub-guild. In general I think this is a great idea and would add some much needed fear to mages.

[The7DeadlyVenomz]

Sweating profusely

This is good - I'd tie this to thirst, personally.

Animal disharmony (normally docile animals have a chance to become hostile, possibly including mounts at higher levels)

Mounts are terrifying to fight. I'd change this to fear. Normally docile animals turning fearful of you, and mounts having a chance to move away when you try to mount them, and possibly also fleeing. I only say this because fighting mounts is really bad, generally speaking. I don't think curses should kill people, so much as make their lives harder, which could lead to death, admittedly.

Corona (you tend to stand out in crowds for no particular reason)

I don't understand this one - maybe tie this to the idea of making sneaking or hiding harder?

[The7DeadlyVenomz]

Those are clever, Lost in space. I think there should also be some cross-over curses, so that in some cases, you have no idea which sort of mage cursed you. Like Krathi and Vivs could both have a version of thirst curse. The Krathi causes you to feel hotter than normal which causes you to sweat profusely, while the Viv causes you to sweat profusely, making you think it hotter than normal. Both of those curses could have the exact same echos, because they both would result in the same sort of affliction.

[Brytta Léofa]

Whira's Schmuck: Every card dealt to you is blank (or shows the Impaled Highlord, or is covered in tatlum scribbles). Dice you roll land on sides that don't exist.

[gotdamnmiracle]

I like the above. The dice are particularly interesting.

Sure! Tie it to the thirst curse, I just want some to also look like an illness so people won't immediately say "yer cursed, dude".

The corona effect, yeah, would essentially be that. -hide skill. But the eye is drawn to you.

The disharmony effect could have a slew, right? So it's most likely you're going to get ride fails, bucks, and throws from backs, and in extremely rare cases they'll attack you, but won't follow you so if you flee you're good (if you can code that). Maybe they attack and then immediately flee, as if they're acting out of desperation and fear. But I agree, we shouldn't kill people outright, so I'm okay giving up the hostility.

I think a krathi curse that debilitates a PCs ability to learn (get skill gains) would be terrifying to a LOT of players. Myself included.

What about the placing of false auras that would be visible given the correct circumstances?

[azuriolinist]

I love this idea and the curses that have been thought up so far. Besides reinforcing the superstition surrounding magick, I think this could add a ton of potential for conflict and richness in magick roleplay.

Personally, I think the skill level of the magicker in the relevant skill should also determine how 'silent' the curse is -- whether it's more likely to be observed or not. Because true (not touched, per se) casting has always been, to me, in-your-face and unnaturally blatant. So I'd think silent curses would require some fluency in magick.

[gotdamnmiracle]

I love this idea and the curses that have been thought up so far. Besides reinforcing the superstition surrounding magick, I think this could add a ton of potential for conflict and richness in magick roleplay.

Personally, I think the skill level of the magicker in the relevant skill should also determine how 'silent' the curse is -- whether it's more likely to be observed or not. Because true (not touched, per se) casting has always been, to me, in-your-face and unnaturally blatant. So I'd think silent curses would require some fluency in magick.

It occurs to me that maybe it should be the other way around. As a truly terrifying and powerful magick user it may become impossible to do the fine effort required of a quiet and mild malediction. Perhaps you lose the ability to be subtle when you gain the ability to immolate whole carru or tremor the very earth? Just food for thought. I could see it going both ways. 

[azuriolinist]

It occurs to me that maybe it should be the other way around. As a truly terrifying and powerful magick user it may become impossible to do the fine effort required of a quiet and mild malediction. Perhaps you lose the ability to be subtle when you gain the ability to immolate whole carru or tremor the very earth? Just food for thought. I could see it going both ways.

I could get behind this, too! That'd be an interesting way of going about things.

[Heade]

I don't think many of these curses are "mild". Particularly when you consider how long they might last, and the idea of being able to do them anywhere without triggering the crim code.

Also, while I'm not entirely against the idea of curses, it should be noted that such curses being added to the game would be unlikely to cause the "feared" reaction to mages that the originating thread was focused on. Instead, expect more players to want to kill more mages. Much like sneaky characters get hassled for sneaking, even when they aren't doing anything wrong, mages should look forward to being hassled/targetted simply for the fact that they COULD do something like this. People are afraid of code that doesn't give them echos to let them know what's going on, such as the case with the "steal" command. But their reaction is generally one of elimination. They seek to eliminate the source of the code, to the point of hassling people who did nothing wrong except "blend into a crowd".

If it has become socially acceptable IG to hassle someone who has used the hide command in the city, which is flavored as blending in to a crowd, then I'd expect something like this to produce similar hatred of magickers, beyond what we already have. Secret spellcasting with secret targets who can't identify the source will generate intolerance.

[Cind]

A lot of these sound good, but a few are so debilitating that they should probably take a lot of strength from the average mage to persist. Perhaps as a mage gets stronger in their element, they are able to have more than one minor curse, up to a max of one or two major curses.

If the mage dies, the curse would then suddenly disappear, rather than taper off slowly as it would if the mage decided to remove it. Its hard enough to find out if someone has died or just taken a break, and I like little details like this.

[gotdamnmiracle]

I recognize a good few of these are fairly debilitating. That said, I think we're trying to flesh out the entire thing. We're brainstorming. Perhaps you have some more flavorful and less deadly curses?

[Vex]

I do enjoy, that this almost instantly went to repeated variations of, "sneaks can't sneak".

Instead, expect more players to want to kill more mages.

They do all want, "fear of magick"... but I bet, they'll be firing off complaints to staff, when most of that fear manifests as targeted violence.

[flurry]

Target will get the hiccups.

Flavor of food or drink will change for target.

Target's say/tell/talk commands will be replaced with sing.

Target's set language and/or accent will change to other known language/accent unexpectedly.

[X-D]

Loosetongue, just as the poison.

Hoarse, can only whisper.

Arthritis , movement speed 25% less, same for combat and lowered agi by a couple points.

amnesia (high end curse here) Sets chosen skill to novice for duration. (I'd so target ride...but then I have played many bynners) Or sneak on elves.

High energy, can only run, hunger works 25% faster. Increase combat swing speed slightly.

cataracts Another high end curse, Look range reduced to 1 room, unless something already reduces it by any amount then same room only and pcs, mobs and objects often will just appear as a blur. (should be dependant on power level of course)

Clumsy Randomly drops items in hands or inventory, frequency depends on power level. I would not have it be very high no matter what, like roll to drop once every 15 min at highest, and once every 30 at lowest.

Foul odor, I am sure people would have fun writing up the echos for that one, allow it to attract rats, vultures etc while repelling non-agro prey animals.

Vertigo randomly falls down, like drunk but way less often and not just when you move, includes while mounted or on chair, bed, etc.

[azuriolinist]

Also, while I'm not entirely against the idea of curses, it should be noted that such curses being added to the game would be unlikely to cause the "feared" reaction to mages that the originating thread was focused on. Instead, expect more players to want to kill more mages. Much like sneaky characters get hassled for sneaking, even when they aren't doing anything wrong, mages should look forward to being hassled/targetted simply for the fact that they COULD do something like this. People are afraid of code that doesn't give them echos to let them know what's going on, such as the case with the "steal" command. But their reaction is generally one of elimination. They seek to eliminate the source of the code, to the point of hassling people who did nothing wrong except "blend into a crowd".

If it has become socially acceptable IG to hassle someone who has used the hide command in the city, which is flavored as blending in to a crowd, then I'd expect something like this to produce similar hatred of magickers, beyond what we already have. Secret spellcasting with secret targets who can't identify the source will generate intolerance.

That's fair, but I wouldn't completely discard the idea of coded curses being able to cause the sort of fear being discussed in the original thread. Why would any sensible person hassle a magicker in the first place, when they could possibly draw their ire and be cursed with a single look? I'd be more worried about the other end of this kind of extreme, where we have PCs leaving the room when a magicker enters. Not a lot of room for RP (negative or positive) in that kind of scenario.

I'd be down for a time limit on curses.

[AdamBlue]

A variety of curses would be cool, but give them effects that can be seen both positively and negatively. You could even use these kind of like gamestart curses on new characters.

Sure, you sweat profusely, and get thirsty more, but you also sweat poisons out of your system super fast.
You're constantly nervous. The shaking hands make it hard to craft anything, but your walk speed is a little bit faster since you want to get out of any potential danger quickly.
You're always paranoid, getting random echoes that make it seem like someone is following you. However, this paranoia lets you find hidden and sneaking people far easier.
You have a stutter, and your words fall over themselves. However, you learn languages quicker due to you focusing on how things are pronounced.
You're short sighted, and things too far away start to lose shape. However, anything within the same room is extremely easy to see.
You're far sighted, and it's really hard to see stuff that gets too close to you. However, anything far away is clear as can be.
You're brave. It's hard for you to run from a fight, but you're much harder to be knocked out of one.
You're a coward. You can run away from fights with ease, but you nearly faint when it comes to being struck.
---
Then there are more generic curses that affect personality.
You're sadistic. You enjoy hurting other people.
You're masochistic. You enjoy being hurt.
You're apathetic. You don't feel anything, usually.
You're hyperemotional. You feel everything to it's extreme.
----
Fixations on objects, people, places, would also be included. Little quirks to make each person a bit more persony.

[number13]

If it was done, here's how I'd do it:

A curse command, available to elementalist. You type 'curse Amos' and if you can pay the mana cost, it happens. Utterly invisible to the mundane eye. If a character can somehow detect magic, they can see the curse. Templars and maybe certain others (vividians?) should be able to remove curses.

It's not a skill to grind. If it's a skill to grind, people will run around cursing everyone, all the time, to grind it up. It'll be super annoying.

There's a random period of time in which the curse is festering, and not yet affecting the character, that can range from an hour to five of playtime. This is so the curse isn't used as a combat/PvP tool, and so that it's not immediately obvious where you picked the curse up from.

The effect of the curse is random, selected from effects available to your element. Sometimes a curse has multiple effects. Rarely, a curse will pick an effect from another element.

The duration of the curse is random. The stronger the curse, the less the duration. For example, a curse that makes stuff seem heavier might last for a day of playtime. A curse that makes you see strange shadows everywhere might last for an hour or two.

The effects are noticeable, but not flashy, and not lethal, and not going to give anyone a huge advantage in combat. A dehydration effect, for example, might make the character always feel Very Thirsty, and be capable of drinking unlimited liquids, but it's just an illusion. The character's actual thirst levels are hidden.


Subtle curse ideas:

water -- dehydration illusion, drunk illusion (you get the drunk messages, but aren't actually drunk), poison illusion (feels like bloodburn, shows up as poison on the score screen, but no actual effect.)

earth -- weight illusion (encumbrance value is set to display as a lot heavier, even if naked), Movement penalty (+1 MV to move from room to room, even on city tiles),  Max HP illusion (your max and current HP appear as 15% less than what they should be)

wind -- direction sense illusion (sometimes you get the message that you've been blown off course. In fact, you've entered the room normally), Max MV illusion (your max and current MV appear as 15% less), scan illusion (shadows appear in the room, as if you're scanning. They aren't really there)

fire -- pain illusion (your current stun appears as 25% less than what it actually is), heatstroke illusion (get the heatstroke messages, but you're not suffering actual heatstroke), magic is everywhere illusion (you see fake magic auras on people, randomly)

[Krath]

If it was done, here's how I'd do it:

A curse command, available to elementalist. You type 'curse Amos' and if you can pay the mana cost, it happens. Utterly invisible to the mundane eye. If a character can somehow detect magic, they can see the curse. Templars and maybe certain others (vividians?) should be able to remove curses.

It's not a skill to grind. If it's a skill to grind, people will run around cursing everyone, all the time, to grind it up. It'll be super annoying.

There's a random period of time in which the curse is festering, and not yet affecting the character, that can range from an hour to five of playtime. This is so the curse isn't used as a combat/PvP tool, and so that it's not immediately obvious where you picked the curse up from.

The effect of the curse is random, selected from effects available to your element. Sometimes a curse has multiple effects. Rarely, a curse will pick an effect from another element.

The duration of the curse is random. The stronger the curse, the less the duration. For example, a curse that makes stuff seem heavier might last for a day of playtime. A curse that makes you see strange shadows everywhere might last for an hour or two.

The effects are noticeable, but not flashy, and not lethal, and not going to give anyone a huge advantage in combat. A dehydration effect, for example, might make the character always feel Very Thirsty, and be capable of drinking unlimited liquids, but it's just an illusion. The character's actual thirst levels are hidden.


Subtle curse ideas:

water -- dehydration illusion, drunk illusion (you get the drunk messages, but aren't actually drunk), poison illusion (feels like bloodburn, shows up as poison on the score screen, but no actual effect.)

earth -- weight illusion (encumbrance value is set to display as a lot heavier, even if naked), Movement penalty (+1 MV to move from room to room, even on city tiles),  Max HP illusion (your max and current HP appear as 15% less than what they should be)

wind -- direction sense illusion (sometimes you get the message that you've been blown off course. In fact, you've entered the room normally), Max MV illusion (your max and current MV appear as 15% less), scan illusion (shadows appear in the room, as if you're scanning. They aren't really there)

fire -- pain illusion (your current stun appears as 25% less than what it actually is), heatstroke illusion (get the heatstroke messages, but you're not suffering actual heatstroke), magic is everywhere illusion (you see fake magic auras on people, randomly)

I like this idea of the mechanics of how it works a lot.

[only_plays_tribals]

lol, magic is everywhere.

Code Select Expand

Bursting into the room, accusatory finger swinging wild, Amos exclaims, in sirihish:
    "Magick is /everywhere/!"

The spiteful-eyed templar sighs deeply.

You notice: the gemmed krathi trying to slip into the shadows.

[Eyeball]

Curse someone so that they can only get sustenance (eat) dead bodies or raw meats of any sort. They gag and spit out cooked foods, fruit and such.

[CodeMaster]

Is there value in curses you can't tell whether you have or not?

"I don't know what it is, but it feels like I need to drink more water than usual.  Magickers..."

[X-D]

I like Number13 mechanics, most of the curse ideas would work with that, and long as the "available affects" had bleed over to the other classes as well, so one could not easily pinpoint which elemental class gave the curse, I am cool with it.

EXCEPT.

I would make the times DRASTICALLY longer and somewhat random. Sitting out a 1-5 hour curse is no big deal, sitting out a 5-50 hour curse is, and that way the curse is doing exactly what it should do. I have no issue with it being ended early by the caster or it being possible...though it should be hard, to remove it....A Templar should be able to remove at will but at a cost to him/her. Yes, the godkings power over rides some elementalist...but if a Templar can simply "pardon" a curse then everybody would just run to a Templar with a few hundred coins as the remove curse vender. So there should be a cost to the Templar as well. I do not know what, but it should be notable and long lasting...like limited number of curse "pardons" that take a long time to regen. So he/she has to basically horde them...what, a rinthi with 2k coins needs a curse removed and I only have two left and the next regens in 80 game days.....better save in case lord fancypants Fale gets cursed.

[mansa]

I really like these ideas, they are all fantastic.  It doesn't even have to be a 'curse'.  We would like the ability to modify characters skills, stats, and abilities temporarily with a buff or a debuff in some sort of mechanic.   It can be magick or it can be herbs/brews or it can be some other aspect that can be defined later. 

We just want more options!

[number13]

Subtle curses for the remaining elements:

darkness: it's always night (whenever using the time command, it always reports back that it's late at night), everyone is a shadow (all characters in a room appear as *strange shadow*), monsters in the tavern (when looking into a room, the game includes some weird shit in the list of characters, ie, The three-eyed floating skull is here.)

energy: delusion of hunger (game always reports that you are Very Hungry, regardless of actual satiation levels), delusion of fatigue (your current MV is reported back as 30% less than of it's actual value), delusion of immortality (your current HP and STUN is reported back as being maxed out, always, regardless of actual level)

Void curses only afflict elementalists. They have no effect on mundane characters. And they are nastier than normal curses.

void: spell casting failure chance increased, max mana reduced by 30%, mana regen reduced by 50%

[X-D]

Oh, cannot curse Templars of course. Attempting to do so should turn the curse on you, not removeable, must wait out timer and still pay the mana cost. 

[Vex]

I would make the times DRASTICALLY longer and somewhat random. Sitting out a 1-5 hour curse is no big deal, sitting out a 5-50 hour curse is, and that way the curse is doing exactly what it should do.

50 hours is, I'm quite sure, nothing to the jobless/lifeless majority of players, but when you have only a limited number of hours a week? 50 hours of being forced to stumble around in perpetual drunkenness, blindness. steathlesness or some other obnoxious effect, wouldn't even be worth the waiting of out.

I'd retire, and move on to a pc that isn't going to be crippled, for the next three to five weeks worth of playing.

[X-D]

I did say it should be random with a good range, top does not need to be 50, say 5-20, means usually it should be around 12, Also, with number13 suggestion, if it worked that way then the curse itself would basically be random and many suggested are pretty benign.

[number13]

If curses have an exceptionally long duration, they should tick off when logged off, like alcohol.

Minor curses should be an RP tool, a plot instigator, a little flavor for witches to be more witchy, but not a complete pain in the ass.

If people are whipped into a frenzy because everyone is coming down with cases of Krathi-itis, and suspicious of every gemmed mage, and suspicious of everyone who acts a little weird  (and so might be a secret witch), then that's how it should work. If everyone is ready to ragequit because half the MUD is blind, deaf, and dumb, then it's a failure of an idea.

[Eyeball]

A curse to do with moonlight. Only is in effect at night when Lirathu is high or something. No, not werewolves, but something.

[Cind]

Minor curses should be an RP tool, a plot instigator, a little flavor for witches to be more witchy, but not a complete pain in the ass.

I think people would fear/hate them more if they had a little more bite, like with these curses.

I really like the phases of the moon and the sun's position being relevant to the curse. Maybe not in its casting or removal. Because some people only have thirty minutes a day to play and for the sake of the raider group's plot need to cast that curse on Amos -now.- But I think the moons and sun should have an effect on some or all curses, one or the other.

The curses that are a total pain to play with? A witch should be having to concentrate to maintain it--- lowered temporary max stun, the curse consistently absorbs mana(maybe?) and if the witch enters combat, the curse breaks. I'm talking about things like being drunk to the point you can't leave the room easily, being unable to hit back in a fight, being in a sleep you can't wake up from (little Sleeping Beauty plot there,) things like that. Make the plot-changing curses hard to come by and require concessions in power from the witches that maintain them.

For touched, because of their lower karma requirements I think the minor curses would do well, maybe one or two curses that are medium-light and medium. Everyone flips their shit when a psion <does seemingly harmless stuff> to your character or someone else's and its noticeable. This may stem from the fact that psions haven't been washed down, but I think minor curses should be like this. A case of the coughs that just won't go away, you keep tripping and falling whenever you try to walk somewhere, or an echo to you and the room that says that you're dizzy and pale/look dizzy and pale. I did this last one one time, in a crowded Gaj many years ago, and no one even suggested that it might be a witch.

[RogueGunslinger]

I would probably just log out if I had to consistently deal with the curses at the length and power some of you are suggesting. 5 hours of drunk-stumbling every room-movement sounds absolutely insane and incredibly powerful to me.

I don't think the curse should be more powerful than a full-fledged spell, not without it needing to be cast like a normal, obvious spell. And there's a decent bit of overlap with some of these ideas and already existing spells.

I do like the idea of keeping a curse up being something you permanently have to work on with stun and a depleted mana-pool.

[perfecto]

What about the placing of false auras that would be visible given the correct circumstances?

This one is my absolute favorite    Cursing someone (unbeknownst to them) To have glowing eyes that most templars would notice right away!  "You there! You're a gicker!  take the gem or die!"  Now that's some golden RP right there lol.

Also right away I thought that any curse casted should drain mana over time like psionics work.  Yes that means the curse would have immediate effect and last a lot shorter duration, but it would make more sense mechanically.  Even Psi's, one of the highest karma chars in the game run out of stun if they push too hard with their abilities.   All of these curse ideas are awesome and sound very detrimental to anyone inflicted, therefore there has to be a trade off for the mage or witch to do so.

[Cind]

The docs say that Lirathu is considered a sign of good luck and fortune and that Jihae is considered bad luck, or good luck for those who want to do naughty things. If you said this in the game, people would think you were a newbie or a tribal from a small vnpc tribe. If you applied this logic to the way curses work, people would actually take you seriously when you said this.


I understand that Zalanthan spiritual life is either outright magick-science or cocksure, American Wild West completely absent, but there's actual no RL tribe that doesn't have some kind of spirituality, and people who live with hard circumstances in RL actually tend to become more religious (although there's always outliers.) The closest I can think of to people who might think like Zalanthans are a dispossessed African tribe whose spiritual life revolves completely around the concept of luck, and a group in the Southeast Asian islands who are completely isolated from the rest of the world most of the time, and who believe that leaving their ancestral lands will kill them, as their spirits are tied to their land. The first tribe's spiritual leaders are very busy all the time creating good luck and wishing bad luck away. People don't know much about the second one.

The thing both of these tribes have in common with Zalanthas that separates them from literally the rest of -humanity- is that they don't believe in gods, spirits, demons or otherwise incorporeal beings or a concept of a place one goes after death. However, they are extremely superstitious and spiritual, to an extent that I noticed. Its probably because I studied this stuff, but the longer I spend in the 'civilized' culture of the game, the more it feels to me like a game. There's no idea of luck, no belief system -at all- outside of political loyalty and the little small beliefs witches hold about magick that literally varies from witch to witch. Drov is probably a place full of magic and death, and people tell you to go to Drov but they wouldn't really believe you if you say you've been there due to a method they can believe, like a witch sent you there for a day to punish you for something. At worst, they'll call on OOC knowledge from previous characters and think you're a witch or that you associate with them to an uncomfortable extent. At best, they'll think you're a newbie.

Anyway, I bet it would be cool to create some sort of 'luck' culture that, with use of small luck rituals and the passage of time, can help mitigate some curses and dispel others. The one item that says it is a good luck charm for warriors, for example. If wearing that actually helped dampen a certain curse that lowers your strength, a lot of people would start wearing it.

If you're going to let every witch have at least one curse at their disposal, ways to dampen their effects would be good. I'm sort of seeing this backfire, though. Even if templars went around telling everyone that 'a little stone sword charm' kept away the strength-sapping curse, people would probably keep associating the charm with magick and only wear it if they were in the Arm on excursion with a templar who could fix it if it blew up on them.

On the other hand, I really wish this sort of thing would work. Even if we had no spiritual culture at all and had some kind of luck culture, that's a totally new aspect of your character you can flesh out--- superstitious, not superstitious, or somewhere in between. Slightly less of a superstitious fanatic than your brother. Yeah, don't put too much faith in that stuff, its just a piece of rock. This thing saved my life when we were hunting Malik in the desert and he started slinging campfires at us.

[X-D]

RGS....Nobody suggested every room I do not think.

My suggestion was for say the stumbling to roll a check every 5-15 minutes...say simple 50/50, Yup you fall, nope you don't, only get like an echo of being dizzy or something.

All of my suggestions and most the others I see would not be game breaking in most if not all cases, even the ones I consider more powerful. Would it be annoying to suddenly have a skill go to newb for a while...yes, but it is only one skill and you should be able to get around that. Even the narcolepsy idea...sure, you would want to stay out of combat for the duration, but otherwise mostly annoyance as you would be able to simply type wake. Could even give a warning echo a few seconds before hand.

None of them should be much more then an annoyance to the player...somewhat more then annoyance to the PC.

Also, keep in mind, still spitballing here, any of them would need be tailored/tested for playability IMO.

As to durations, they need to be something really felt. Of course durations would also be tailored to actual negative effects to the PC...One giving just smelly echos and attracting carrion animals could last a good long time...while something actually affecting how the PC functions would have to last less time.

And come on, it would be darn funny to have vultures landing around you with echos or ldescs about patiently waiting for you to stop moving.

[gotdamnmiracle]

Regarding the phases of the moon perhaps the black moon should play a bigger role considering the circumstances it was created.

Honestly, I think this should apply to all magicks in general. The astral bodies, I mean.

[Brokkr]

Despite the number and color of the moons, you are not, in fact, playing on Krynn.

[Krath]

Despite the number and color of the moons, you are not, in fact, playing on Krynn.

Raistlin or Tasslehoff would disagree

[The7DeadlyVenomz]

Generally speaking, folk tales in our world place most curses as detrimental nuisances, a witches' torture of their enemies, a wronged person's revenge on their killer. And that's all we would want here. Nothing that could, by itself, destroy your playtime or your character.

So, what a detrimental nuisance?

Let's take, for instance, that thirst code. Since the game would echo at you that you were thirsty now and then, you would try to drink with each echo. Eventually, you might decide to skip one of those echoes, then two of them, since the last five times they've been a foul feeling but not reality. Except, this time it was real, and you didn't know it. And by the time you do realize it's real, you're actually parched, and you don't have enough water to fully quench it, so you're on a mad dash to get enough. And man - you really hate Vivs at this point, or maybe it's Krathi. Who knows.

Now at this point, it's not detrimental, but what happens when you run across those three gith on your way to the nearest well? Well, they're tying you up. They're fucking up your dash for water. Maybe they're holding you up long enough that you become even thirstier. Maybe you fall off a wall running from them. Now you're being held up, you're lost, and you are pretty sure you're thirsty and need water for real.

Now it's a detrimental nuisance.

Or there's that one curse that makes you gassy. I mean, meh, not a big deal, but it's not quite the same when you start popping those farts in front of Templar Rockhard, or Noble Lady Sexy.

There's that one curse that saps movement points, but doesn't tell you it does. Imagine that your elf runs out of movement points, unexpectedly, in the middle of kryl land. Now you're on a rest and dash quest to get the fuck out.

And there's that one curse that periodically informs you that your genitals aren't functioning the way you'd like them to.

None of these curses are supposed to be huge things by themselves. They are supposed to be, at worst, detrimental nuisances.

[gotdamnmiracle]

Despite the number and color of the moons, you are not, in fact, playing on Krynn.

Fair enough.