why are people talking about using crossbows, or any bows, as weapons?  Wouldn't that stuff just ... shatter.. the first time you smacked some big chitin plated beasty, or shell-plated raider?

As far as the whole crossbow discussion...

Differences were handled pretty simply on another mud I used to play.

Crossbows: Two 'room' max range, with accuracy/damage penalties the further away the target.  Same room as the target got bonus to hit and damage.

'Bows' : three 'room' max range with accuracy/damage bonuses the further away the target.  Same room as the target received negatives to hit/damage.

(I'm sure I'm simplifying the actual code behind it all, but it's not hard to see the logic behind it.)

The speed gap between loading a bow, and loading a crossbow here in this game is -ridiculous-.  And for those of us who opt not to use macros, or just don't know how, that speed is a major deciding factor when your survival depends on either getting many shots off quickly, or being able to move around your target/sneak/hide and combat your opponent.

They should put crossbows back to when they were hugely lethal at point blank range. Now they're like wiffle balls :/

An appropriate compensation is to double or triple the load time.

Think about it...a world where you can confidently use that bitching forearm-mounted handbow!

Any crossbow at close range is probably going to be incredibly scary and lethal. Considering most characters in Zalanthias can have a massive chunk of flesh torn out of them and be -mostly- okay due to how redonkulously tough they are. But if you press a crossbow up against someone's chest, there are one of three possible reactions.

1. They roleplay it out realisticly.

2. They attack you because the chance of them successfully hitting mid-combat is silly- As in, being a badass and sidestepping it/ smacking it down or away.

3. You shoot them and hit. It will either bounce off their armor, or do minor damage, or score a wicked painful throat or head shot which would kill a lesser character, and stagger a stronger one.

I feel like there should be an option unavailable  for bows but available for crossbows, where you can 'press crossbow <person> <bodypart>. This would work a bit like subdue, agility (with a bonus if you have high flee or archery- Afterall, you know how to just smack it out of the way if you know where it fires out of) for the attackee and archery for the attacker. On failure, they fire the bow and try to hit them anyway as per normal. On success, they press the bow against the bodypart they enter a standstill- They can hit it for critical damage, as in the backstab of archery, 'release' them as would they would do with subdue, or the person can 'flee' to try and shove the crossbow away. There would be no contest available for subdued/unconcious/imprisoned/nosave characters, allowing a team of a half-giant and an elf to subdue a man, and have one of the other place it against the other person's head and give them money. Of course, this doesn't stop the person from trying to flee the half-giant AND the crossbowman. And, be careful! If you're holding someone, there's a chance for misfire and it'll nail you too!

Of course, if you want to aim somewhere else, this gives good chance for proper roleplay. If you want to pretend to kill someone,  have them wear incredibly heavy chest armor and close their cloak, then fire into that. They'll fall back and start roleplaying death, thus perhaps fooling the people attending. Got a husband who's abusive? Tie him down and hold a reinforced crossbow to his crotch. Suddenly, he's a very nice husband in case he doesn't want to be a man anymore! Want to nail a fucker to the wall? Put your crossbow up against his hand and pin him down.

The only reason this wouldn't work for bows?

Well, bows are generally used for farther distance- Unlike crossbows, if you fire one point blank, the string won't fire the arrow- It'll simply just lodge against the person's chest before firing, and if they're wearing armor, releasing the arrow will do nothing more then possibly break the string and the arrow.