Crafting: Old and forgotten recipes

[Dresan]

There are so many craftable items in Armaggedon Mud. That is a cool part of the game, but many of its items are buried in a database and never see the light of day.

While analyze is a great mini-game for people to go out and figure some of these recipe out IC, but there are still so many items that aren't sold anywhere. These means that for crafters (merchants, sub-guild, extended-subguild) we are left with three options:

1. Ask the staff. It probably helps to join a house, but at the end of the day, you need to have seen, heard of, or know about the item to begin with. This doesn't help newbies and creates unneed work for the staff, ever time someone wants to learn how to make an item.

2. Get an old crafting list. And I do mean old because these items haven't been in use for years and years. However this encourages the spread of OOC information.

3. Mix and match items until you get something. With the amount of materials out there, and fun RP waiting for people elsewhere, there has got to be a better way.

If we fill the shops with items that are craftable just to learn them, merchants lose the ability to make interesting stuff for people. I do like analyze, I just wish there was another cool IC way of figuring out old recipes recipes in some IC way that doesn't involve asking the staff for a crafting list/recipe.

I was thinking what if people could go around to merchant NPC and ask topic crafting. Merchants scattered around the known would know different recipes, and would be happy to tell you...for a price. I figure people would make lists eventually but recipes would never be forgotten this way, and people who are new to crafting have a way to find out about items in an IC way.

[Asmoth]

I like it, or if you could

Analyze seedy #5
This is made from a doohickey and whizbang.

[Miradus]

I submitted that idea!

I would like to see more variety in items available on the merchant shops and I think this would help. After playing in the same areas awhile I can recognize now what the NPC loads with and what's been brought in from outside (usually not much).

[palomar]

In the last year, I've seen dedicated effort from more than one staffer to bring old items back into the game. Some had recipes and some didn't - and it was possible to submit recipes for those. The recipes were also posted on the clan boards, which will prevent them from being forgotten again. Not all clans have their unique craftables listed like that, afaik, though.

I think all it takes is an interested staffer with a little bit of time on their hands, and possibly a crafter type of PC or two in the relevant clans. For the non-clan craftables, I would like to believe that staff will be accommodating in bringing forgotten recipes back to the game if you have a PC in the appropriate position and go about it in a reasonable way. With reasonable I mean asking for perhaps "Two bone sword recipes"  once a month, and not "All the non-clan weapon recipes". With appropriate position I mean a merchant or extended subguild with advanced/master level in the required skills, as well as access to the required materials.

I wouldn't like being able to purchase recipes from merchant NPCs. Paying a small viewer's fee to analyze an item in a shop might be cool, especially for those who lack the value skill, in order to find out what is and what isn't craftable/clan restricted. After all, the merchant wouldn't tell a customer exactly how to make their goods, but I could see how they'd let you hold/examine it to get a feel for its quality etc. Unless you're an elf.

[Dresan]

I have a feeling that the huge amount of craft able items would just make shops explode if they were all added there as purchasable items not to mention take something away from merchants who can make them by having them available so easily.

I like the idea in general. Though currently if the item is there and you are curious, you can just buy it. I just want to make sure all old and more conplex item recipes have some viable ic way of being discovered and created.