Night Time Description Hiding

Started by Narf, September 29, 2020, 11:32:22 AM

I was thinking about comments on the "Allanak Problems" thread with regards to criminal roleplay in Allanak, and how it's pretty hard to do some of the more interactive crime there due to the ease of discovering the criminal's identity. There are ways around it, but almost all of them make the crime less fun for both parties. Previously staff once implemented gear that would disguise a person's mdesc, but that was widely abused and eventually removed from the game.

What I'm wondering is what if the code made it possible to hide your mdesc during conditions of reduced visibility? Night time, or certain types of sandstorms. This could be done by reinstating masks, but allow them only to work at night, or by providing a skill that only works at night to hide or change mdesc. Instead maybe characters would only learn relative height and weight, as if they used assess -v.

The night time limitation would prevent people from just being able to keep their identities perpetually hidden, and create specific dangerous times, but allow those who were cautious to avoid problems by staying indoors at night.

It doesn't have to be a revamp of the mask code either. Maybe just make a game wide change that alters a character's visibility at night? Or link it to a skill. Something that creates a safe but limited time period for criminals.

I'd enjoy this kind of thing in any way, so thats a plus from me dawg.

I am in favour of mdesc hiding skills.

So I'm 100% in favour of making the night a scarier place!  Perhaps it will encourage people to congregate in well-lit social areas, perhaps it will focus the sneaky crims to be more steal-y at night and discourage rampant stealing.

It would be nice to play a casual mugger, who doesn't use stealth, and not immediately get known throughout the, well, the Known!
Previous of note: Kaevya the blind Tor Scorpion, Kaloraynai 'Raynai' the beetle Ruk, Korenyire of SLK, Koal 'Kick' the hooved Whiran, Kocadici/Dici/Glimmer, Koefaxine the giant Oashi 'Aide', Kosmia 'Grit' the rinthi
Current: Like I'd tell you.

This is an elegant compromise for mdesc hiding items, in my opinion.