Why cant I tinker?

[Kyle]

Well, my caracter focuses on being nice and fiting into society by helping people (specificly injured people now that he has decided to be a healer) but is also compleatly facinated by learning stuff
He has primary task mind of being a healer through both magical and medical ways.
But is also intrested in being an awakener (helpful), Mage (curiosity), poet (Shakespear tounge), and a gardener. But these being secondary objectives I dont think he will find the magic guild to his likeing with the time involvement that it requires, he has a faith of his own so is turned off by the seekers.
So I thought up an idea for extracting the saliva from mosqitos (there arent any in the game but mabye I could request a special item from the councel) saliva, the poison of the soliva has stimulants and I was hopeing to mimic RL by creating some odd medical mecanisms and potions mildly based on RL. If I could tinker. http://www.skotos.net/ubb/confused.gif
Tinkering seems like a perfectly fun (if insane) thing to do in this kind of game, invent stuff! But there isnt a formula for it and not many items to work with. My idea:
When someone wants to invent something he submits the idea ooc to the skotos people by some means like a drop box on the web site with a basic plan, the skotos people should then decide if the item (atomic bomb, scisors, flying machine) would be good or bad for the game development and create an Item and ability that must be made properly to work. Example: I want to make a crossbow (well I dont and it wouldnt fit the game but its easy to describe)
when examined the item looks like this
crossbow device, it has a spring box, a caradge, and a triger mechanism atached to the frame
<description>

this is easy to think of as a big box that does something. To get the box to work you have to have smaller boxes inside it aranged in a particular order, and the small boxes all have to be working properly with all there parts too.
That way tinkering could be a very frustrating (if skotos doesnt tell you what you need to put into the box) and yet rewarding ocupation. It may take some time to implement but how about it? Who is with me? Who thinks I am an idiot and dont know how a crossbow actualy works? (well I dont and thats another reason why I couldnt make a crossbow, I dont understand the underlying concepts)

NUTS AND BOLTS FOREVER!
Well, not actualy, I aint a tikerer in RL.

[Seidl]

You should go read some of the metastatic articles in the articles section, as what you discribe is very close to what is described for that game.

But for marrach, for now, I expect its more work than you think it is. Making complex items and getting them right takes time, and there aren't a lot of people to do it. Hopefully in the future a system will be setup so outsiders can either make items, or the process will be easier with more examplars.

-=- Matt

[Monkey]

Kyle writes:

there arent any [mosquitoes] in the game but mabye I could request a special item

Mosquitoes don't do well in winter, but if you have a special request for an item, you can always ask CE for help. I think having your character approach Launfal during his office hours is your best bet, unless there is an NPC more suited to providing it (if you need say, a flower, wait to talk to Roxanne after the Garden Society meeting).

Building an item (on their end) involves some time, so don't be surprised if your request takes a while to accomplish.

--Monkey

[Davidic]

Because Marrach is high fantasy a crossbow would be period... but I think also it might interfere with some of the basic principles of the game. At least historically, the Crossbow (and the longbow) effectively put an end to chivalry and knighthood for their ability to take down a mounted knight in full plate.

However, You might put your tinkering to a more in game use... write long tretises on science on scrolls and carry them along with you. Hell, Kyle could become the castles first 'Doctor of Physick'... or maybe even a somewhat "mad scientist". Having an item might not be as much fun as explaining to someone how it would work.

In good spirits,
David (Bard)

(PS: Next time Bard sees Katherine he has a good report in store.)

[Kyle]

Well I kinda used crossbow as an example because as an inventor (IC not OOC) I dont want my good ideas stollen and I just dont want to ruen the suprse. besides my caracter may be a mad scientist type but he is benevolent and is trying very hard to become a healer, so the tinkering is something to do to
1. further the medical practice
2. have fun
hehehe, I cant wait...
hey Roxanne is an NPC?!? Whatever

[ocannie]

Kyle,

Yes, Roxanne is an NPC. http://www.skotos.net/ubb/smile.gif
She just happens to be an NPC that StoryHosts play so there's actual interaction. All characters like the Severin, Evayne, Nadira, Gwen, Hetchel... all NPC's

Anne (Illiana)

[Nyphil]

Bah. The servants and guards are NPC's, those you named are SHC's...

[Monkey]

hmm...we have three terms here, PC, NPC, and CNPC. PC stands, no, not for politically correct or personal computer, but for Player Character. This describes the characters played by Skotos' clients (everyone on this thread so far is a client).

NPC stands for Non-Player Character and stands for any character that is run by Skotos, be it controlled by a live person or by algorithms.

CNPC is a subset of NPC and encompasses those characters that are computer-controlled.

To create less confusion, NPC is often used to describe just the person controlled characters, leaving the rest to be in the CNPC category.

To add to the confusion just reduced, sometimes a character that is usually a CNPC is controlled by someone at Skotos. A good example of this is when the restrain ability for the Winter Watch PCs wasn't yet available, a StoryHost would sometimes inhabit a CNPC guard to make the arrest.

So yes, Roxanne is an NPC, but you're right, she's not a CNPC.

--Monkey

[Nyphil]

SHC is fewer letters than CNPC. And besides, CNPC sounds like a broadcast company...
"This...is CNPC."

I may not have a background in computer muds and such, but I do in RPG's in general, and I know that NPC's are those characters who are not controlled by a specific player.

[Angron]

Well, in tabletop RPGs, NPCs are controlled by the GM..much like our NPCs are controlled by our SHs.

[Monkey]

Nyphil writes:

SHC is fewer letters than CNPC.

This is true, but you used SHC (which I assume stands for StoryHost Character?) to refer to NPCs in your first post, and in your second, you seem to be saying it is interchangeable with CNPC.

I only want to avoid entering SHC into the terminology because according to the Becoming a StoryTeller (http://www.skotos.net/storytellers/Becoming.html) article, Skotos clients may one day play the NPCs, and they won't be SHCs anymore. Which begs the question, will they still be NPCs, become PCs, or create a third category? (Not that anyone but me is interested in semantics http://www.skotos.net/ubb/wink.gif ).

And before CE is barraged with requests to play NPCs, I've asked, and no, they aren't accepting applications at this time.

Nyphil also writes:

I may not have a background in computer muds and such, but I do in RPG's in general, and I know that NPC's are those characters who are not controlled by a specific player.

Yes, I assumed you were already familiar with the terms. My post wasn't criticizing you, or even necessarily directed at you. Kyle was the one who was surprised that I called Roxanne an NPC, and I suspect he was surprised because he thought I meant CNPC. That's why I wrote the post I did; to differentiate between the two.

--Monkey