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Yes, musings!

Anyway, I was thinking in terms of a browser game, have it set around the scalpoi era/area, but not just instantly bashing monsters/Sranc, but trying to track down a small mob first, then building a pit trap and finally baiting them (then comes combat with whatever gets past the pit). Just there's alot of games where you just bash on a monster instantly and...kinda jaded on that idea. If anyone is familiar with text based browser games and has some method for the gameplay of tracking down appropriate mobs of Sranc, pitch it to me. I think at the start you deal with the 'scraps', ie, the weakling sranc who are far out from the main horde. The real nasty and strong Sranc are to be found latter.

Thinking of there being fighters and scouts (ranged). Schoolmen are just too rare to just choose - I'm thinking maybe if you level a regular class enough, it unlocks the ability to play a schoolman. But if the schoolman dies, he perma dies (so you have to play a regular class again to unlock another schoolman).

In terms of tracking, I'm thinking players develop 'patches' areas they are tracking down Sranc within. But other players can poach these areas. I want to have ways players can be petty to each other and thieve from each other (not that they have to, but after someones stolen your patch for the ninth time, your probably tempted to...). Bring it down to a grubbier level.

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I'm assuming you'd allow movement along the 8 compass-rose directions? Would Sranc be moving as well?

So you step into a patch and the Sranc are there, what happens next? Turn based fighting ala Might and Magic I, II, III <- not talking Heroes but the actual RPGs.

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Depends on whether you have a map. One method for text based is rather like urban dead, which is quite a popular browser game. However, even as it's popular, how does combat work? Press attack - it rolls percentile to hit or miss. Keep hitting attack (turn based). Though there's a certain elegance in that - why get more complicated (or more to the point, what goal is one heading toward in trying to get more complicated than that?)

So yeah, turn based. And Sranc could be made to be on the move, so last known scouting intel isn't necessarily up to date.

I suppose a question is what is the goal for the player? To become a mighty and bad ass scalpoi (and that being up for a lil subversion, of course...). Could even have 'scalping retirement' goals, like the character wants to gain enough to go back to civilisation to execute some plan or such.

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Depends how abstract you want it, I guess.
Rewards..

1)Get bounties.
Hire more scalpers. 
Get gear. 

2)reputation based on groupsize/gear/killcount
Better class of recruit to replace the death toll or sanity toll - 'weepers'
Have one quya and a couple hedge mages and wizards and rules for how they get passed about between parties.

You should probly decide if you want to use a map.
Assuming you want track/chase things down, sranc and other parties and thus have them leaves traces etc its kinda necasary.
Mebe randomly gen a new one every week, give it a different area name.

hard work is the behaviour algorithims i guess.

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You can offer more gameplay choices by actually having players manage their outfitting for each expedition. Then it's some sort of horrible multiplayer version of Oregon Trail, only instead of trying to get to Oregon you're hunting rape monsters.

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I have Oregon Trail formatted for my MacPro. I play it regularly and would love to play your horrible multiplayer version hunting rape monsters .

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I was thinking, much like in urban dead, one penalty for death is to become the other side. Ie, you play AS a sranc, for a certain time period (which is lessened even faster if you attack other players). Once the times done, you have the option of switching back to a human role. It'd tie into the books drawing comparisons between men and sranc. All sranc would be run by players (at registration you can choose to play as a human or a sranc - lots of people choose to play zombie in urban dead. So you'd get alot of sranc players).

So, what would the 'Oregon' be of such a dread life? What are you heading towards? Or it could sort of wollow in nihilism where the only meaning is to see blood spurt yet it not be thine own. Urban dead, as one example, doesn't actually have any particular end goal.

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I thought the discussion here seemed to be cornering in on basically a Slog scenario. I figured, perhaps, it's exactly like Oregon Trail after Sharmat's comment, and thus, it would just be a Slog to... wherever. Sauglish. Ishual, Ishterebinth. Golgotterath?

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I was thinking you get to play as a scalper band. 

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I was thinking as humans you start on one side of the map and the other far side is deep territory. So that other side could include Sauglish, Ishual or Ishterebinth. Not sure about Golgotterath...seems a bit extreme a location to get to. Maybe in an expansion

Curethan, it depends on whether you meant a band of NPC scalpers or forming groups of actual player scalpers? I was thinking the latter, though you could have the capacity for both.

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Well, I was struck by the idea of controlling a band.  Allows life to be cheap and still have a sense of progression. 

I don't know how multiplayer would work in a text based game if you had to actively move around together and stuff.  Is this human moderated?

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I think it'd be asyncronous play. Ie, you play when you want and if you've formed a group, as long as you stay within X squares of the leader you get some sort of bonus (and a compas direction to the leader). Also you could do moves that if, when they log in, a Scalper band member comes over and assists, it helps you out even further. So you don't need to play at the exact same time.

Having some NPC band members could be interesting if they can go post traumatic stress disorder. Do you just kick them out into the wilderness, as they slow down your movement? Or deal with them like the Captain does? If you try and drop them off at the start camps, what if other NPC band members see this as weakness and after the effort you put into grooming them, they threaten to leave if you keep the 'weeper' on? Stuff like that.

Also want to have some sort of crop growing or some harvesting method to supply food for the scalpers all the way out here, but although who planted it has signs posted, other players can steal from these. So no doubt people get theived from, then get sick of trying to grow food and then every suffers starvation penalties because of the petty thievery that occurs. Also have scalpers scavenge grubs, in order to maintain the barest sustenance needed (haven't learnt how to do so by watching sranc dig for grubs...). Not sure what eating Sranc does, until the next book comes out...


* I'm trying to remember if Scalper bands have a special name that I can't remember right now?

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Have a sanity score.  Lose all sanity and become an NPC sobber.

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It'd be interesting to throw in "fan fiction" type possibilities like what happens is a Cish joins a band of Scalpers?

What happens if you stumble onto a dragon's lair or a wandering Quya erratic?

I think a Diablo I scenario makes sense, in that you are wandering deeper and deeper away from civilization to get cash. For a text based game you could have "moves from outpost" recordings as they move.

This would allow a band - whether multiplayer or single-player - to plan a route of sorts.

I think a game like this will be difficult to design using text-only, but perhaps a Nethacks level of graphics could help?

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Well, in the screen shot of urban dead ( http://www.urbandead.com/screenshot.html ) it's a map in the top left corner, showing you the surrounding locations. I was actually thinking of using basic graphics for each map tile (I'm thinking simple black and white line art (that fits with the theme of some of the fan art made already) - I'll make some place holders and maybe someone else might make better ones latter). I just say text based because although such games can show a graphic, it's just to make clear it's not a 3D graphical extravaganza!

So basically you might have a 50x50 grided map. You start in the south and head northward. Latter further 50x50 maps might get added on, so you can travel further north. I've already written the code that grabs the local 5x5 map area's data. Next is making some place holders and getting the code to lay them out, make some clickable for navigation and to set a border square around the central location (to indicate where you are). I'm thinking I'll use 20x20 pixel tiles for each map tile.