Quote from: MishkaL1138 on August 31, 2014, 05:30:56 am

I must also ask you not to post again in this thread.

again

   

Neat. Almost looks like you're cheating somehow!

Please check out this demo I made: http://ps.incertitu.de/attempt-command-demo.html

You can use it like a chatbox (/me and /my is implemented), and in addition to that, do something like /attempt to do something to Someone. You can select "Attempt" in the dropdown in the lower left to get some examples.

The rank would be an RP rank everyone could set in their profiles. Other characters' colors in the dropdown indicate their rank (same colors as in own rank dropdown)




TL;DR version:
This is an implementation of my concept published here and is designed to help people make RP decisions if they can't agree on the best outcome through other means. Because it is only an RP tool, people are free to change their rank at any time - e.g. a legendary warrior who happens to be intoxicated could temporarily reduce his rank, or a feeble citizen who is under the effect of a power-boosting spell or potion might want to raise it for that time.

The idea is that every person's rank is visible in their description, so people can evaluate other people's strength before even making an attempt. The "reject" option in the prompt is there in case the other person realizes he accidentally had the wrong rank set. In that case, the dispute needs to be settled manually in /tells.

The reason there are only 3 different ranks is to prevent a scenario where everyone just walks around with the highest rank. People tend to be confused with too many ranks, and in general, people like to see themselves as "above average," even if just slightly. To further improve this situation, one might consider to change the middle rank's name to something equivalent to "slightly above average."

I designed it that way that rank "legendary" can't really godmod, and rank "feeble" still has some chance to succeed at things. This could help make things more interesting and less predictable. And it is intentional, not a flaw in my system

Obviously, my original concept was designed to be as simple as possible, so that it can be used "manually." So surely, if done in script, percentages can be fine-tuned just a tad better. However, I feel they're quite good as they are. And also the three-rank thing is something I would keep. (It has been suggested to add an option to automatically set rank from character stats; I think that would make sense to add, but not to force this behavior.)

Thanks a bunch to Illysia for input / support.

Edit: As to the "why" rule: I personally have often got into trouble trying to decide whether someone's attempt should be successful or thought they unfairly decided about my attempt. Mixing it with some randomness will make things more interesting and unexpected. It will also help to limit godmodding.

* LigH offers derula a walker

Thank you deary!

Ah, the young people are so nice these days!

You might be an oldbie if out of all the posters in this thread, only the registration dates of Talad (1/3/2002), Annah (2/17/2002), jorrit (4/4/2002), Izzy*dot (5/8/2002), Nadius (5/24/2003), Sifright (6/15/2003), Mindari (7/15/2003), Xordan (8/18/2003), KalTorak (11/13/2003), and fireofsoul (11/21/2003) predate your own.

Quote from: derula on March 09, 2014, 03:21:10 pm

The rank is calculated from the name. I.e., the same character will always have the same rank.

What I mean is what will make one character legendary and another normal?

Oh I was under the impression you didn't like math, but since you're asking so nicely... the rank is calculated as the remainder of the sum over the character name's ASCII value divided by three. E.g. Bob = (66 + 111 + 98) % 3 = 2 = Legendary (1 would be average and 0 would be feeble)
Of course, that's only for the sake of the demo, to have kinda pseudo-random ranks attached to actual names

Definitely, in a good rolling RP or when standing in the middle of several conversations it is easy to miss a cue to react due to not seeing all the posts.

Exactly. If implemented well, the prompt could really help here and turn it into a better experience. (And if it works in the same way as it does in the demo, i.e. the player can't make another /attempt before the other one has responded to the previous one, it can't even be abused for spamming too well.)

shouldn't that be legen - wait for it - dairy?

I can't believe how many results this gets on Google.

Jamona is lying face-down on the ground somewhere off the road to Hydlaa. Her skin is covered in a gray haze, which is hiding her true, pale skin color except for in a few spots, where the taint seems to have come off. From afar, she might easily be confused for a corpse; however, upon closer inspection, her whole body is clearly shivering.

Rhateru wanders nervously by the road, often glancing around. "Ah sure hope Hydlaa's close by," he says to himself as he approaches the Dermorian. Jamona doesn't seem to particularly care about the visitor, and decides to wait for them to leave while pretending to be dead. Rhateru looks skyward while moving closer to the pitiful unnoticed form, as if seeking help from the gods to find his way. "Waaaah!" he yells in surprise as he nearly steps on Jamona, and instead trips over her.

"Oh... s-sorry," Jamona mumbles at the ground. After almost falling onto the ground, Rhateru regains his balance and rises to a shaky stand. He turns around and stares wide-eyed at Jamona with his mouth open. Jamona doesn't move or perform any other sort of action, hoping that the creature would be either satisfied with the apology or too scared to approach a talking corpse.

Rhateru soon recovers enough from his speechlessness to say waveringly, "Yeeou don' look so good, missus." Jamona takes a while to realize she is being addressed, then another while to figure out what was said at her. Taking on a concerned expression, Rhateru crouches at Jamona's side and waits patiently for her response. Not quite understanding why a stranger would make such an accusation, she tries to argue, "oh? But I just took a bath..." Realizing that the bath was in hot tar, her voice trails off at the end, and instead she seems to come to a realization and says: "Uh, no, I'm good, no need for alarm."

Craning his neck, he squints in an attempt to see her face. "Ah don' think it was a real good bath, missus. ...Sorry Ah tripped on yeeou. Ah didn' even see ya thar!" Wondering if she's even awake, Jamona tries to open her eyes despite them already being open. Failing to exit the dream this way, she decides to deal with it some longer. Unable to lift her head, she turns it towards Rhateru, grinding her face against the ground. She stares at the ground in front of Rhateru for a while, trying to think of a response.

Rhateru studies Jamona's face. Deciding that she appears to need help, he gives her little chance to respond and instead moves onto more necessary matters in a kind, saddened tone: "Do yeeou need food an' water, missus?" Jamona attempts a smile, almost laughs and says: "Oh... no, you needn't worry about it. Frankly, I am already dead. The dead don't need food." She attempts to straighten her body to look less like she had fallen from exhaust and more like she was peacefully slumbering, but finds that she is too weak to move her body enough to do that, and gives up.

"Theeis ain' the Death Realm," Rhateru responds, "We're righ' near Hydlaa, or Ah sure hope so." He stands up and, scratching his head as he thinks about what to do, reveals a visage suggesting that he's beginning to take the current situation more seriously than his usual demeanor would indicate.

Jamona hesitates. She'd already given up. She'd thought she'd never make it. Surely she is not in a fit state to achieve her goal. And clearly, she can't take anyone's help either. Slowly, she begins speaking: "...what I mean is, I'm hopeless. I have no tria, no life, nothing worth fighting for. If you truly aim to help, get me one of those potions that will allow me to pass into true death." As she speaks this, her voice sounds frightened and sad.

Rhateru's eyes grow wide again. He becomes uncertain. Swiftly, seeming to be struggling to think clearly while paying little attention to his current actions, he rips a clump of grass from the ground with some effort. Taking hold of the back of her head with one hand, he attempts to push the grass into her mouth with the other. "A-Ah'll git yeeou somethin' ta eat, missus, an' then we kin figger out tria an' fightin' an' hope."

Jamona closes her eyes and starts chewing on the grass, greedily absorbing the little liquid it contains. She keeps on chewing, and after swallowing the bitter greens, she says: "Fool. Seeking to aid the hopeless will only waste away your own sanity. If there's any reason in your actions, you will flee, and leave me to rot." - "Ah'd rather be a fool," Rhateru replies in a moment of determination amidst his worry and fear.

Bent over in a patch of grass, he hurriedly parts the blades with dirty fingers. He manages to find an insect, which he grasps in a fist along with a few more greens, and then tries again to force-feed to Jamona in the same manner. Obviously hungry, Jamona does not resist and takes the strange meal. Some of the insect's internals squirt out of her mouth as her teeth penetrate its shell, and crunching sounds follow. In a failing effort to make out the stranger's features, she manages to lift her head a bit, before it falls back down to the ground. After swallowing, she says "You have no idea what you're getting yourself into."

The Dermorian finds some relief in Jamona's compliance, and ignores her words. From his pants pocket, he pulls out what appears to be a butter knife, engraved with "Rhat," along with a few tria and a shiny blue stone. They fall to the ground beside the two. "Use theeis if anyone tries ta hurt ya. Ah'm gonna go git help." A moment after tearing up some more grass and leaving it beside Jamona's face, he runs away along the road in what luckily happens to be the way toward Hydlaa.

[Okay.... so I guess now it's not a single author story anymore... huh, this is awkward...!
...thanks to Rhat :>]