Picking up random items

[0n1x]

Hello!

I recently started playing PlaneShift (again) and am enjoying it very much. I've been wondering the following thing about the roleplaying aspect: Is it fair/ok to pick up random items that I might find in the game? Items that don't belong to me? Or would that be considered thievery? If so, what if my character is a thief or a rogue?

To give you an example: Every now and then I might find animal parts. When I inspect them, the info box might say "Guarded by XYZ" (where XYZ is a character name). Is it ok for me to pick up these animal parts and sell them?

Another example: When I'm in mining areas, I sometimes find a piece of coal lying around. When I inspect the coal, it doesn't say that it's "guarded" by anybody. So I imagine that it would be ok to pick it up? But I'm not sure. So I wanted to check what people think...

Thanks!
0n1x

[Migg]

Hi 0n1x, welcome to Planeshift!

Items that say "guarded by XYZ" are locked and you will not be able to pick them up. I personally believe it is OK to pick up anything else, unless you believe it is something of value that may  belong to someone and should be returned. Then it's up to your character's alignment, a rogue or thief would certainly do away with them and have no qualms.

Being a thief now brings up this problem: How do you steal from someone if you can't get their items even if they put them down? In this case, just whisper to them that you are a rogue character and want to steal from them. It makes sense to /roll a dice and set a result above which you succeed. A number bellow which you get caught is also a fair deal. So say you /roll 20, you succeed above 15, get caught below 5. If they agree to your RP, then they will let you have what you steal.

As for the examples you ask about: I would pick up animal parts lying around unguarded, they are low value items and most probably were left there by someone who didn't care about them. Ores you find in mines on the other hand are ores that spawn there, sometimes even above ground, and they are yours to just pick up.

Migg

[0n1x]

Hi Migg!

Thanks a lot for the quick and helpful reply!

I hadn't tried to pick up "guarded" items before so didn't know that it wasn't possible. That certainly makes the tief role play more difficult... But it was more of a hypothetical question anyway.

You provided a nice workaround for thievery (I wasn't aware of the /roll command). But I guess I don't have to be a thief if it's considered ok to pick up ores and animal parts that I find. That was basically the main bit that interested me.


Thanks again!
0n1x

[Migg]

You provided a nice workaround for thievery (I wasn't aware of the /roll command). But I guess I don't have to be a thief if it's considered ok to pick up ores and animal parts that I find.

The credit should go to Saroanna (that is the online character's name at least), who has an elaborate system for deciding the fate of her pick-pocketing attempts, including getting caught. The /roll command can be used in other contexts as well, such as Uadjet's Ynnwn Games, SOME games of "skill" I used to run at the market, or various other raffles and games of chance. They help fill the gap where game mechaniccs can't otherwise give you a way to quantify player effectiveness at performing tasks that require skill or luck.

As for ores, the ones spawning near (or above) the surface are OK to pick up but default quality, and you will need to wait for them to respawn. A pickaxe will let you mine for more and better quality ores, both of which will increase (along with your success rate) as you advance in mining skill. And of course animal parts can be retrieved by looting the monsters you kill in the game.