Associations (intro)

[kendo]

I am stealing this idea in broad strokes from the mud lostsouls.org. They have the equivalent of classes and levels. The levels serve both in a capacity similar to the way that they function on Higher Ground---new levels means new abilities--and also to determine the skill levels appropriate to that class. For example, using an axe is vital for a Dwarven Battlerager and the max might go from 30% to 35% when you make level 8 (all numeric values plucked from my nether regions). If your rating was 27%, it would stay 27%, but your *potential* would rise.

Unrelated to any of that, there are associations. Some religions have provision to accept followers of that religion's god. Following that deity can get you benefits. Apollo's followers can summon light. Nurgle's good can spread disease (maybe gain immunity?)  There is a god that gifts all followers with a portable hole (loop) but the catch is, it's the *same* portable hole and any follower can remove what any other followers put in. In Lost Souls, languages can be vital, so there is an association that specializes in teaching languages. As things stand, knowing more languages means little, but...

My favorite association (but not suited to every character that I played there) was "Stalkers at the Gate." To get in, you sacrified a good artifact and an evil artifact. If you were not somewhere near neutral-neutral, you lost the artifacts and gained nothing. If you got in, he gave you a necklace with some gemstones. Going someplace and concentrating on a gemstone let you attune that gemstone, allowing you to instantly teleport to that location except in the few no-teleport locations. Also, you could only carry one more good than evil/evil than good artifact. You could carry more but, after a few tremblings and burns, the necklace would lop your head off. The necklace wanted to be worn all of the time and, yes, the necklace slot was about as important there as here. (Teleportation was usually harder and distances greater there than here. As I recall, the main map is like 40  squares of -10..0..10 east to west and 30 north/south. Just for comparison purposes.)

There are many others. Even were I to go back and look, a bunch were secret. Some excluded others, some fitted almost any class, many were alignment restricted and some were only useful for a narrow membership. Associations are limited only by your imagination. I do not advocate any of the preceding (maybe the loop?), but the idea itself could make Higher Ground much more interesting.

I am going to split this thread for several reasons: brevity on each topic, time available, ease of (I hope) discussion and maybe a broadening list of topics.

Cheers

[dopplegang]

I dont get it. Whats your point?

[kendo]

The point is that associations would allow more options. Associations at lostsouls.org almost always require that you give something up in order to get something. This, in my opinion, makes the game more interesting. That is mostly the same thing as the feats and skills: choose an option at the cost of another.

On lostsouls.org, associations are like clubs. You can use the association chat command to talk among other members (if they have not turned chat off). They have a forum.

How about this one: the "Caster Purity" association. Hera the Green Mage thought it was abominable that some casters were resorting to shields (they were multi-class). She worked up an enchantment that would block 2% of all incoming physical attacks. It was incompatible with shields--even better. She did not want icky chaotics to learn it, so she added a codicil to it to prevent that. She didn't know that additional items and levels would increase the effectiveness of the enchantment and she was surprised to see that effectiveness reached XX%. Members of the association can be easily spotted by ___ (faint green aura?). Wearing non-cloth, carrying a shield or becoming chaotic invokes a 72 hour curse.

Note that this is not class specific. Any cloth caster can become a member. Probably even a cleric or druid who forswears armor and maybe even a monk. Quests are implied to increase efficacy. Maybe Hera herself can be summoned to help protect particularly important members. A programmer/DM would have to make those decisions.

Some other quick "see? these could matter!" ideas:

* A deity who would provide longswords to paladin followers

* A rival deity who would provide lances and steeds to lawful good fighter followers

* A leader who once was lawful and is now chaotic who will enchant followers' weapons with bonuses against lawful for a fee...and a price.

* A major deity who just wants all good people to procreate. Not sure where I was going with this one but I have always enjoyed procreation practice. Perhaps good male followers with 15+ charisma can earn some sort of bonus for impregnating the local women and providing for their upkeep. If this were the case, these (oversexed) males would likely forego opportunities with some other associations. (Female followers would have to spend months downtime plus several hours a day role-playing mommy. Yes, it isn't fair.)

Associations are associated with locations and/or leaders. Sometimes leaders wander. Some leaders are subject to being slain. On lostsouls.org, some classes can only be claimed by presenting heads of leaders of opposing factions. A trickier option is presented in the next example...

* The monarch of an Undying encampment will give training to loyal Undying (other Elves?) to improve AB with particular weapons upon completion of tasks. Enlisting requires an oath of allegiance to the monarch. Each training will raise the character's rank within the association. If the monarch is attacked and falls to half hit points, the highest ranking association officer will be transported to the monarch, be equipped with the Monarch's equipment [if better than the character's], have full hp and spells restored and automatically engaged with the attacking player in PvP.

* A Deep Orc encampment seeks a new War Leader. The War Leader will receive some big bonus. To become War Leader, a character must bring the head of an Undying monarch...

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I hope these examples clarify the benefits and utility of associations. I had planned to give detailed examples later but, if my intro was more confusing than informative, that was obviously a bad plan.

[Paradoom]

great ideas for a roleplaying server, which HG is not.

[sabregirl]

Well it isn't but . . . we do have a role play server set aside so . . . perhaps at some point.

-S

[kendo]

Admittedly, HG proper is a very tactical game. Lost Souls is currently very tactical, too--almost no role-playing at all. I think they are over 25 years old now and the flux between adventure and role-play has crossed the spectrum more than once.

If you roll a sorcerer, you probably have at least *some* knowledge of how sorcerers are somehow derived from dragons. If not, by gum, you can at least picture a gawky, all-elbows wizard laboring to haul a stack of dusty tomes up a stone stairway. I do not need to give you statistics and ability charts in order for you to imagine a shadowdancer: the name itself suffices. My point here is, the genre supplies enough context for you to wrap your head around the character types in the game. The more familiar the context, the less that needs explicit definition.

If the game stretches the context, adding a little story cannot hurt. Also, tell me the role-playing in this: a lawful good deity provides longswords to paladin followers. Personally, I think a paragraph of color would do it some good, but that is as bare-bones tactical as you can get. Isn't it?

When you see a bit of story on the screen, stop thinking role-play.

Think instead: a wider selection of avenues of character development.