[Adonthell-general] Do we need more of Nethack?

[Kai Sterker]

Seeing the progress we've made lately got me thinking about plot and
game design again. Here are some thoughts I'd like to offer for
discussion.

A disclaimer first: I've never played nethack much, although I tried a
couple of incarnations. Guess my problem is that I fail to see danger
in alphabetic letters, so I keep dying before even reaching level 2. I
did read quite a bit on nethack.wikia.com lately, though.

What amazes me about nethack is how versatile it seems to be. How
there are many items with unique properties that can be applied in
various ways. I think this is an area to which we haven't given much
thought yet. We've covered plot design, dialogue, role playing system
pretty extensively, but when it comes to items and item interaction,
we don't have much at all. Andrew had started listing items on the
Wiki (see http://adonthell.berlios.de/doc/index.php/Items:Contents),
but even unique or special items seem to have a limited use only. (The
one notable exception is probably the Fog Bottle, and that isn't even
explicitly listed yet). Can we come up with items (and spells) that
are somehow unique, interact in multiple interesting ways with
characters, creatures, other items or spells, but which aren't totally
overpowered? Something like an "Amulet of Repelling" that's
constructed from a leather bag, a piece of string and a piece of cow
droppings, which will keep <creature of choice> away from you but
imposes a charisma penalty during dialogue with most NPCs, even after
taking it off. I.e., stuff that can't be bought or sold, but crafted
from more or less common supplies with a bit of creative thinking.

Moreover, a lot of unique and interesting things could be tied to the
individual racial abilities hat we have. (see
http://adonthell.berlios.de/doc/index.php/Rules:Stats#Abilities). For
quite a while I've been thinking that those only make real sense if
they are distinct enough and not just a different way of giving each
race the same means. Here are for example some ideas regarding the
ability of healing:

* Elves: Healing is done through their magic, is nearly instantanious,
but costly. Self-healing is probably more costly than healing others.
* Half-Elves: Healing comes from the forces of nature surrounding the
healer. Where these are abundant, healing works well and fast. When
the surroundings are dead and lifeless, healing is barely possible.
* Humans: Alchemists can brew potions that speed up regeneration rates
and negate effects from serious wounds.
* Dwarves: Dwarves have higher regeneration rate and are more
resilient to begin with, but have no inherent talent that allows quick
healing. They can use bandages or potions, but their natural
resistance makes them less susceptible to magic healing.

In general, Elves get pretty much exclusively the spectacular spells,
sometimes with spectacular side effects too. Half-Elves get what has
to do with nature and creatures. Humans get tinkering, making stuff
out of junk, brewing strange stuff, often also with nasty side
effects. Dwarves finally get craftsmanship, making high-quality
equipment, improving ordinary equipment and at the highest rank even
the ability to permanently improve living things by tattooing runes of
might.

To get back to the idea of this mail, here's our task: with the above
in mind, come up with items, recipes, spells, songs or runes that stem
from and interact with racial abilities, the game world and each
other, allowing numerous beneficial or harmful combinations. Just what
nethack seems to have.

Kai