At 02:38 PM 9/8/00 -0600, you wrote:
> >Grief PKing was "solved" by creating a complete duplicate of the UO
> >world where pking is not allowed at all. i.e. Adding a switch.
>
>I think for me the most interesting part of the Horizons solution was the
>idea that some PK'er could log in one day, walk out of his house and get
>PK'd by a random server generated assassin that would always know where he
>was. Talk about just desserts. Just the idea of having a Venril Sathir
>like mob jumping grief-causers when they were totally unprepared was
>amusing.
>
> Kit
Ahh - but there can be problems with this as well.
Let me share with you a story of the original Talies - Talies Wanderbur, a
Halfling Bard in Dragonrealms...
One night, as they were preparing to open Jadewater Mansion for the first
time, I was waiting around, decked out in my finest (actually, my Trader
Patron's finest - I was just an outlet store for her unique wares). As I
scanned the ever-increasing crowd, one face jumped out at me - Muumuu -
well known corpse-robber, and despised by the Bardic community as a
whole. Most recently he had stolen a poor young Bardess's recently bonded*
lute, and refused to return it, or any of the other items he had
stolen. Generally, he just logged when confronted. Hoping to finally
recover the missing instrument, but knowing that as young a bard as I was,
I couldn't confront him myself, I ran quickly to the Bard's Guild and
passed through the mystic portal, into the inner sanctum. "Muumuu's here -
I just saw him heading for the bridge!"
Nothing like a call to arms to rouse every Bard and their friends. We
rapidly assembled a posse of 5 including a War Mage with a familiar we were
using to track Muumuu's movements. Having spotted him in the bad part of
town, we began to make our way there, only to see the Mage suddenly stiffen
and slump to the ground. One of the Bards who knew him well called it
"Familiar shock" - someone had slain his familiar (a serious offense! Like
killing someone's puppy!) Incensed, we rushed to the scene, just in time
to witness Muumuu fleeing in the opposite direction. We gave chase,
finally cornering him in an alley, where, with weapons drawn, we confronted
him about the missing items. Being as low as I was, I knew all I could do
was aim and keep Muumuu under close watch in case he should try to
flee. Suddenly a burly warrior stepped in and accused us of harassing the
"young trader" Muumuu. Despite our statements, and Muumuu's own snide
remarks, the warrior refused to stand aside, and suddenly advanced on one
of our own, slaying him in one blow! This was a great shock to us all, as
one learns that you NEVER kill someone in town, or the guards throw you in
jail. Seeing nothing happen to this Warrior, however, and catching Muumuu
backing away from the corner of my eye, I loosed, piercing him through the
throat, killing him on the spot. An act, I admit now, that was poorly
thought out, and I do regret - did regret the instant I did it, for no
sooner had the arrow left my bowstring, than I was clapped in irons and
dragged off to a cell, while the remainder of my comrades fought the
warrior valiantly. The warrior, incidentally, was never captured, while I
lost all of mine (and my Patrons) hard earned items (courtesy of another
bug we won't go into ;).
So you see the problem with NPC-meted justice is that it isn't always fair,
because NPCs can't see the real circumstances behind anything - and since
they are programmed by people who make mistakes, they will make those
mistakes over and over again...
Talies the Wanderer
5 worlds and counting