adventurers

Note #17 by Toli posted at Thu Jan 17 03:08:47 2019 [PDT]

Title: "Adventurers, a preamble and thesis"

Hello, allow me to introduce myself. I am Toli MacPing, and I have been a

resident of the Discworld for over twenty years, although this character was

originally deleted, then recreated in 2003. In my first incarnation, I joined

the Fighters' Guild. When I was recreated, I opted-out, so to speak, of the

guild system and I have never joined a guild. I am an Adventurer. This title,

accidental or otherwise, brings me pleasure. It suits me well and is very

fitting for the lifestyle of the person sitting behind me on RW, my "user", who

is also an "adventurer" in his life.

This non-guild status I bear may seem strange to some people, perhaps

inconceivable. Many people are here to grind away at numbers and can't imagine

a life built mostly of whim and/or idleness. Please understand that I am not

the only citizen of our world who my "user" enters and helps, that he has other

lives he lives here (that is to say, I am an alt). When he, my "user" wants to

be serious or to "grind numbers", he generally doesn't come to visit me. One of

the reasons I was created was to explore, appreciate, and enjoy the added

difficulty that the adventurer lifestyle (guild-choice) brings. Also, bear in

mind that I am not alone. Many people have dedicated their lives, if not

entirely then at least for extraordinary periods of time, to temper themselves.

There have been many notable Adventurers throughout the impressive timespan

that our world has existed. Boot mapped the terrains for years before being

elevated, albeit briefly, to creator status. Mus surprised the PK world with

his insanely high fighting skills. Tarzan, I believe it was, remained a

power-grouping adventurer for years before going on to be High Priest of Fish.

At one point I myself owned some amazing real estate and held impressive

parties while dabbling in politics and drug-trafficking. Adventurers are

people, too, is the point!

I've heard some pretty nasty rhetoric whenever we few remaining Adventurers

dare to come scampering out of our forests and mountains to join the social

life of the Discworld. I understand that we Adventurers are somewhat strange,

given the values and properties of the system in which we live, but we still

deserve a modicum of respect and consideration. Personally, I have been told

that I am in a non-guild; I have even been called stupid or worse for choosing

to not join a guild. Adventurers are often likened to non-people and

marginalized whenever we are discussed, and that is simply unacceptable.

That being said, I want to thank the Discworld community for continuing, and

for providing lifetimes of enriching interactions and experiences.

Now that we've waded through the preamble, I'd like to dive directly into my

thesis involving the set of primary skills that determine the guildlevel of an

Adventurer. It may seem trivial to nearly all of you, and if the topic

disinterests you, I strongly encourage you to read no further and ignore this

thread. As they stand, the Adventurers' primaries are a bunch of fighting

skills (many are not very useful, or redundant) and just three Adventuring (two

evaluating skills, and adenturing.points determines our max gp). These skills

were assigned during a restructuring of the skills' trees and the guilds many

years ago; they were chosen ad hoc and, I feel, without consideration. They are

also said to be something of a homage or relic of the Warriors' guild before

the spec-split, and the now-defunct Fighters' Guild by association. My thesis:

These skills do not represent the actual skills required for survival as a

guildless person, and if guildlevel is to be assigned to Adventurers, the

guildlevel should be based on a different set of skills.

That being said, I like having a guildlevel, and would like to continue having

one, please. Also, let me quickly state that I understand that we are crunched

for creators and for players; many will want to say that we cannot devote

coding hours to changing something so trivial. I merely hope to open the topic

up for discussion of the hypothetical possibilities and/or implications, and I

also offer up the valuable time of my "user", who has assured me that he would

dedicate the time necessary to pass all the steps necessary before he would be

allowed to address the hypothetical change, should it ever be approved.

So, without further ado, I will now post the current set of primary skills for

Adventurers, and also post an alternative set for consideration.

The current primary skill-set of Adventurers:

Adventuring.

.evaluating.weapon

.evaluating.armour

.points

Fighting.

.melee.dagger

.melee.sword

.melee.heavy-sword

.melee.mace

.range.thown

.range.fired

.unarmed.striking

.defence.parrying

.defence.dodging

.special.weapon

.special.unarmed

.special.tactics

My suggested set:

Adventuring.

.movement.climbing.tree

.movement.climbing.rock

.movement.swimming

.direction

.perception

.points

Crafts.

.hunting.tracking

.hunting.foraging

.hunting.fishing

.hunting.trapping

.husbandry.plant.herbal

.culinary.cooking

.medicine.first-aid

Fighting.special.tactics

People.teaching.adventuring

I hope that it is clear that the second set of skills more clearly draws a

better picture of what an adventurer is and does. In the first, the Adventurer

is a brawler, nothing more. In the second, we see that an Adventurer needs wits

and diverse skills to survive outside the confines and rigours of civilization

and society.

Obviously, the Adventurers have no guild, no teachers, no special commands.

This alteration would in no way change the balance of the game, but just add

one small facet to make the game more believable, immersive, and full of

delightful surprises. Bear in mind, this change would not in any way lessen the

difficulty Adventurers face, merely more accurately represent the individual

survivability of each of the few insane people who choose this lifestyle.

I apologize for the long post. Originally I thought of breaking it into two,

but ultimately decided my ideas would be better presented in one cohesive post.

I hope that we can have an interesting and amicable conversation, and I look

forward to hearing everyone's (relevant and productive) thoughts. If you are

still reading this, congratulations for reaching the end, and thank you for

taking the time to consider my ideas.

Peace be with you, and blessed be!

Toli MacPing, Fossilized.

edit: OMG, I forgot to mention Westley! How could I forget to give him a

shout-out? Westley, you're the best!

• Gufnork (quite good - neutral)
• Gapp (quite good - neutral)
• Sandelfon (barely good - barely evil)
• Fish (neutral - evil)
• Hat (neutral - quite evil)
• Sek (barely evil - as evil as you can get)