Disguise for Dummies

Amalia · Post by **Amalia** » Mon Mar 13, 2006 1:27 am

Actually changing your appearance takes skill-- but how about hiding it under cloaks, masks, and hoods? I remember a time when I've been RPing with a race that many people don't like IC (not without reason) and having multiple people ask me through tells if I needed help when they saw me with this individual from another room. The other character was heavily cloaked and should have been able to hide her identity from all but close scrutiny, but since characters in other rooms weren't aware of this they had to assume the individual's race was plainly evident.

Is there any possibility that some pseudo-disguise command might come into existence, allowing for a description of "a heavily cloaked figure" or something to that effect when one is in fact wearing such items, revealing more of the character in their description? I think this could be especially useful with for some of the PC races that strongly resemble other races except for a few features.

Yonna · Post by **Yonna** » Mon Mar 13, 2006 4:39 am

I concur. Items that hide your adjective and possibly your description could be very useful for those of us who suffer from a general lack of acceptable appearance.

Xryon · Post by **Xryon** » Mon Mar 13, 2006 2:33 pm

In another game I play, something like this has recently been added. I am not sure how it would be incorporated here, as most of the armor is bought from NPCs rather than PC smiths. In the other game a command has been added that allows one to "Cover" themselves with whatever adjective they so desire.. Most armor buying (in my experience anyway) is rather inpersonal, mostly being bought from NPCs. As I did there, I would definitely support bringing this in.

Travis · Post by **Travis** » Mon Mar 13, 2006 4:01 pm

Rather than change the adjective, I think it should tag something onto it, like a pose. "a male halfdrow is shrouded in his cloak."

Errr.... actually. I think people should just use poses.
Saves Imm's time and effort.

Elwin · Post by **Elwin** » Mon Mar 13, 2006 4:59 pm

Poses don't help when the person is in a different room. That is what they are saying. When you look to a different room, it shows the character's adjective reguardless of their pose, unless they are hidden. I think this is a good idea. I have been guilty of this before, because I just say the adjective and ran to intercept them, later finding out they were completely covered up. So, I think this would be a nice addition to the game.

Travis · Post by **Travis** » Mon Mar 13, 2006 6:00 pm

Ahhh, I forgot about that.

I suppose I agree then.

Nearraba · Post by **Nearraba** » Mon Mar 13, 2006 8:57 pm

I was actually just speaking to somebody else about this exact thing.

I think Amalia's idea is very good. Many times characters are dressed in heavy clothing with veils & hoods as well as other wears. In most situations (not all but most) if a character has a mask/hood/veil or other head coving it is usually still rped that other chars can determine they physical features, that are actually covered.

I know there is a disguise kit item in the game, maybe something that wouldn’t be to hard to code could be combined with this.

Blug · Post by **Blug** » Fri May 05, 2006 2:53 pm

In another game I play, certain armors, when combined, provide covering. Just a suggestion, but perhaps when you wear a certain robe and/or hood, it would change your adjective temporarily. Example being if a drow or halfdrow were to buy a dark robe and a dark hood (which would be IC if the drow/halfdrow were on the surface) it would change their adjective to "A dark, hooded figure" instead of a male halfdrow or drow.
The same could be done with armor, say a fighter put on a full suit of silver plate, with a visor, his adjective would/could become "A figure clad in heavy silver plate."
Just my thoughts.

Levine · Post by **Levine** » Sat May 06, 2006 12:58 am

Cloaks and hoods have kinda been discussed here.

http://www.forgottenkingdoms.com/board/ ... ight=hoods

-gissy

Telk · Post by **Telk** » Sat May 06, 2006 7:45 pm

I was wondering how this could effectively work on the MUD and I was thinking, what about simply making a command that when you're wearing a cloak that your adjective is force set to "A cloaked figure", or something similar to that, if wearing a hood and cloak then it could be "A hooded, cloaked figure" These adjectives are very vague, but this seems to be the simplest way of going about it. Since this command is basically to tell people that you have a cloak or such and such on, the adjective would notify people of that, and nothing more.

Having this as a command would be nice because then people can choose to cover up in the cloak, or not. I don't really see how it would make sense to have it a skill, it doesn't take any practice or time to pull a cloak around you.

I think if we try to make this system complex (like I've seen it in some of the forum posts) that the idea may never be implemented, this way we can have the command, and if there are ideas to improve it later on, we can simply add to it accordingly.

For race we can still have it shown, I.E. A cloaked male tiefling is nearby west of here. But since the PC is cloaked players won't say, "Hey, look, it's a tiefling let's go throw rocks" I personally don't see how the race could be covered up without lots of work and problems.

So, in short I've proposed that if wearing a cloak a PC can use a command such as 'cloak' or something to the likes and their adjective is force changed into (as an example) 'A cloaked male human' If wearing a hood the adjective would be changed to 'A hooded, cloaked male human' the description would stay the same, but I'm not sure how equipment would be covered up, if it is covered up.

As far as code goes, allowing these PC's into areas that are restricted for their race, I don't think it should be changed from what it is. IC reasoning being that guards in cities, and areas won't let a shrouded figure in, they would make them take the hood or cloak off. OOC reasoning being of course that it could/would be abused.

Just my thoughts, make it simple, not complex.

Zach · Post by **Zach** » Sun May 07, 2006 3:20 am

when you select your pose... when you look east or look west... is that pose there? if so... why not just set your pose at it?

Lorion · Post by **Lorion** » Sun May 07, 2006 2:03 pm

I don't think you can see the pose from afar in FK

Zach · Post by **Zach** » Sun May 07, 2006 4:32 pm

wouldn't that be easier to code then any "hooded cloak" that changes code, junks, and all that?

Yeah... they still see your race and what not... but i have a char that has momst of their elven ears cut off... it is hard for most people to see what race they are

Telk · Post by **Telk** » Sun May 07, 2006 4:47 pm

You can't, you could make your pose able to be seen from afar, but if you were to look somewhere where there was a gathering it could get rather spammy and messy, so I wouldn't be all for that idea.

Zach · Post by **Zach** » Mon May 08, 2006 3:08 pm

i don't know how it would be spammy... just a bit longer... the way it is listed now... just by a bunch of commas between people... maybe it could be listed.... but! it would be spam that one brought upon himself and would be brepaired for... just like entering a room with 10 people who have their pose set... it would be spammy but it's RP

BUT i could be wrong... i'm still unashure of how it would be spammy

Levine · Post by **Levine** » Tue May 09, 2006 3:43 am

It would appear to be something like this:

>look west

A citizen of Waterdeep is going about his business here. nearby west, A guard is standing here keeping the market peace. not too far off west, A tall, slender male halfelf is walking along the fountain's edge absently. not too far off west, A beautiful, blue-eyed female human is hiding from the skinny male behind the mermaid on the fountain. not too far off west, A skinny, messy-haired male is here, seeming to be looking for someone. not too far off west, A lithe, auburn-haired male elf is standing here. not too far off west, A pretty, green-eyed female halfelf is sitting here on the fountain's edge, skimming the water surface with her fingers idly. not too far off west.

Nearby west: 1
Not too far off west: 6

And it'll be more difficult to see WHO it is that's in the area because the poses are in the way. Also, the sentences don't entirely flow (because of the words "here" and such) if you want the poses to be seen.

I understand that people will be aware of what will happen if they type "look <direction>" if this is implemented, and should be prepared, and have no one else to blame but themselves for using the command, but I don't entirely see the need for this.

(Not to flame, honest.) Somehow, I feel more comfortable with the temporary change of adjective (e.g. a hooded, cloaked figure) and perhaps, description, if appropriate, and not very much of a hassle to code.

I would imagine this to be highly similar to disguise, but would only work for cloaks. But then again, I know NOTHING about code, so forgive me if I'm wrong.

-gissy

Zach · Post by **Zach** » Tue May 09, 2006 7:28 am

Levine wrote:It would appear to be something like this:

>look west

A citizen of Waterdeep is going about his business here. nearby west, A guard is standing here keeping the market peace. not too far off west, A tall, slender male halfelf is walking along the fountain's edge absently. not too far off west, A beautiful, blue-eyed female human is hiding from the skinny male behind the mermaid on the fountain. not too far off west, A skinny, messy-haired male is here, seeming to be looking for someone. not too far off west, A lithe, auburn-haired male elf is standing here. not too far off west, A pretty, green-eyed female halfelf is sitting here on the fountain's edge, skimming the water surface with her fingers idly. not too far off west.

change that to

>look west

nearby west:
A citizen of Waterdeep is going about his business here.

Not too far off west:
A guard is standing here keeping the market peace.
A tall, slender male halfelf is walking along the fountain's edge absently.
A beautiful, blue-eyed female human is hiding from the skinny male behind the mermaid on the fountain.
A skinny, messy-haired male human is here, seeming to be looking for someone.
A lithe, auburn-haired male elf is standing here.
A pretty, green-eyed female halfelf is sitting here on the fountain's edge, skimming the water surface with her fingers idly.

Breake it up a bit... not much... but just a little bit... it does so in the game... but only commas or something else small... i would like to see it listed like this... but it's only me... i woulnd't care too much eather way... it was just a more easy non coding way to see something... but pose is not able to be seen from afar

Levine · Post by **Levine** » Wed May 10, 2006 7:23 am

So! Now.. there're several ideas for this problem.

1. Temporary change of adjective

2. A tag-on to existing adjective

3. Poses that can be seen from a distance

About number 3.. What if you're moving from room to room? The pose will automatically be reset the moment you leave the room you set your pose in.

SO! Maybe this will help:

http://www.forgottenkingdoms.com/board/ ... php?t=5134

Part of it, at least. The part about auto-poses.

Hope I didn't confuse anyone..

Take your pick: Option one, two, or three?

-gissy

Gregal · Post by **Gregal** » Wed May 10, 2006 9:57 am

I personally like this idea, but thought. Can you really see what the mob is doing from VERY VERY FAR AWAY? I mean for some races they should be able to see poses up to 2 vnums but others it may be only 1 vnum to see what the people are doing. Is this possible to code?

Zach · Post by **Zach** » Wed May 10, 2006 3:37 pm

I've liked the idea that Gregal brings up... but it will get off topic... i might start it somewhere else

as for setting a status comand... or a permi pose would be a good idea... i don't think many people liked the idea... that thread did not go far...