Possible Movement Echo Change

[Jeanne]

Just a thought:

Since not all creatures walk (some fly, some swim, etc)...

Maybe change the "footsteps" echo to "movement"?

Otherwise exactly the same, but that way it makes sense for land, sea, and air.

[Tamryn]

I wonder if these should be removed from outside rooms entirely. An outside room represents a fairly large expanse (20 miles or something like that?) and it seems unlikely that anyone would hear someone walking from that far away.

Indoors, people probably won't be swimming or flying much anyway.

[Algon]

While I get what you are saying, I am pretty sure that would be a hard code change and probably not worth the hassle it would take to change it. There are lots of other things that could actually be beneficial to the game that could be fixed.
My two cents

[Rhangalas]

I think those echoes are a part of the listen/spot code and if I'm not mistaken they also govern when you see other echoes like the sounds of battle nearby and so forth. Also, the distance between rooms in an area is much shorter than the distance between rooms on the wilderness map.

Removing them entirely would detract from the game, but I could see them not being applicable beyond your current room if the room is wilderness. I am for changing them based on certain movement/scenarios though.

Ex. "You hear the beating of wings nearby." or "You hear the splashes of something swimming nearby.".

[Kinni]

Hearing footsteps out in the middle of the ocean was a bit weird. I support just changing it to "You hear movement to the <direction>." That being said, I'd love if you could listen in directions...

Sytax: listen <direction>

It would be very handy if this would allow, upon a successful skill check of course, you to listen as if you were in the room in the designated direction. It might even hurt your dexterity AC bonus since you are not paying attention to your given surroundings! You could then focus back on your room by using "listen stop".

Sorry, just running off on a tangent about what can and cannot be heard. Bah!

[Tamryn]

That being said, I'd love if you could listen in directions...

Sytax: listen <direction>

It would be very handy if this would allow, upon a successful skill check of course, you to listen as if you were in the room in the designated direction.

I play another MUD that has this as a rogue skill (eavesdrop). It's a bit sloppy though, in that it lets you basically see everything as if you were in the room:

Code: Select all

> eavesdrop north
You quietly eavesdrop on the room north from you.
North> Cyric says: Hi!
North> Cyric sits down and relaxes.

So, it might need (hard?) code to decide which things were hearable and which weren't, unless that already exists...

However, one nice feature is that there's a chance you fumble when eavesdropping, and alert the people in the target room to your presence.

[Rhangalas]

Nah, the code is already there in the form of a few spells. Clairvoyance and arcane eye are the two that come to mind, but I think there is a third that I might be forgetting.

I would support listening in on coversation in an adjacent room with the listen skill, but for you to see what is happening, I think it should function off of the spot skill. Syntax: watch <direction>.

It should be choppy though, so you don't always hear and see everything that is going on as if it were a divination, but more of a mundane spying.