Baldur's Gate : The Sword Coast Chronicles : NWN2 Persistent World

Since Luna brought it up, I will explain the rest system that I wrote for this server a year and a half ago, that was almost implemented, but pulled in the end. The discussions pertaining to it can still be found in the forums, but I will sum it up here.

Highlights:

1.) You can attempt to rest anywhere.
2.) Resting in the wild has a chance to spawn a wandering monster encounter.
3.) Certain areas will contain a "safe" area for resting.
4.) An interrupted rest can be attempted again, up to 3 times. After that your rest timer will set.

Now, you say that 50/50 chance would be good, but I did it a little differently. Here is how I determine the chance to spawn an encounter. Each area would have it's own base chance to spawn an encounter. Areas that are closer to civilization, have a lower chance to spawn than areas further out into the "wilds". Now, you also get an offset to this chance. Your offset is (survival skill + 1/2 your Ranger/Druid level). So if you have a level 12 ranger, with a survival skill of 16, and the base chance on the area is 60%, you would have a 32% 38% chance to spawn an encounter. I use percentages instead of a DC so that there is ALWAYS some chance that your resting draws attention. Now don't fret if you don't have an ranger/druid levels or survival skills. Perhaps you are traveling with a Druid? Rest close to your friends (within 30') and you can use the highest offset found (must be in party and within range).

Some of you might ask why the rest timer sets after 3 attempts. So that this can't be used as a means to quickly grind tons of monsters. Plain and simple. After reaching the max attempts without success, you will get a message telling you to seek out a safer place to rest. But I'm not heartless either. If your timer sets due to maxed attempts, you can still go to a safe rest area and rest there, which will set your timer without restriction just like a successful rest would. No, you can't rest repeatedly in the safe areas. The safe areas are only so that there is no chance of an encounter, they are not "free rest" areas. They will also be few, and spaced out, so you will have to locate one.

That's the basics of it.

Edit: Changed the percentage. I made a math boo-boo. Didn't halve the levels.

Behold the ultimate rest system of yore.

Man, I love the sounds of this. I did then, and I do now. I think it would add a lot.. realism, party incentive, a chance to rest anywhere, some randomness.. and a super-sweet custom script that we can be proud of.

I'd love to see this in game, the sooner the better!

One question, does this do the same things 'indoors' as in caves, dungeons, etc. or are they still no-rest zones? Maybe just a very high interrupt chance?

Leaf_Smoker wrote:Since Luna brought it up, I will explain the rest system that I wrote for this server a year and a half ago, that was almost implemented, but pulled in the end. The discussions pertaining to it can still be found in the forums, but I will sum it up here.

Highlights:

1.) You can attempt to rest anywhere.
2.) Resting in the wild has a chance to spawn a wandering monster encounter.
3.) Certain areas will contain a "safe" area for resting.
4.) An interrupted rest can be attempted again, up to 3 times. After that your rest timer will set.

Now, you say that 50/50 chance would be good, but I did it a little differently. Here is how I determine the chance to spawn an encounter. Each area would have it's own base chance to spawn an encounter. Areas that are closer to civilization, have a lower chance to spawn than areas further out into the "wilds". Now, you also get an offset to this chance. Your offset is (survival skill + 1/2 your Ranger/Druid level). So if you have a level 12 ranger, with a survival skill of 16, and the base chance on the area is 60%, you would have a 32% chance to spawn an encounter. I use percentages instead of a DC so that there is ALWAYS some chance that your resting draws attention. Now don't fret if you don't have an ranger/druid levels or survival skills. Perhaps you are traveling with a Druid? Rest close to your friends (within 30') and you can use the highest offset found (must be in party and within range).

Some of you might ask why the rest timer sets after 3 attempts. So that this can't be used as a means to quickly grind tons of monsters. Plain and simple. After reaching the max attempts without success, you will get a message telling you to seek out a safer place to rest. But I'm not heartless either. If your timer sets due to maxed attempts, you can still go to a safe rest area and rest there, which will set your timer without restriction just like a successful rest would. No, you can't rest repeatedly in the safe areas. The safe areas are only so that there is no chance of an encounter, they are not "free rest" areas. They will also be few, and spaced out, so you will have to locate one.

That's the basics of it.

And people have to eat every 3 hours or lose HP. And food is very expensive to buy and oddly enough most of what you kill is somehow inedible. Those with more Con obviously need more food.

Thorsson wrote: You should also tire more quickly if you actually go around doing things (like killing or casting spells).

And I think you should have to excrete too, and there's a chance that monsters might smell it, especially if you're someone who has to eat a lot.

Anything else we can add to make the game a pain?

This comment reminded me of a post by The Void in a different thread that highlights the problems associated with going more hardcore in server policy and scripts.

The Void wrote: Four years ago, I would never set foot in a 'medium" RP server that:

1. Had no permanent consequences for death.
2. Allowed me to level to epic without RP'ing
3. Had no recognition system from a DM for my acheivements over the course of 2-3 years of constant play and my detailed repository of my creative writing works.
4. Doesn't require me to eat, drink, forage, and hunt for survival as well as item maintanence and safe resting.
5. doesn't use a persistent (one-time only) quest system.
6. Allowed XP for monster kills.
7. Does not grant Xp unless under certain conditions of completion of the one-time quests, completing a dungeon, exploring new areas, or slaying a boss.
8. Has EPIC LEVELS.
9. Had unlimited and limitless PRC's without approval by the DM staff.
10. Fast Leveling
11. Not 100% Lore Driven: A great story written and every player knew it or had to learn it as soon as possible and possibly have an opportunity to create the lore as it progressed.
12. Large groups of players instead of smaller groups that make the difference in focusing the narrative and enhancing it rather than diluting it.
13. Was not Password protected: Passwords were given upon bio and character progression approval by the DM staff. To make sure everything fit into place with their setting.

I am 100% serious, the above characteristics PW's were a huge draw with me. It is how every game should be for people that have the time and dedication to really get the most out of the suspension of disbelief. It is much more than a past time, it's more like escapism. The only draw back for me, was when the stories would fall apart because players ultimately realized that they either had no more time to play due to RL obligations/changes or Drama. When even one player leaves on a PW like that, the effect is felt by almost everyone.

The issue here is, those PW's are hard to maintain and ultimately players get bored faster than a dedicated staff can make content. So they look for other players in a larger pool while "sacrificing or compromising" their standards so they can just have the ability to be social and move on.

So this is a real consideration. Where is the point that difficulty starts losing you players and the PW slides into oblivion?

I don't know where that point is, but I think a rest system that adds danger and excitement and suspense, and that promotes partying is not going too far.

This random spawn encounter rest system gets my vote.

My only concerns are about getting too many rests in dungeons, and about restoring full health every time you rest. If attention was paid to these two aspects I would vote yes twice!!

@ Leafsmoker. Wouldn't having a Barbarian nearby help in a survival situation too? What about resting in an urban environment? Wouldn't a rogue be instrumental in avoiding sordid fellows in that kind of environment?

Just throwing ideas at you.

When I created the system, the general consensus about towns was that you had to rent a room at an Inn. I still think that is a good idea personally. After all, we are adventurers, not vagrants. Should we really sleep in the street?

What if people play vagrants? You want to take away their RP?


Oh and by the way. I'm against going more 'hardcore'. No reason to shy away more players, because a select few want it to be more pnp/realistic.

I don't actively hunt/grind anymore because it's simply more of a sore than actually fun. Don't give me another reason not to go outside Roaringshore/Nashkel.

Well this system will have to be reviewed a bit more and tested.

Major updates like these often have a backlash even if it promotes more "realism" and commonsense practicality. Like I have said, I am a fan of realism but I good chunk of the playerbase on a medium RP server are not fans of inconvenience. So there needs to be a compromise regardless of what I maybe partial too.

Population is probably the in the top three reasons why new people choose to come to this server. It is definately something that we do not want to affect in a negative way as I have experienced and has prevented me from issuing down more "Hardcore" rulings on players and the environment.

Everyone knows that I mouthed off and said "If I had my way as head DM .... blah blah" but did anything change? There are higher powers that I have to answer too... this system will have to answer to that as well.

Though I doubt the features in leaf_smokers rest system will be that drastic, it actually look a bit more fun than what we have now unless you despise having your RL time wasted if you cannot rest safely like you use too.

Xanfyrst wrote:What if people play vagrants? You want to take away their RP?

Please don't troll just for the hell of it. Let's keep this discussion constructive.

I have a homeless beggar character...

Based off of what Luna has said, it is going to be test-run in certain areas. While I think that is probably a good idea, I do think it will be best shown off when its full-scale. If it is in a few non-contiguous areas it will just be worked around.

Either way, I don't think this can be classified anywhere near hardcore. Its not hunger and thirst. It isn't fatigue.

We say we are medium, lets be medium.

Demitrious Ducas wrote:I have a homeless beggar character...

I do too. So have him slip into an inn's common room and sleep it off. Have an alley in each city be one of the 'safe rest' zones if we must. Or have the docks in BG be open rest, as it is filled with vagrants and ne'r'do'wells.

I dont see this as a deal breaker or anything.

i find the current rest system quite inconvenient, when playing a barbarian for example, having to walk out of a dungeon to regain use of rage is something i find frustrating

leaf's system doesnt seem to be a case of annoying realism but rather an excellent and well though out way of handling rest(and fun!), a good balance between the need of the rest mechanic for gameplay and limiting the power it can give players

i for one would really love to see this implemented

nelty wrote:Great idea! Feels much more natural than a restriction to certrain places. There should still be a cooldown, though. And being woken up my monsters also means no new spells.

Besides, what about having resting not restore any hp? It would increase the difficulty and healers would gain much more importance. To give non-spellcasters a reason to rest, there could be fatigue. After a 12 ingame hours or so, a character gets fatigued and receives serious penalties on all abilities which increase over time more and more.

if its being woken by a monster, could it be scripted to cause a blindness effect for 1 round? monster gets a free shot at you since you were sleeping

breteas wrote:Fires are also being used to mule items. Is this taken in to account when they are made to persist "shortish" ? Otherwise, make sure to get it clear on the forums and updates that the fireplace will vanish sooner than it used to, since item loss by a fireplace that vanished is a bit of a bummer.

I think if you are using a fire to move items from character to character (I hate muling incidentally) you are a exploiting, and should not be complaining when you lose some item you threw in a damn fire.

kellendril wrote:

breteas wrote:Fires are also being used to mule items. Is this taken in to account when they are made to persist "shortish" ? Otherwise, make sure to get it clear on the forums and updates that the fireplace will vanish sooner than it used to, since item loss by a fireplace that vanished is a bit of a bummer.

I think if you are using a fire to move items from character to character (I hate muling incidentally) you are a exploiting, and should not be complaining when you lose some item you threw in a damn fire.

You might think it, but it's allowed. And it's certainly no worse than trading through the forums. Both are "caused" by the in-game economy being so restrictive (much more so than RL). Generally people play games to have fun. Masochism is not everybody's idea of fun.