Temporary Disguise System Ruling

[DM Golem]

Please see the DM Rulings thread for the current temporary ruling the DM team has made on use of the disguise system:

http://bgtscc.net/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=4 ... 90#p643990

Any questions and clarifications can take place in this thread.

[Boddynock]

The Disguise System - Temporary Ruling
The diguise system currently in game is not enforceable between players while it undergoes fine tuning. Please continue to RP disguises sensibly and fairly.

We would expect players to play whats on their sheet as always, and now there is a disguise skill in game we would expect players to roleplay that skill, or lack of it, honourably.

On the use of the renaming function, this is permitted, but names must comply with the existing server naming rules. We also ask a degree of sensible restraint. For the avoidance of doubt:

- Do not impersonate known figures, whether NPC or player.
- Do not use descriptions as names.
- Do not change the colour or font of name text.
- Impersonating server staff will be a disciplinary offence.

((For ease of reading, that is where that link leads))

And now for the discussing...

1) Why can we not disguise ourselves and impersonate known figures? That is one of the uses of disguise (albeit a more difficult one, especially if you are trying to fool someone who has interacted with you you are disguised as). This rule cuts off a large portion of available RP with the skill that should, by all rights, be accessible to players.

2) Why can we not use a description as a name? I disguise as an unknown ambiguous nobody, so I disguise what you see, such as "Farmer". What is wrong with that?

3) Why not? It's cool, and fun, and doesn't really hurt anything does it?

4)Well, yeah. That one is a no-brainer.

All that being said, I am 100% against the ability to change your name plate anyway, and doubly so since seeing through a disguise does not then reveal the true name. The name plate is OOC information that most people use to know whether or not your character has met another one or not. Because so many people share face models, etc. Once you start with whether or not your character knows them, THEN you can go on to considering if they are in disguise are not. The fact that you can disguise your name, and no one can see through it, means you can stay in disguise effectively regardless of anyone's rolls or investment in spot.

In addition, if you uses to many characters in your new name, it simply erases your account name from all lists as well, which makes griefing other players a nearly risk free prospect.

I love the fact that disguise got added, I think it is a great addition to available RP, but I also disagree with nearly every aspect of it's implementation. Until we decide or find a system that works, it should join the ranks of the lore skills that got added. It's there, and we can build on it. But you have to crawl before you can run, and we skipped straight to attempting trans-oceanic flight.

[DM Golem]

1- Becuase with the DCs being adjusted, at the moment it would not be fair. DCs for known figures should be higher.

2- Because its too prone to abuse at the moment, we may ease this up in time.

3- Because there were some potential problems identified with it (hard to read fonts, etc)