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[Rayblon]

Mythruna (generally) isn't open to suggestions. Paul has a distict vision for this game and it's a damn good one without our input  This is not a suggestion thread, it is meant to discuss stuff we think would be interesting in Mythruna. That means no pushing your ideas on Paul.

Here, we will discuss and review ideas. To maximize feedback on each idea, before you post a new idea, check to make sure the previous idea was reviewed by at least three people. Ideas should be as detailed as you would make a suggestion. Who knows? Your idea may be turned into a mod or adopted by Paul in the future.

[Rayblon]

An arrow that can blot out the sun in an area. At the cost of a massive amount of life energy, special, difficult to craft arrows can be fired at the sun (or whatever it is called) to plunge a large area of land into twilight for a day. Yes, this is inspired by Auriel ' s bow from Skyrim, but it would be an interesting mechanic. This would likely drain small amounts of life energy from the area. I
I also think it would make for an interesting map environment for servers. It's hard to say what the materials for the arrows would have to be, but presumably it would be a material that sucks in life energy like dead bodies do.

[pspeed]

An arrow that can blot out the sun in an area. At the cost of a massive amount of life energy, special, difficult to craft arrows can be fired at the sun (or whatever it is called) to plunge a large area of land into twilight for a day. Yes, this is inspired by Auriel ' s bow from Skyrim, but it would be an interesting mechanic. This would likely drain small amounts of life energy from the area. I
I also think it would make for an interesting map environment for servers. It's hard to say what the materials for the arrows would have to be, but presumably it would be a material that sucks in life energy like dead bodies do.

It would definitely have to suck in light energy... which in itself might be interesting since even torches would fade.  Otherwise, to keep it from being over-powered I guess it would have to be charged ahead of time by the user and/or loaded up with really powerful (and expensive/rare) energy crystals.

In addition to fitting the "magic physics" idea, I'm trying to keep the magic effects modular so that unexpected spells might be created.  Being able to affect the light energy of an area or a field seems like a reasonable thing to do.  Perhaps you can similarly just affect someone's personal body field so that only they see darkness.  This would be similar to how shield effects work... every object will have a local static field around it.

In that sense, an "arrow that blots out the sun" is really just extending a dome shaped field around the area and that field is sucking in light energy (thus preventing it from entering the field).  So it would also dim or extinguish torches that pass through or near the boundaries of the field.  A field of decent size will also take a LOT of energy to maintain and the absorbed light energy will only count for some of it.  Also, I guess an object would have to generate and maintain the field (could be the arrow if the arrow metaphor is used) or a device someone throws on the ground.  The arrow would require additional antigrav magic to maintain its location but at least it would be harder to tamper with.  A device on the ground (or in the ground) probably needs some additional "antitampering" defense magic.

[Teknonick]

I like the idea of an arrow being used for short term battle-type scenarios. Though, it could also be used if you're breaking into a city and need a distraction for you and your forces. It should take a lot of energy considering IT'S AN ARROW. Since it's such a small thing, the effects shouldn't last long... and cost more than say a big device.

I also like the thought behind a steam-punk/magical-imbued machine that can be stuck into the ground. It should cost less energy, and last a lot longer... problems? It should be so huge that a player would have to move it by horse, or ship, or something like that. Also, it can be destroyed physically as opposed to magic alone.

Both of these ways should be able to be disabled through magic. Perhaps a sort of 'mini-game' wizards will go through to remove the effect of either device. The stronger the wizard, or perhaps the more there are, the easier the 'mini-game' should be. Imagine their bodies meditating in a circle, while they are mentally transported to another location where they must complete mystical tasks to complete the spell to disable the anti-light spell. So if you had that machine device, you could have a set of wizards set to disarm it from a safe location, while secret-agents are sent in to destroy it by force and in secret. Secret.


A very interesting idea, but it would require a lot of thought to make sure it can't be used by every single player in the game, while not making it so expensive that that no one ever uses it. I personally like the idea of an airship coming in with a device in it, and have it floating into a city under the cover of the darkness it's creating. Imagine seeing THAT floating over your city! A giant orb of pure-darkness, with no clear sight of what's coming! This could also be used for other things, such as a dragon with the natural ability to do as we are discussing. "What is that!?" "It's a bird!" "It's a plane!" "No you idiots, we have no idea what it is because it's engulfed in darkness!" "Oh."

[Rayblon]

Hmm ~ I guess we'll just waive the third review. Any other ideas to discuss?

[Rayblon]

I have a new idea. So, you probably know this to be true; a zombie is a zombie. You're generally inclined to want to kill it because it's likely to become an immediate threat. But realistically, reanimated magically or not, no two zombies, goblins, orcs, etc, are going to behave exactly the same... And some may display radically different behavior from others like them.

This, of course, is not often the case in many games. If one SOMETHING is a threat, the whole lot of them want to kill you. You probably guessed by now what I'm thinking. What if, instead of having plain mobs that either do this or do that, they have personalities of sorts. Now, I don't mean to suggest some overly complex system, but simply something that makes understanding your enemy or a possible ally a little more difficult than "It's this so I do this".

Maybe you could go so far as to have a passive dragon, and let's not overlook the no doubt vast array of animals in the future. Perhaps the next hungry wolf you encounter will lunge at you out in the open, or wait in the shadows for the perfect opportunity to subdue its' meal silently. Likewise, you may enconter not-so-vigilant guards on night duty when assaulting an enemy camp, or a quick to surrender chef of a group.

[pspeed]

Wolves, for example, will attack you when they are hungry and then only in packs.  If they are not particularly hungry then they will leave you alone.  It would be a pretty desperate wolf to attack you on his own... even if you attack first he is likely to just run away.

Only the 'strictly prey' mobs (like rabbits) will be predictable.  Most other NPCs/mobs will at least have some motivation for their behavior and not be so black and white.

[Rayblon]

I guess I phrased that poorly. I was aware of the motivation thing but...

When you talk about behavior and response to stimuli, for instance, you'd likely argue that past experiences, personality, and the environment dictate it.

If a lone wolf is hungry and really IS desperate, for instance, it has more than one option, which choice it makes likely depends on the precursors to behavior.

Let me describe this as a series of cases, with which we use to observe how changes in past and personality change how wolves may react to the same scenario; desperate for food and alone. For simplicity, personality will be limited to two traits.


Case 1
Past: Gravely wounded years ago and abandoned by pack; brought back to health and cared for by a human hunter.
Personality: Warm, low-aggression

Having been saved from the brink of death by a human in particular, this wolf may seek assistance from a human(begging) or scavenge near human establishments in favor of falling back on baser methods against locals. Cases like this are uncommon, but not unheard of in real life.

Case 2
Past: An alpha that faced famine before, killed low ranking wolves to use as food to sustain the pack, which it was exiled from.
Personality: Cold, medium-aggression

It is not foreign to cannibalizing and is a loner(since wolves are born into packs, very rare to join another one). Being an alpha, it's skilled at analysis, tracking patrols and concealing its' scent. Instead of simply picking on the sparse leftovers of a nearby pack, it may target weak patrolling wolves on the edge of their territory. Since it has not been exposed to playable races, it avoids them., generally... But it doesn't mean it won't be wise to weaklings that stray too far.

Case 3
Past: A subordinate wolf that was the sole survivor of a forest fire, recently bore pups from the old alpha male.
Personality: hypervigilant/territorial, high aggression

Since she has to tend to pups, a solid defense is one of her greatest priorities, beyond even food to an extent. It's likely she would attack anything that comes into her small territory on sight as a result, regardless of what it is(unless it's a golem or something that's huge).


These cases may be a little extraordinary, but they describe what I'm trying to say well, imo. These extraordinary cases, albeit rare, defy the normal dispositions of their races, species, etc, which leave them pursuing radically different courses of action despite having the same motivation/goal(in this case to get food).