Racial Age Messaging & You on 04/21/2010 05:00 PM CDT
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Three changes will be happening in the near future to how Elanthians of all races age. Two of these are set in stone and this should be regarded as merely an informative heads up on those issues. The final issue I am leaving open to discussion.

ALL DISCUSSION SHOULD TAKE PLACE IN THE GENERAL DISCUSSIONS - RACES FOLDER OF THE RACES CATEGORY.

Issue #1: Longevity for All

Due to a modern proliferation in Empathic (...and Necromantic...) healing, people are living longer, healthier lives. While there is an absolute limit to how long Life magic can prolong a being due to the metaphysical forces involved -- the first axiom of Life magic is "Life cannot defeat life" -- the Empath Guild's modern affect on longevity can be seen as nearly miraculous to the shorter-lived species.

The life expectancy of all characters which receive regular magical healing is expanded by a flat +100 years.

Issue #2: Age Messaging

The code that controls what age you will appear to be is going to be rewritten. Mostly this is a backend issue, with an aim toward making it more human-readable and customizable for future generations. However, there is also an element of change: some races in-game have messaging ranges that are in no way tied with the website information or IC lore. For example, Gnomes in-game have a 1,000 year long lifespan while the website and our fiction puts them at living two or three centuries.

There absolutely will be some adjustments here, and in particular Dwarves, Elves, and especially Gnomes may suddenly appear older. A few other tweaks may be noticed but by default will be minor.

Issue #3: The Evil Marriage of Issue #1 and Issue #2

Polite but vigorous debate has been raised about how to handle the longevity change in the in-game messaging, and I wish to hear your opinions about it. For the sake of argument, first assume you must choose between two options:

A) There is no messaging changes except what Issue #2 mandates to bring races in-sync with current lore. The extra century Empathy grants the upper crust is tacked on to the end, as archaic people that just don't freakin' die.

B) The extra century is integrated into the races' visible life cycle, so that especially the shorter lived races appear younger for much, much longer, and finally reach Archaic messaging at the end of the enhanced life.

There are, of course, secret ninja options and toggles and tying it into literal Empathic powers and whatnot we can also explore, but for the sake of gauging opinion I'd like to keep it at the simple, binary level. If you have a particularly inventive idea of how we can have our cake and eat it too, though, I am open to suggestions.

-Armifer
"In our days truth is taken to result from the effacing of the living man behind the mathematical structures that think themselves out in him, rather than he be thinking them." - Emmanuel Levinas
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Re: Racial Age Messaging & You on 04/21/2010 05:09 PM CDT
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My response is: What does/will the lore say?

Does the healing slow your aging, or does it just keep you going longer?



Magic's Death Caraamon Makdasi, Gor'Tog Barbarian
Hunta Talna Kortok, built by Gor'Togs, for Gor'Togs
http://www.angelfire.com/rpg2/caraamon/home.html
Blunts for Sale:
http://www.elanthipedia.com/wiki/User:Caraamon#Wares
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Racial Age Messaging & You on 04/21/2010 05:09 PM CDT
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Is there a possibility of having both options with the ability for the player to toggle (once) whether the character a) appears older and just doesn't die or b) appears younger?

I do not care especially one way or the other. Sensible arguments can be made for both sides. Either the life magic can be keeping the whole body healthy, or the age can still be seen but "something" inside keeps ticking healthily.
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Re: Racial Age Messaging & You on 04/21/2010 05:12 PM CDT
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Woops, posted my response in main responses instead of here.
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Re: Racial Age Messaging & You on 04/21/2010 05:12 PM CDT
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>>My response is: What does/will the lore say?

At the risk of being overly cynical, the lore will say whatever it needs to say.

As a personal opinion, I think slowing down the life cycle would be more coherent with established stuff, but I can make either work.

-Armifer
"In our days truth is taken to result from the effacing of the living man behind the mathematical structures that think themselves out in him, rather than he be thinking them." - Emmanuel Levinas
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Re: Racial Age Messaging & You on 04/21/2010 05:15 PM CDT
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>As a personal opinion, I think slowing down the life cycle would be more coherent with established stuff, but I can make either work.

Considering the qualification is that you receive a a large amount of empathic healing over time, I'd have to agree.



Magic's Death Caraamon Makdasi, Gor'Tog Barbarian
Hunta Talna Kortok, built by Gor'Togs, for Gor'Togs
http://www.angelfire.com/rpg2/caraamon/home.html
Blunts for Sale:
http://www.elanthipedia.com/wiki/User:Caraamon#Wares
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Re: Racial Age Messaging & You on 04/21/2010 05:18 PM CDT
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>>Considering the qualification is that you receive a a large amount of empathic healing over time, I'd have to agree.

Yeah. In Teh Lorez terms, this extension doesn't apply to a dirt farmer who toils away for 50 years and then dies in an unmarked grave, only the upper crust and the adventurers that frequently receive magical healing.

Though as a matter of simplicity I'd rather just assume a priori that includes all adventurers and not make a behemoth that actually tacks on senescence based on how often an Empath touches you.

-Armifer
"In our days truth is taken to result from the effacing of the living man behind the mathematical structures that think themselves out in him, rather than he be thinking them." - Emmanuel Levinas
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Re: Racial Age Messaging & You on 04/21/2010 05:20 PM CDT
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Personally, I'd go with A. Although I'm not sure I understand the full implications of this change. Right now, I'm a 449 year old Gnome. I imagine I'll appear ancient either way.





>describe boar
It's a boar. It doesn't like you.
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Re: Racial Age Messaging & You on 04/21/2010 05:23 PM CDT
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>>Personally, I'd go with A. Although I'm not sure I understand the full implications of this change. Right now, I'm a 449 year old Gnome. I imagine I'll appear ancient either way.

A 449 year Gnome is going to be at the last age category either way.

There's no actual gameplay implication to any of this, it's a matter of messaging and aesthetics. For the short lived races (Human etc. all), slowing down the lifespan's implication would be that some people would suddenly regress a few age groups. The implication of not slowing down the lifecycle is eventually we'd have a lot of Gandalfs running around fit and vigorous.

-Armifer
"In our days truth is taken to result from the effacing of the living man behind the mathematical structures that think themselves out in him, rather than he be thinking them." - Emmanuel Levinas
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Re: Racial Age Messaging & You on 04/21/2010 05:33 PM CDT
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is "archaic" what comes after venerable? Has anyone even come close to that yet?


As for which route to take, I go with A. If it went with B then even the short lived races will never have characters who reach the upper ends of life cycle (while I like to think DR will still be here in 25 RL years, why code something that takes that long to kick in?), I personally like have a couple of my older characters as venerable.

While you are sticking your nose into the code, please make it so someone can see what their own age looks like. You cannot look at yourself and see the "young", "mature" as it is now, you have to have someone else look at you and tell you what they see, thats kind of silly.
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Re: Racial Age Messaging & You on 04/21/2010 05:34 PM CDT
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>>While you are sticking your nose into the code, please make it so someone can see what their own age looks like. You cannot look at yourself and see the "young", "mature" as it is now, you have to have someone else look at you and tell you what they see, thats kind of silly.

Yup, already planned.

-Armifer
"In our days truth is taken to result from the effacing of the living man behind the mathematical structures that think themselves out in him, rather than he be thinking them." - Emmanuel Levinas
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Re: Racial Age Messaging & You on 04/21/2010 05:44 PM CDT
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>Yup, already planned.

Nice. That's bugged me for... ages.





>describe boar
It's a boar. It doesn't like you.
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Re: Racial Age Messaging & You on 04/21/2010 05:54 PM CDT
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Ugh but I just aged into Venerable. That took me ten years even with a high starting age.


"Magic has rules and so does posting on these forums." -Annwyl
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Re: Racial Age Messaging & You on 04/21/2010 05:56 PM CDT
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>Ugh but I just aged into Venerable. That took me ten years even with a high starting age.

This is why I support the option that just adds to end of life. In theory everyone will start appearing old yet fit, but in practice many characters are retired well before then.




>describe boar
It's a boar. It doesn't like you.
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Re: Racial Age Messaging & You on 04/21/2010 06:02 PM CDT
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<< Ugh but I just aged into Venerable. That took me ten years even with a high starting age. >>

I think this will be a more common complaint if the option to mix the extra 100 years into the life cycle messaging. While most players I have talked to about the topic actually want to appear younger and get shifted when they hit the high ends, there will still be plenty who enjoy seeing thier old characters actually look old and would be highly annoyed to lose it.

Just leave the current ranges as is, rather then wake up one day and everyone suddenly got much younger looking. Its not as if the messaging says "old and decrepit" and wouldnt make IC sense for them to still be swinging a sword. I see no reason that some cannot attain venerable and appear so (or whatever is higher if there is more stages) at "normal" life span ages, assuming no shifts, and still live to be 100 extra years.
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Re: Racial Age Messaging & You on 04/21/2010 06:07 PM CDT
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Would like to emphasize that there will be some shuffling just for the sake of bringing the in-game messaging into line with the website and current The Lores (we consider the website the definitive statement ATM). I'm totally okay with not adding the extra century into the life cycle if the majority want it that way, but there's still some potential a character on the edge of an age range may wake up older/younger some day just due to the sake of calibrating the ages ranges again.

The only race that won't see at least a minor tweak are the Elotheans and... either the Gor'togs or the Kaldar, I forget which. The rest are off on some range between small handful of years (Humans) to 7 centuries (Gnomes).

-Armifer
"In our days truth is taken to result from the effacing of the living man behind the mathematical structures that think themselves out in him, rather than he be thinking them." - Emmanuel Levinas
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Re: Racial Age Messaging & You on 04/21/2010 06:32 PM CDT
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I'd rather loose an age category temporarily than what may be functionally forever if I'll have retired the character long before then.

Anyway, have-and-eat-cake suggestion:
Two sets of age categories for regular aging and 'aging gracefully;' secret ninja third option 'of indeterminate age.'

If this could not involve Shift I would be so happy but would understand that bed is kind of made.


"Magic has rules and so does posting on these forums." -Annwyl
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Re: Racial Age Messaging & You on 04/21/2010 06:52 PM CDT
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The easy answer is, for my characters I'd prefer option B. I've noticed that most of the people who whisper me anxiously about shifts are females who want years off. I wish I could!

The more complex answer falls mostly along with the lines of:

>Two sets of age categories for regular aging and 'aging gracefully;' secret ninja third option 'of indeterminate age.'

I'd like it to be a player choice, per character sort of thing, where some would grow old just as always and then take eons to die, and others would appear to age more slowly and gracefully.


Player of Sajuta the mostly Rathan, sometimes Haven empath, and a bunch of others.
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Re: Racial Age Messaging & You on 04/21/2010 07:14 PM CDT
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>>DR-ARMIFER: B) The extra century is integrated into the races' visible life cycle, so that especially the shorter lived races appear younger for much, much longer, and finally reach Archaic messaging at the end of the enhanced life.

I prefer this approach. If healing significantly increases a character's life-span, one would expect that the deterioration associated with age would manifest at a slower rate.

Is it possible for PCs to die of old age, or do their clocks keep ticking even when they reach their (theoretical) maximum ages?



Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall rank!
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Re: Racial Age Messaging & You on 04/21/2010 07:18 PM CDT
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<<At the risk of being overly cynical, the lore will say whatever it needs to say.
As a personal opinion, I think slowing down the life cycle would be more coherent with established stuff, but I can make either work.>>


Actually there is at least one thing already in-game in the lore.

The case of Dzree. She used Necromancy to extend her life-span. <the book is in the library> Now, it only says she prevented herself from dying due to old age. She was also known as the hag. Which doesn't connote that she "kept her looks".

I know the culture of youth wants to keep everyone "young and beautiful" - but I fully expect my necromancer character to look old and haggard, and have wrinkled scales once she reaches a certain point.

There are also certain in-game aging inconsistencies that should be addressed as well.

For instance - when my thief character <prime> first encountered Saishla <thief guild leader of Shard> she was older than Schvartz. <back in 1996>. Now Schvartz has aged, yet Saishla still appeared as middle-aged <in the thief guild council meeting log>, wheras Schvartz has aged "noramlly". So... we know that somehow, at least if you are very powerful <i.e. guildleader status>, somehow you can resist the effects of aging.


In conlusion, I would like somehow for the following to occur:

1. people able to CHOOSE whether to age normally or not
2. extended life span - yes.
3. necrotic and empathic healing effects ib aging would "differ" from each other somehow in the aging process. If what we are doing to ourselves <with necromancy> is really that "bad", it should be reflected somehow.










Out of curiosity, did you make everyone stop trying to kill Lyras so you could go try to kill Book?

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Re: Racial Age Messaging & You on 04/21/2010 07:18 PM CDT
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I also would like some kind of toggle -- AGE FAST vs. AGE SLOW or whatever.

I see no reason why some bodies can't just naturally take to the magical healing a bit better, while others don't. Genetic differences could play a role, as could, say, exposure to the elements. Or maybe you just play your character as not receiving that much magical healing.

Thus the lore is clear and the people who want to can go whichever way. I know some want to get up in range, while others want to be perpetually young.

Finally... also please consider allowing everyone to choose their age when rolling a character. I know this is a Premium benefit now, but it does seem a little harsh to force people to wait 10 years/pay out loads of plats to play their character at the age they wanted...

-- Player of Niieth
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Re: Racial Age Messaging & You on 04/21/2010 07:19 PM CDT
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B would make more sense, though giving people the option to appear older if they really want to would be good too.



Veralika: "dunt start Fly ya know all ya need is ask who yer mom "

Veralika says, "'att only dun work challenge and was att att like normal hunts."

Veralika says, "I bbad at this."
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Re: Racial Age Messaging & You on 04/21/2010 07:29 PM CDT
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>>Is it possible for PCs to die of old age, or do their clocks keep ticking even when they reach their (theoretical) maximum ages?

Our policy on this remains the same. ICly, people die of old age. But as a game consideration, we are never going to permanently kill off your character because his clock ran out.

The major intention behind increasing longevity for all characters is to give us more years -- twenty-five more years, to be precise -- until this becomes a "serious problem" (insofar as it ever could be a serious problem).

-Armifer
"In our days truth is taken to result from the effacing of the living man behind the mathematical structures that think themselves out in him, rather than he be thinking them." - Emmanuel Levinas
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Re: Racial Age Messaging & You on 04/21/2010 08:10 PM CDT
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Drevid became venerable when he turned 65 or 66. He is 67 now. I take it he is going to lose that and go back to mature? If so I am a sad panda.




Player of Drevid


http://www.phiiskeep.homestead.com/Barbarian.html

Cylons... why debugging matters.
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Re: Racial Age Messaging & You on 04/21/2010 08:23 PM CDT
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I think the best option is B.

Alternatively to basing it solely off empathic/necromantic healing, you could tie it into the regeneration of the physical form from favors...

Getting a new body over and over keeps all the cruft from accumulating as fast. Also makes a nice additional benefit from favors / whatever it is that powers necromancers.

-pete
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Re: Racial Age Messaging & You on 04/21/2010 08:30 PM CDT
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>The major intention behind increasing longevity for all characters is to give us more years -- twenty-five more years, to be precise -- until this becomes a "serious problem" (insofar as it ever could be a serious problem).

Like 150 year old Human guildleaders who refuse to even retire? Heh.

>For the sake of argument, first assume you must choose between two options:

If X is <young/old> for a [race] then A.

If X looks <young/old> for a [race] then B.

It sounds like B is more consistent with the justification, lore, and the way the longed-lived races already operate, but it also sounds like it would be a lot more complicated to get "right". Ultimately my vote would go to B, since it caters to the way I already play up my Elf as a mature and experienced yet youthful and energetic 82 year old.

However, A does give people the option to be Sean Connery.
http://n1.cdn.spikedhumor.com/1/731000/188597_selection_224_000_1.jpg

~ Kougen

You point at Sahfra, ruining her hiding place.
Roundtime: 1 sec.
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Re: Racial Age Messaging & You on 04/21/2010 10:06 PM CDT
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Under the new system, how would my character appear? Right now, it's mature.

Name: Muse Terra Talmuron, Lore Keeper of Velaka Race: Elf Guild: Bard
Gender: Female Age: 93 Circle: XXX
You were born on the 14th day of the 4th month of Shorka the Cobra in the year of the Amber Phoenix, 304 years after the victory of Lanival the Redeemer.



- Terra
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Re: Racial Age Messaging & You on 04/21/2010 10:22 PM CDT
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I was thinking and in a perfect world, this is how I'd do it:

Do both examples, for different groups.

If you're a Necromancer, you just get 100 years tacked onto your life. Your study of death has discovered new ways to avoid death, but not necessarily enhance life.

Everyone else just "ages slower," due to the (in theory) constant renewal of their bodies.

It's like the old wish mistake, do you want to live forever, or remain forever young?



Magic's Death Caraamon Makdasi, Gor'Tog Barbarian
Hunta Talna Kortok, built by Gor'Togs, for Gor'Togs
http://www.angelfire.com/rpg2/caraamon/home.html
Blunts for Sale:
http://www.elanthipedia.com/wiki/User:Caraamon#Wares
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Re: Racial Age Messaging & You on 04/21/2010 11:38 PM CDT
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I've never really paid much attention to the age indicators (mostly because I don't really know what range each is supposed to indicate.) Issus is currently 101 and I have no idea how he would appear to others. That being said, I think I'll notice a lot more once I can tell my own characters ages. I'm for the option with minimal shifting in age descriptions.

Out of curiosity, though, would it be possible to add more potential appearances in to each race, scaled to their maximum age? That way someone who's losing Venerable wouldn't necessarily convert all the way to Mature (again, IDK what the breakdown is now exactly) and would instead revert to a newly added age between those two. If nothing else, it could give whoever came up with the new EXP level phrases some more fun digging through a thesaurus.


-=Issus=-
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Re: Racial Age Messaging & You on 04/22/2010 05:45 AM CDT
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tack it on the end. Adjust ages of all races that live very long to a more reasonable distribution. Oldest dwarves in the game should be 300+ not babies under 100.
______
Kertig Heart Magdar Bluefletch, Legendary Barbarian of M'Riss
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Re: Racial Age Messaging & You on 04/22/2010 07:06 AM CDT
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Based on the Plat CG the Dwarven (and Elven) ages broke down to:

Very Young - up to 39
Young - 40-49
Adult - 50 to 85 +/-
Middle-aged - 85+/- to 139 +/-
Mature - 140+/- to 499
Old - 500-599

100 was not considered a baby. However, the mature range was rather large when compared to the other categories. And how you looked to the shorter lived races didn't match up with those ranges.

Prime has always been a different matter when it comes to age.

Asbhuan
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Re: Racial Age Messaging & You on 04/22/2010 07:24 AM CDT
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My Dwarf is 28 but appears young rather than very young.
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Re: Racial Age Messaging & You on 04/22/2010 07:29 AM CDT
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Magdar is 93 right now. I have been trying to get his age shifted to 350ish. Not possible it seems.

That range table, I can see it really, but I still think of Magdar as Mature and would like my age to reflect such.


______
Kertig Heart Magdar Bluefletch, Legendary Barbarian of M'Riss
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Re: Racial Age Messaging & You on 04/22/2010 07:47 AM CDT
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I would probably be in favor of allowing everyone to rechoose their age one time once the new system is in place (similar to what they did in Gemstone about ten years ago). Then just fix the character manager to generate non-premium in the moderately young range and let premium choose a much wider range than currently possible.
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Re: Racial Age Messaging & You on 04/22/2010 07:57 AM CDT
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>I would probably be in favor of allowing everyone to rechoose their age one time once the new system is in place (similar to what they did in Gemstone about ten years ago). Then just fix the character manager to generate non-premium in the moderately young range and let premium choose a much wider range than currently possible.

I'm a fan of this, but I'm sure a lot of people would be upset at others not "earning their ages".

As far as the added lifespan goes, it makes sense to make people age more slowly.

-Dihm
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Re: Racial Age Messaging & You on 04/22/2010 08:03 AM CDT
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>Magdar is 93 right now. I have been trying to get his age shifted to 350ish. Not possible it seems.

The question is, at what cost? It just takes a LOT of shifts.

Age: 451
You were born on the 35th day of the 4th month of Shorka the Cobra in the year of the Golden Panther, 54 years before the victory of Lanival the Redeemer.





>describe boar
It's a boar. It doesn't like you.
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Re: Racial Age Messaging &amp; You on 04/22/2010 08:05 AM CDT
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>I'm a fan of this, but I'm sure a lot of people would be upset at others not "earning their ages".

While I agree with you, this really is a silly argument. A character's age shouldn't be an indication of how long the player has been playing Dragonrealms. To view it as such is to miss the point of its purpose as a roleplaying device.





>describe boar
It's a boar. It doesn't like you.
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Re: Racial Age Messaging &amp; You on 04/22/2010 08:26 AM CDT
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Oh, my mistake for not being clear. I'm not saying it is a GOOD argument, or even worth stopping the age picking. Just that it would come up.


-Dihm
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Re: Racial Age Messaging &amp; You on 04/22/2010 09:15 AM CDT
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>>A character's age shouldn't be an indication of how long the player has been playing Dragonrealms. To view it as such is to miss the point of its purpose as a roleplaying device.<<

Several RPGs handle aging by making you start young and age throughout your character's career. IMO it makes sense for DR to operate this way as well. Our characters are clearly at the beginning of their careers when they come out of the CM.




- Mazrian

The Flying Company

The Public Stat Data Project
http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=0AkqoUyrmvlKNdGlpeHZacEdldi1Ob2h3M1I5TXpCZVE&hl=en

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Re: Racial Age Messaging & You on 04/22/2010 09:17 AM CDT
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I'd vote for integrating the extra century into a character's life cycle instead of tacking it onto the end. That way players can still use shifts to achieve ancient looking characters if they wan to, but Elanthia doesn't come to resemble a retirement community by default.


- Mazrian

The Flying Company

The Public Stat Data Project
http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=0AkqoUyrmvlKNdGlpeHZacEdldi1Ob2h3M1I5TXpCZVE&hl=en

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