From: cnc@balboa.eng.uci.edu (Christopher Christensen)
Subject: Re: player interaction in multiplayer games [was Re: <None>]
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games,rec.games.programmer,comp.sys.amiga.games
Organization: University of California, Irvine
Date: 7 Oct 92 07:19:30 GMT

s.mathers@trl.oz.au writes:
>|> When the character reaches zero energy, s/he collapses unconscious but
>|> will rapidly recover as energy is quickly replenished.  Body damage is
>|> more permanent and takes longer to restore.  If body reaches zero, the
>|> character dies.  Body does not increase with experience, energy does.
>|> With this type of combat system, players could fight each other in a
>|> non-lethal way by using non-lethal weapons.  A thief could take someone
>|> by surprize, knock them out and steal their stuff without having to kill
>|> them first.

>Well, I have churned out a combat system for a RPG that has things like
>targeting specific body parts, permanent injuries etc... but I like your
>idea of energy / body.  Can I steal it?  It sounds like a good way to
>combine fatigue with combat in a way that wouldn't be too complex.
>Obiously if a character had just performed some arduous task, his energy
>would start lower.

I'm the one that posted the energy/body system but I know I'm not the
first to think of it.  Someone eariler mentioned that the Champions RPG
uses something like this and I'm sure other paper and dice RPGs do too.
I think the idea is too general to be copyrighted/patented so go ahead,
"steal it"...

>The trouble is, there seems to be 2 types of fatigue, short term
>fatigue, which would be the tiredness, or lack of energy you feel having
>been knocked on the noggin, or run a 100 metre sprint.  This kind of
>tiredness goes completely after a few minutes.  But say a character has
>been walking all day, or some other long term fatiguing task, then this
>kind of tiredness takes a lot longer to recover from...a good nights
>sleep for instance.

Excellent point!  I can easily extend the energy/body idea to model
this behavior..
3 stats:  usable energy, stored energy, and body.
Usable energy is the energy that a character has available to him/her at
any given moment.  Fighting, running, lifting, etc. all expend
usable energy at various rates.
Characters have a reserve of energy called stored energy which is used
to replenish usable energy.  The character's body converts stored energy
into usable energy at some rate (varies).  Stored energy is replenished
by eating and sleeping (food is digested and becomes stored energy).
When the character runs low on useable energy, s/he becomes tired and
limited in his/her actions until more stored energy is converted.
If a character runs out of useable energy completely, s/he passes out.
When the character runs low on stored energy, the character becomes
fatigued and MUST rest.
When a character is injured (body damage), stored energy is diverted to
help repair the body, leaving less usable energy.
When a character enters into a stressful situation (fear for example),
adrenaline triggers a sudden conversion of stored energy to usable
energy, above the normal maximum for usable energy (the adrenaline rush).
A typical character's stored energy would have to be many times that of
their usable energy so that a character could run a 100m dash several
times a day.  As a character gains experience, he could increase the
amount of stored energy he gets, and his body could become more
efficient at converting it to usable energy, also the maximum usable
energy could increase as well.

>Then of course, you have to take into acount that the less energy a
>character has, the poorer his performance will become.  More complexity.
>
>The trouble with combat systems is that you want each combat to be
>simple and easy to take care of (minimum calculations, scribbling on
>character sheets and so forth, dice rolling etc...) while still
>retaining an authentic feel.  I'm still working on it.

I'm not sure this is such a great idea for a paper and dice RPG.. paper
and dice RPGs need to be as simple as possible, and since you have a
human GM running the game, he can bend the rules as necessary to keep
things fairly realistic.  Unfortunately, in a computer RPG, you can't
make the computer bend the rules, so the rules have to be more
complicated and flexible in order to get the same results.  Fortunately,
the player need not know anything of the complex rules behind the
combat.

--
|  Christopher  |  Computer Engineering graduate student, UC Irvine  |
|  Christensen  |  cnc@balboa.eng.uci.edu                            |
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games