Onward

I'm pretty much ready to go to continue my programming crusade.

I know which two specials I'm gonna dish out for each guy (well, at first level, at least).

Yah, there won't be anything "to pick" from in the beginning, some of the classes really need to have two specials in order to do their class-defining thing (like Wise Guys need the Drain Sass and Heal combo), and that's not something I wanna rely on folks (like my Brother's Wife) to pick for themselves, although all the rest of the crap is okay for them to do whatever they want with.

Maybe I'll go back and give them a third special slot to start with, so they can pick something for themselves when they're first starting out, but I'm not gonna worry about that right now, all I really wanna be sure about is that each class feels different from the other classes as soon as you step into the world with 'em.

And I'm pretty cool with how I gotta do the monsters, they're gonna be a lot like characters, with the same sorta stats, but I'll probably end up giving them their own monster "classes" too, based off something more like whether they're a Reptile or a Zombie or something instead of the Strong Quick Tough stuff, so that all the Reptiles can share a Reptilian pool of specials to use on players, and all the Zombies have access to the Zombie Specials Pool.

That'll also make it easier for folks adding their own monsters to the game, 'cause they can just use a drop-down box to pick what "club" the monster belongs in.

But that's for after I get the basic combat thingie working.

And I need to work on the random encounter system, but that's not gonna get really beefy until I do the "zone" and "terrain" bit later on, initially I'll probably just do something where the monsters are weaker closer to towns, and less safe farther out in the wilderness (I kinda wanna keep up with that some, 'cause I'd like to grant folks the rights to build their own forts and stuff later on, and I want to make them "patrol" the area around their fort (as a quest) to "tame the wild frontier" and stuff so it'll be safe for newbs and npc villagers and junk.

And I want to make it so that you can actively "hunt" and "track" for stuff in a certain level range, insteada just wandering around in the right area until you get "jumped."

And then there's the loot-n-item bank-and-inventory-and-paperdoll bit.

Which I need to finish programming some before I can get combat running.

And the way I was thinking about doing that (at least to start with) was making all the items that you can equip have a level restriction, and having the monsters drop loot that was the same level as they were (or mebbe 1-to-2 levels above or below their level).

So that you can "shop" for stuff by fighting monsters.

And that would tend to shorten the lifespan of items, like, you'd probably wanna find a pair of 5th level revolvers at 5th level and quit using your 4th level ones (and hand them out to a pal or sell 'em on the auction house).

Especially if I'm really generous with the loot (which I intend to be, just 'cause its possible that it'll eventually become so goddam random you might need to go through a lot of loot before you find something you'll "want").

There's a couple things that can make that "I need a new helmet" thingie less annoying, and that's that I don't need to make level 5 helmets all that much better than level 4 ones, and that a good level 4 helmet might be better than any level 5 helmet you can find 'cause its got some kinda kickass Colbey Bonus on it heh.

And if I do it like that, then the folks that love to shop and top things off don't feel ripped-off, and the dudes that don't wanna always have to look for new crap every level don't gotta worry about it either, so that's kinda perfect, I guess.

And I could also have npc merchants sell some pretty good stuff (without the killer +3 Versus Humanoids Colbey Bonuses) in places like Guildhalls for Quick Guys in town.

I wanna have multiple auctions houses and stuff, that aren't connected (actually I want people to be able to own and run their own inns and pubs and casinos and Wizard Colleges and stuff in the game, and have their own auction houses inside 'em, which will tend to make certain places become hot spots for "Smart Guy Items" and junk) and I wanna make npc merchants that don't trash the items folks sell to 'em, too, but I'm not gonna do that in this sweep, I gotta get the database stabilized as far as items go before I do that, that's what I'm working in this "combat" sweep.

So far I don't have any "regeneration" of hit points and sass in the game, you need to go and spend a night at an Inn to "recharge," and I kinda like that, although its a little weird, 'cause it reminds me of the way we used to play D&D, where the gambles got more intense as you went along 'cause everybody was getting busted up.

You know how you play games like that, you keep going at half hit points, hoping you'll get lucky, and you almost always keep going until you die and get sent back to town Warrior Port Style, or you get knocked down to like, two hit points, and then you try to run back to town in a panic, hoping you don't get a random encounter that punches your ticket before you can keep running, that shit is kickass ahaha.

Well, Wise Guys are almost a perpetual motion system, although they ain't really great at fighting, they can vampire sass and heal themselves with it, so they can basically stay out in the wilderness all they want (which makes sense, 'cause they're the Wilderness Guys).

And Charming guys can recharge their own (or somebody else's) sass, but they can't do anything for hit points (which also makes sense, 'cause they're car salesmen ahaha).

And Smart guys are big damage, but they don't have a sass recovery system, so I was going to make their "sass tank" bigger than everybody else (same way I'm going to make Tough guys have a bigger "hit point tank").

Smart guys get pooped and need to go back to town and rest unless they're traveling with a Charming dude, same as everybody else needs a Wise guy to heal 'em.

And I like that, I think.

Well, we'll see how it is.

Mebbe I'll make some kinda "camping" option, where you might get jumped while you are resting unless you take turns with somebody standing guard or you gotta special to make you invisible or something heh.

Or something like liquid courage potions and pipe smoking and first aid kits and food for health recovery while camping (I don't wanna do potion chugging fights, that's lame ahaha).

There's also Post Apocalyptic Recreational Vehicles, and they might be sorta like Mobile Inns, y'know, or Camping Accesories or something, I guess.

I dunno, I gotta think about that s'more, I kinda like the Run Back to Town With Two Hit Points thingie, I s'pose I could maintain that, even if you had a vehicle, driving back to town with six bullets in your chest, as long as the vehicles didn't have an infinite supply of First Aid Kits in their First Aid Dispensers or whatever.