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[MUD-Dev] Re: Levels versus Skills, who uses them and when.
On Tuesday, December 29, 1998, Till Eulenspiegel wrote:
> "All skill-based systems are level based. It just takes a pendant
> and a magnifying glass to find them." J Lambert.
> I've heard this argument before, and I wonder how many people agree
> with this sentiment?
> I differentiate level and skill systems based on whether the player
> gains HPs as they achieve more power as one of the prime measures.
> Sounds like an odd yardstick but it works pretty well.
For muds, maybe... I come from a paper RPG background, and many paper
RPGs don't even *have* hit points, so that doesn't work for me.
Personally, I'd say that a "level-based" system is one which
(a) has levels. That is, it has a single number or a small group of
numbers which give a broad indication of the character's
proficiency at what he/she does.
AND
(b) in which those levels are a major determinant of what characters
are capable of.
Having (a) without (b) is not sufficient. Note that the levels need
not be exposed to the players, so whether a game indicates a level for
characters or not doesn't tell us whether it is level-based or not.
Why require (b)? Well, I'd like to point out that an economy can have
money without being "money-based" (e.g., if the majority of
transactions are still conducted by barter) and that a program can
have objects without being "object-based" (e.g., if the majority of
the program's work is done without reference to the objects). Thus,
it makes sense to me that a game should be able to have "levels"
without being "level-based."
(For that matter, those who are arguing that many "skill-based" RPGs
can be considered "level-based" are implicitly arguing that an RPG can
have skills without being "skill-based". Why not apply the same logic
to levels, then?)
--
|\ _,,,---,,_ Travis S. Casey <efindel#io,com>
ZZzz /,`.-'`' -. ;-;;,_ No one agrees with me. Not even me.
|,4- ) )-,_..;\ ( `'-'
'---''(_/--' `-'\_)
- Thread context:
- [MUD-Dev] Re: From DevMud: Database module, (continued)
- [MUD-Dev] Levels versus Skills, who uses them and when.,
Till Eulenspiegel choke#sirius,com, Tue 29 Dec 1998, 20:58 GMT
- [MUD-Dev] Re: Levels versus Skills, who uses them and when.,
Travis Casey efindel#io,com, Sat 02 Jan 1999, 20:00 GMT
- [MUD-Dev] Re: Levels versus Skills, who uses them and when.,
J C Lawrence claw#kanga,nu, Mon 04 Jan 1999, 06:37 GMT
- [MUD-Dev] Re: Levels versus Skills, who uses them and when.,
Jon A. Lambert jlsysinc#ix,netcom.com, Mon 04 Jan 1999, 19:37 GMT
- [MUD-Dev] More Laws,
Jon A. Lambert jlsysinc#ix,netcom.com, Tue 29 Dec 1998, 08:28 GMT
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