Newbie Shop
Posted: Sat Mar 18, 2017 3:41 pm
There are a few issues, in my opinion, with the current system for newbie equipment.
The biggest, in my opinion, is that it basically requires that you ignore the rule that items must be restrung to be the same material as their base item. You end up with wax balls getting restrung as silver bracelets or whatever, simply because the starting materials are incredibly limited.
Another issue is the rule that you can't start with any item that can be bought on grid. This is most important when dealing with things like tattoos for the few characters who would have them, or to a lesser extent characters who are ex-military but can't start with a weapon other than a dagger. While you can buy these things on-grid, they're obscenely expensive for a newbie, and in the case of tattoos can cause continuity errors if you can't afford it or find the shop before you get caught in RP.
My suggestion: put a newbie shop (probably more than one, honestly) in the character creation area where all items cost 1 silver. It should have full outfits in several different material types, background items like tattoos and probably weaponry, and maybe a shop for Prestige items for characters to whom they would apply. Maybe pets, too, for pets brought with the character from wherever.
Obviously, this needs restrictions to prevent abuse. I would avoid selling any rare/luxury items outside of silk/velvet. We need PC crafters to still make money. So probably only the lowest tier of weapons and armor, for example. No cosmetics, limited jewelry. That sort of thing.
To keep people from buying a dozen outfits and reselling them, I think this could be an easy solution. Make everything in the shop cost 1 silver, and only give new characters silver-on-hand based on their class. Maybe silver = wear slots (I don't know the exact number) for freeman, 1.5x for Gentry, 2x for nobility. Something like that. The rest goes into the bank as per what we do now. That way there's a set number of items that can be purchased in creation for the purposes of fleshing out your background. Maybe even mprog guards at the entrance to each shop to ensure only the proper class can get in (so that freeman can't buy silk), though I wouldn't mind the potential for sumptuary breaking out of chargen, it's probably a dangerous trap for newbies.
I'm pretty sure the only code change required of this would be giving some on-hand silver to new characters to use the shop. The rest should be a building project only, I believe.
The biggest, in my opinion, is that it basically requires that you ignore the rule that items must be restrung to be the same material as their base item. You end up with wax balls getting restrung as silver bracelets or whatever, simply because the starting materials are incredibly limited.
Another issue is the rule that you can't start with any item that can be bought on grid. This is most important when dealing with things like tattoos for the few characters who would have them, or to a lesser extent characters who are ex-military but can't start with a weapon other than a dagger. While you can buy these things on-grid, they're obscenely expensive for a newbie, and in the case of tattoos can cause continuity errors if you can't afford it or find the shop before you get caught in RP.
My suggestion: put a newbie shop (probably more than one, honestly) in the character creation area where all items cost 1 silver. It should have full outfits in several different material types, background items like tattoos and probably weaponry, and maybe a shop for Prestige items for characters to whom they would apply. Maybe pets, too, for pets brought with the character from wherever.
Obviously, this needs restrictions to prevent abuse. I would avoid selling any rare/luxury items outside of silk/velvet. We need PC crafters to still make money. So probably only the lowest tier of weapons and armor, for example. No cosmetics, limited jewelry. That sort of thing.
To keep people from buying a dozen outfits and reselling them, I think this could be an easy solution. Make everything in the shop cost 1 silver, and only give new characters silver-on-hand based on their class. Maybe silver = wear slots (I don't know the exact number) for freeman, 1.5x for Gentry, 2x for nobility. Something like that. The rest goes into the bank as per what we do now. That way there's a set number of items that can be purchased in creation for the purposes of fleshing out your background. Maybe even mprog guards at the entrance to each shop to ensure only the proper class can get in (so that freeman can't buy silk), though I wouldn't mind the potential for sumptuary breaking out of chargen, it's probably a dangerous trap for newbies.
I'm pretty sure the only code change required of this would be giving some on-hand silver to new characters to use the shop. The rest should be a building project only, I believe.