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Posted by: Rizen Jul 19 2005, 01:34 PM

I think it might be an interesting concept to allow characters to become infected with vampirism and lycanthropy. This means that a character has the possibility of becoming a vampire or werewolf. This would come about after someone is bitten by those respective creatures.

The main issues I could think of were for those who didnt want to be infected, and characters infecting other players. I think for players who dont want to be infected, there could be a short waiting period after being infected for the character to take a certain potion or get healed by a priest or something. Perhaps there could be a way to prevent characters from infecting one another when attacking, assuming some sort of PvP is integrated. Since that idea does rely on there being PvP, I wont focus as much on that.

Also, I suppose there should be a way to limit the number of people who become infected. First, it might not be very likely for someone to be infected. Vamps and wolves could either be powerful enough that n00bs couldnt just bump into them, get infected, and run away without being slaughtered. Or, they could just be in a place so far out that n00bs would never really be able to find them. It could also be possible to make it that the blow that infects the character is a critical one, so that weaker characters wouldnt be able to survive it.

Posted by: Noctoos Jul 21 2005, 04:44 PM

Also a way to limit the number of werewolves and vampires.

If you kill an alpha W/V all the ones they sired are returned to normal.
I.E. if John sired Jack, Jill and Bob, and you kill John, than Jack, Jill and Bob are returned to normal.

So for the stroy arc quest, the end boss would be the Alpha W/V, when you kill him/Her, you become a W/V.

The player of course would not be able to sire anyone.

This would limit the number of Werewolves or Vampires to just 1 of each.

Set the Boss to only spawn 1 time every week. So once a week, some else can become the new Werewolf or Vampire.

And if 1 is not enough, set it to where the "Boss" can only sire a set number at any given time.

More than one also brings aobut a good twist, werewolves from the same sire, hunt in packs. Nothing would be quit as fun as defending an entire town from 3 player controled werewolves. Or if they were not allowed to group, seeing two hugh werewolves battle it out for supremacy. Either would work fine I think, allowed to group with jsut each other, or no grouping allowed at all.

Posted by: Noctoos Jul 21 2005, 04:32 PM

Control of the Curse

This process I think would work for both curses, an idea instead of the Jewel idea.

After the player completes the ?story arc? quest to ?obtain? the curse, they are given a bar on their screen. (For the purpose of this write up I will refer to this bar as a Frenzy bar?)

After completing the quest, a frenzy bar shows up under the players other bars (i.e. HP, MP, etc.)

As the player goes about their normal hunting practices (i.e..Killing monsters, other players etc..) This bar slowly fills up. (it could be a % of xp earned per mob, or a set % per kill) I.E. a mob that gives 100 xp would give 1 point of frenzy bar, the frenzy bar would be a 100 point bar.

When the bar fills up, they transform into the form they had acquired from the quest (vampire/werewolf).

At this point the frenzy bar starts to reduce from full to empty at a much faster rate than it filled (i.e. double of triple the rate)

The first 1-minute of the change renders the player uncontrollable of their character, causing them to attack anything close by. This would be due to the effect the dramatic transformation has on the players mind. The sudden rush of new senses, ideas, physical pain of change etc? drives the player temporarily insane.

As the player levels up the ?curse? the time they are ?insane? decreases slightly. At no point would they ever gain full control of the ?curse?. They would always go insane at the beginning of transforming due to the great pain it initially causes.

The quest itself could have a specific level requirement to be able to start it. Because of the creatures involved no low leveler would even survive to fight the main boss. Also going this path would mean you are a darker person, their fore you could be hated by all ?light? people even when in normal form (A form of morale system)

As far as death, this ?curse? is something reserved for the high players that wish to maybe play the game in a different way that normal players. To cause there character to be completely dead (I.E. never playable again) would cause people to never go after this form, thus rendering its creation a waste of time and resources. Instead of perm death, have the person maybe lose the ability to transform altogether, either permanently or for a specific time frame. (I.E. time for the silver to leave their body and blood stream).

Posted by: exocrine Jul 21 2005, 02:20 PM

I would hope that anything that impacted gameplay so seriously, permadeath or not, would be consentual. If anyone could just "accidentally" aquire lycanthropy, it seems like eventually everyone would have it.

Posted by: Bird Jul 21 2005, 01:26 PM

i agree on the vamperic thing, but i think werewolfs can be implemented and limited easily as i stated in one of my previous posts

the player shouldnt have full controll over the beast, it should auto attack targets within its sight, since its not just same tame dog you can call off.

ontop of that i recall werewolf parts were used for potions to make men stronger (dont remember the exact thing, might aswell be fairy blood for all i know) but you get the point, this would make werewolfs pray of many hunters, eventually it would balance out.

also werewolfs arent socially gifted i think, they shouldnt be able to party up with other werewolfs, and also the communication should turn into jibberish :roll: this would stop raiding by werewolfs from happening since they would auto attack eachother when they get to close to one another.



perma death could scare off players, ppl could accidentally become a wolf at higher level and die without the knowlidge of perma death, this way the player would lose sooo much, he could deside not to bother to start again

Posted by: exocrine Jul 21 2005, 01:20 PM

I meant to imply permadeath for vamps/weres only, and even then, only for specific injuries. Silver weapons for werewolves, and staking/sunlight for vamps. Business as usual for everyone else.



A couple of things. Traditionally the undead do not heal naturally, but rather through some sort of magic. For vampires, this usually involves the drinking of blood. I suppose one way to handle that would be to have a vampire's mana refill only when drinking blood, and the vampire only heal through his own magic. Secondly, a vampire should never become "immune" to sunlight in whole or in part. Not only will powergamers grind until they become "The Daywalker" :roll: , but the more accessible you make this stuff to the average gamer, the sillier and more pointless it all gets.

Screw it, I've made up my mind. I don't think these things should be in the game. They can either be accessible or inaccessible. If they are inaccessible, it would be a waste of art/dev resources to flesh them out as very few people would ever play as one. If they are accessible, it all soon becomes a exercise in "gee ain't it cool" silliness, and is once again a waste of time.

Posted by: Bird Jul 21 2005, 12:49 PM

Lol, i get your point Exo, but i think perma death would really ruin the game, however there should be more serious drawbacks i agree, let werewolfs and vampires lose a certain ammount of experience point or skill point when he or she dies

as far as the day/night thing with the vampires, this shouldnt be one of those drawbacks, exo gave me a good argument about that in the bright nights topic. when it will be day some players would just stop playing and wait for it to become night again, i dont think this is the way to solve it, i think it should be solved in another way and this is what i came up with:

When a vampire is in the range of direct sunlight it will take a constant amount of damage, however, when he is in the shadow of for example a tree, he would be safe again and able to regain HP. the lower level vampires will lose more serious amounts of health, though the higher your level, the more immune you get to sunlight, the less constant damage you take.

this way also not every noob would wanna become a vampire. this would be reserved for the higher class ppl

raise your hand if you like the idea :wink:

Posted by: exocrine Jul 21 2005, 12:37 PM

http://www.projectwish.com/viewtopic.php?t=416

I feel pretty safe in saying it won't.



I sitll say give them permadeath as well, make them think four times. I guess what I mean to say, is that the only way you can ever hope to keep populations in check is to make it more trouble than it's worth. That means, at the very least, no handy on/off switches. Something like this needs to be a commitment. If all it ends up being is a temporary stat boost for combat what's the point? What are you accomplishing that can't be duplicated by a strength (or other stat) potion.

Posted by: Rizen Jul 21 2005, 12:00 PM

I certainly agree that there would have to be bonuses to counter the benefits, more than just having the curses being hard to gain.

For vampires, the most logical would be the weakness to sunlight and fire. For this purpose (and many others) I think it would be beneficial not to have ingame time of day correspond to real world. For one, it wouldnt work with people playing in many different areas, and two, a lot of people who play would be doing it in the evening and night, so they wouldnt be able to see daytime gaming as much.
Anyway, this makes it so that during every day a vampire would have certain drawbacks that wouldnt be as effectively avoided by just logging in at "night".

For werewolves, I dont think that someone should lose cotrol of the character when transformed. I think the main point of being a werewolf is so you can actually control the thing when it transforms. Becoming a werewolf wouldnt happen overly often, so i think there should be more fun involved in transforming.

Posted by: Shaidar Jul 21 2005, 11:58 AM

well one way to turn a lot of players off the idea... but not force them away from it... would be to not allow players to group while in a changed state. Werewolves and vampires would still be fun for solo PvP but also there could be a full group of 'hunters' and they could go out and start slaughtering all the solo vampires and werewolves. Could be an added twist... though I still think that we should just implement the society feel of the two groups and leave it at that. :P

Posted by: StaticGrazerr Jul 21 2005, 08:34 AM

Indeed, now I'm onboard with the vampire/werewolf ideas.

I too want them implamented, but as a double edged sword. Truely a curse and a blessing. I'd also like to see a small number of Vampires, ) Just because I got my butt kicked, licked, sucked and fu..eh..nvm, the point is, vampires can seduce and stuff, and that generaly got my characters dead in White Wolf. *nod nod*

Posted by: Bird Jul 21 2005, 02:50 AM

nice idea's up here ^^

however on the loose controll effect of the wolf, i think exo is right, however howbout implementing it just a bit? :lol: would be funny as hell if your running arround with ur wolf char, but the wolf auto attacks everything that comes near him, he will run after other players, deers, hell, bunnies for all i care ^^ let him loose controll just a little bit. though i think you should be able to cancel the auto attacks after 5 to 10 seconds by just sending him else where :twisted: i know i would like to see that. that would also keep wolfs from entering cities where they are not wanted

welcome btw Noctoos ^^ you have got a nice concept of the jewelry up there, but also stated above somewhere is the fact that werewolfs and vampires are cursed people. so there should be a huge downside attached to it, thats what i think the biggest prob is with this whole idea of werewolfs and vampires, though i would like to see them both in

If we are gonna have these things in our game.... i vote for Vampire/Werewolf hunter class aswell ! hehe that would scare some people off, let them have great and really affective weapons against these species ! let them be more powerfull then those silly vampires and wolfs, and let them be able to find some really good loot once they have killed someone. forexample:
- Werewolf pelt
- Vampiric Teeth
- Werewolfs Tail
- Vampiric blood

with these items it would be possible to make the most powerfull potions and they sell verywell on the market ^^

this way ppl would think twice before being a wolf or vampire

Posted by: Noctoos Jul 20 2005, 09:00 PM

Just an idea I had for the two forms.
The two forms would be controled by use of clicking on a jewel to activate the forms. Also the two forms, could have different levels of the curse, Level 1 being uncontroable, causing the player to have to complete quests to gain their next level of spirit, thus progressign the "story arc" Maybe a max of 5 levels of curse. THe 5th being that the player ahs gained complete control over the curse and has all avaible powers.

Skill Tree

Vampire Spirit
Pros:
�· Extra Resistance to Diseases and Poisons
�· HP regeneration rate is increase by 10%
�· Can cast a spell on NPC or other Players that allows you to look through their eyes. (1 minute limit)
�· Can cast mind control on other players (control breaks if you are attacked)
�· You can see auras during nighttime. (Shows up as a glow around living mobs/players)
�· +5% to Damage Spells that you cast, -20% to Healing Spells that you cast

Cons:
�· Death causes lose of Ability for double recharge time
�· Extra sensitive to ?holy/light? weapons and Spells
�· Magic Use is limited to ?Dark Magic? only
�· Auto hatred from all ?light? NPC?s
�· Auto hatred from all werewolves


Werewolf Spirit
Pros:
�· Extra Resistance to Diseases and Poisons
�· HP regeneration rate is increase by 10%
�· Can cast a spell on creatures that allows you to look through their eyes. (1 minute limit)
�· Can cast fear on weak minds.
�· Heightened vision in low light.
�· +5% to Healing Spells that you cast (Can not cast on self)

Cons:
�· Death causes lose of Ability for double recharge time
�· Extra sensitive to ?silver? weapons and Spells
�· Magic Use is limited to ?Dark Magic? only
�· Auto hatred from all ?light? NPC?s
�· Auto hatred from all vampires

Posted by: exocrine Jul 20 2005, 08:24 PM

Personally, I just don't see it. The player would either just sit back and watch, or not log on during an in-game full moon. How would that be a negative? Especially since you suggest that after a few months like that, the player would get a large bonus (kicking butt once a month), with no discernable drawbacks.

In my opinion, a proper "curse" should noticibly impact gameplay at all times, and should not just go away after a set amount of time. Otherwise players would just not play while the "curse" was in effect, or leave the character unused until the drawbacks had expired. In which case, no matter how severe a penalty you inflict, it won't have any effect.

Posted by: Hankellin Jul 20 2005, 08:04 PM

The loss of character control while in full wolf form would be a major curse...

Posted by: StaticGrazerr Jul 20 2005, 08:01 PM

Aren't being vampires and werewolves considered a curse? If we were to implament these for characters wouldn't there have to be down sides?

All I'm saying, is that if we offer these things easily ( and yes, even through quests) that nearly everyone will become ( or at least try to) a vampire/werewolf. Wouldn't it be better to make an npc town or settlement where some of the people are werewolves?

Posted by: Noctoos Jul 20 2005, 07:50 PM

<peaks around quietly>

Umm hi,

I know you guys don't know me and all, but I have been keeping up with the website for awhile, didn't think to register till yesterday though. I was watchng this post and jsut had to add to it.

This is your world of course and things can be however you wished. But an idea to do is have these as Forms or Spirits, being activated via a piece of jewlery of some kind. This way it is open to all to obtain if they wish. This would also be a work around for any of the Folk Lore Restraints that might be incountered.

If one is possed by a spirit than the original body is still used. So if one was to be possed by the werewolf spirit, than they assume the form of a werewolf but not necessarily all the abilities. Same as for the vampire spirit, they might aquire great night vision, half the vampire strength, but would not be affected by the sun.

This would also allow for the ability to be a toggle power, having say a 10 second cast time, lasting 1 hour, than can not be used again for a certain period of time.

The quest to obtain this rare Jewel could be in the form of a Large Story Arc, taking the player all over the world. This would make it so only high levelers could obtain such a jewel. Of course the jewel would auto bind to the person that is doing the quest, so that it could not be transfer to another player. That would defeat the purpose of the hard quest, High leveler aquire jewel, give to lowbie type thing.

The End quest would be a fight between the player and a very hard "Boss" type. Sort of like, you want to becoem Dracula you have to kill Van Helsing.

Posted by: Shaidar Jul 20 2005, 11:19 AM

I don't think that I really like the idea of werewolves and vampires... I think there should be other ways to satisfy the hunger for these things. I know and love vampire lore and such but the thing I appreciate the most about them is their high society lifestyle and mysterious demenor. I think that if we gave that type of society feel to a race in the game like a dark elf race then the hunger for being a vampire would deminish. Also I think the only cool thing about a werewolf is that it can change forms... perhaps there could be another way for a player to beable to change? I just think that trying to add in these types of things would take away from too many other things in the game. Just my thoughts. :P

Posted by: xardy Jul 20 2005, 09:25 AM

Well i like the werewolf idea, but to become one it should be verry hard, there should be 1 or perhaps 2 werewolfs on the whole map changing position everytime, and if you meet them when its full and they bite you you become one to the next full moon (that is if you don't get killed bye the werewolf). Becaus the werewolfs will be constant changing position (in human oid and wolf form) it will be hard to become one and some1 that has met on can't just tell people there is one there. And to turn some1 else into a werewolf there should be a skill the player gets and he can only use a couple times during a full moon.

Dunno about vampires...

Posted by: Hankellin Jul 20 2005, 05:07 AM

Full transformation to wolf..

Until a set number of game months/full moon cycles pass the player does NOT have control of the wolf form.(makes Lycanthropy a CURSE and not as disireable as a noobie)

These wolves would be very tough to kill without the use of silver weapons or fire. They should have a High Regeneration rate.

Were-wolves that survived long enough could also get the ability to control the change..

ie: stop mid-way through to get the stereo-typical bi-pedal were-wolf.

The cycles could be sped up if there just happen to be more than one moon.... :wink:

If there is more than one moon full at the time then the change is uncontrollable no matter what the player does or level.

Vampirism:

This one is a bit tougher... Limited to night hunting/shopping. Needs Human/elf/dwarf/whatever blood to sustain itself. Only able to feed off living beings or severly weakened.(Interview with a Vampire)

Standard light "difficulties".



To give players the "opt out" ability perhaps charms being sold by local gypsies or shrines? Single use limited. One bite and the charm disolves.


EDIT: Added the word NOT

Posted by: Bird Jul 20 2005, 01:59 AM

it would be cool but you have to keep in mind that ALOT of people will go after this. that means you will have thousands of werewolfs and vampires running around in no time. so if this were to be implement I suggest you make it tough as hell to aquire.

ontop of that Vampires cannot stand daylight so i would think that could be a problem. they would only be able to hunt at night. but this could be solved with covering one up with clothing like robes which hide everythin of the body, if these cloths were not to be worn, the player will take a constant amount of damage every minute or something.

though i'd love to be a werewolf, they would make a great addition to the world. though since they only turn into a wolf when its full moon, you could even make it a bit rare to see a giant wolf like that running around and not just see one every time it gets dark. though i wonder how the handling of such a wolf could be done, will it walk on its back paws or will it run like a real wolf? i personally prefer the second, if this were to be added, a played would first of all need to take off his cloths quick enough before he changes to save it from being damaged. a wolf could only use his power claws and sharp teeth as weapon and would NOT be allowed in cities. also it could mean a thread towards other normal players so it would always be shown as an enemy target. this way it could be hunted a bit more ^^ a well, i could go on like this forever but lets just say i personally would love the idea to be a wolf

Posted by: emeraven Jul 19 2005, 06:02 PM

Exo the applications for vampire slayer are next week :)

Yes I do remember those conversations, its an interesting idea, and yes with many ideas there are obsticals. I think at the time I wondered if becoming a vampire or a werewolf would be something a people would like.

Their might be advantages to looking at it like that, does anyone else have views or ideas about this.

Posted by: exocrine Jul 19 2005, 05:40 PM

I believe there was some discussion on this way back when, though I'd be hard pressed to tell you where. The end result of it was using vampires/werewolves as enemies in a sort of race-based PvP (think ). Unfortunately I don't remember much else. Anyway, I agree with you that if vampirism and/or lycanthropy are included, thay should be acquired through play, rather that at creation. But I'm not sure they should be included at all. They would introduce some serious balancing issues.

Want to know way to limit their numbers? Permadeth upon staking or being killed with a silver weapon (respectively). Add in valuable organs to be harvested and you've got yourself a pair of endangered species. :wink:

Posted by: Hankellin Oct 9 2006, 05:31 AM

I know this is an old subject, but after hearing that the last full moon was a % larger than any prior ones I just could not help myself and think about this topic once again.


I still feel that Lycanthropy and Vampirism should be handled as a CURSE with heavy disadvantages to start.

Loss of Character control for X number of game months while in were form.

Needing fresh blood and sunlight restrictions for x number of game months.

Even getting the curses should be very difficult 1:1000 or more bites may transfer the curse. And then only from certain Boss monsters..

Posted by: Timmmy Oct 10 2006, 06:15 AM

Wow I hope these and related curses make it into the game.Vampires and werewolves will a totally different side to the game and also could be very interesting in the storyline or at least adding a few quests.

At the moment I think it would be a good system to either have each race having its own kingdom or at least similar races sharing kingdoms.So you could have several species of humans(barbarians/civilised/ninjas(insert more appropriate names )),elves(high/wood/maybe fey) and orks(mountain/trolls/goblins).





Then the City of the Dead.This is how undead could be kept organised and limited.Firstly each undead city could have only one crypt(at a high level) with only a limited number of vampires,maybe around three(converted through a quest,perhaps having to beat one of the previous vampires).Note a vampire can be killed in their crypt but only by a living hand.Thus a vampire can be permakilled but only if living characters could fight their way through into the heart of an undead fortress city,defeat the powerful minions that guard the crypts while their masters sleep and then hammer the steak through their heart while they sleep.

As they are undead they can obviously not feed on their brethern and thus must travel far to 'living' lands to feed.Due to the nature of undead lands it is never truely day and thus the vampires can travel their own lands unhindered.However in living lands vampires must be VERY aware of the time.Sunlight is not simply something that burns over time or can be blocked with clothes.Sunlight should be instant kill with even powerful vampires having mere seconds to seek refuge.

A great thing about this idea is there will be a real tangible feel to differences in game time,not just for the vampires but for the players also who hunt them and are hunted by them.I'd bet as the sun starts to set player parties would start moving closer together seeking some comfort in others presence.

Note also a vampire must eat every night(that player is online,offline its assumed char does).If a player does not they will start taking both massive amounts of damage although never actually dying from it and losing their abilities(maybe a vampires abilities could reflect their 'blood').That is a starved vampire isn't going to be going around controlling peoples mind and lesser minions of evil.

Thus a vampires thirst is a real thing,if they dont feed it it will start to kill them and thus is a terrible curse.Add to this that vampires could reward players both in their valuable remains and the rewards offered by kings for their slaying and you could see why only a few would wish to play them.Also they can be permakilled and must avoid their food source during the day,striking during the few hours of darkness.They are very weak to fire/holy water,crosses etc.So why would you want to be a vampire(some thoughts)?

Vampires are immensely powerful,both in strength and resistances.No flowing blood means they are immune to poison and disease.They are the masters of mind control and thus are unaffected by all mind attacks.They are filled with dark magics which can call on powerful forces but also act to dispel or deflect most magics.They an rejuvenate much faster and also heal from their enemies(both by biting and also by drawing life from corpses).They can dominate certain NPCs(such as bandits etc).They can also call upon their kind(acting like lesser necromancers).As they can wield any weapon or armour(excluding blessed etc)there are VERY few on the battlefield who can stand up to them.They can curse players and confuse them and their pets.Their best ability could be to turn into a bat and travel very fast(flee combat,sunlight)allowing them to attack from behind were an enemy may not think of defending.





Werewolves are a much simpler species.They are pretty much just shapeshifters although restricted at that.Perhaps they should shun armour as they'd spend a lot of time splintering out of it and instead choose a barbarian style of gear,something like twohanded weapons and a few plates of armour that would be suitable for both their forms.

Werewolves could simply be very fast and powerful inspiring fear in players with low levels of mind control thus rendering them pretty much useless for a while.They could also have special attacks such as pin(jumping onto a char,pinning them to the ground and tearing at their defenseless body)and pounce(throwing char on the ground,stunning them).The talons could have a chance to disease a player.They should run on all fours and then fight on hind legs.

Silver weapons could cause extra damage.Werewolves can livein any kingdom and be of any race.Low level werewolves would change form every full moon and have to feed the whole time to evolve.That is a constant rage that would have to feed them or the change would be o much and they'd die and respawn as a normal char.However if a player managed to last through the changes they would become true werewolves with the ability to shapeshift when they want.Werewolves cannot own mounts as even in their human form the mounts can still sense the beast within.

Thus werewolves are quite powerful and eventually can control the change but they lose out on the ability to wear decent armour,ride mounts and even skill slower in areas that require concentration as their feral instincts override all.




Zombies,skeletons etc could be the typical character types of players who chose to go the undead route.These have similar skill routes to living beings just more towards their way of life.Also all other armies are against the undead(inluding the orks)and thus not many may chose to go the undead route.Thus it may be that only three vampires ever live on the entire map and those may do so under the constant threat of a light invasion and their extinction.

Posted by: Matlush Oct 10 2006, 07:40 AM

Dark Eden (some kind of Asian free to play MMORPG) had something like that: If you were biten by a vampire, you were changing to one in 12 hours. And yeah, this stuff should be more like a curse, but not that much like for 1 month of no control in nights. But, on the other hand, we don't want to have huge amounts of warewolfs and such. Maybe.. hm.. something like halfing your skill when the change is full, but, on the other side... dunno, it might be too harsh.

So, in the end: Implementing such thing surely would bring fun, but if it would be anyhow unbalanced we would see it sooner or later, painfully or not.

Posted by: Bingo Oct 10 2006, 08:24 AM

I think the idea of werewolves. I think vampires may be a bit unbalanced if it is fitted in "realistically" (I obviously use the term realistically here to imply agreed characterisitics of the vampire-concept). Werewolves, if implemented correctly, would be an excellent addition to the game. However, like anything, it's execution is paramount.

Werewolves don't have the drawback of daylight issues. However, come a full moon, they "turn". Additionally, a violent bloody act could also "turn" the man in to beast. Passing on the curse is as simple is incapacitating a victim (not killing), and the curse spreads. Like somebody else said, killing a werewolf releases all those down the "tree" which were sired as a cause of that werewolf. Should the number of werewolves in the game get out of hand, the slaying of a ancestral wolf should solve this issue.

History, Sci-Fi and Fantasy tells us that being a werewolf is a curse. Otherwise, the thought of getting bitten by one wouldn't be so bad. So whilst the player may gain some increases in clarity, smell, strength and agility, there would be (as another poster suggested) a constant thirst. One would have to eat every day, every night. None of that bread stuff either, meat. Rabbits, sheep and other small critters may do, but they won't satisfy the hunger as much as eating something larger (people... other wolves?). Should a wolf incapacitate (but not kill) another player, the curse is passed on (as described above). Should the wolf kill them they can then eat them, satisfying the hunger. A starving wolf would therefore prefer to kill and eat, rather than to sire.

The longer a player remains a wolf, the harder it should be to satisfy the hunger.


I do not agree that the "head" werewolf should be a result of a quest. If you had to kill that wolf, then immediately there would no longer be a curse (all werewolves are now back to normal), until somebody else does a quest... fails.. gets bitten... seems a bit unrealistic to me. A better approach (in my jaded opinion), would be to have a random spawn of the wolf... somewhere dark, somewhere dangerous, somewhere where n00bs don't go (as someone else said).. and a very low chance. The sort of place where the player(s) don't realise until it's too late...

People with high intellect and/or lycanthropy-lore should be able to identify other players who have the curse, even in their human-state (a skill ability).

Bounties could be placed on werewolves by towns. This would actively encourage the mass-hunting of werewolves. So the cursed-player may think "Cool, extra agility, extra strength and I turn in to a beast at a full moon etc...". However, How long are they going to last when a bunch of adventurers show up with a smart guy who can identify you and track you down (Silver-crossbow-bolts anyone?). Werewolves will quickly become outcasts... heck, may even hang out together (people may say they don't group, but traditionally wolves are pack-animals).


So what happens when a player is logged on and "turns"? Well, firstly I suppose a transmogrifcation animation. Cries of pain... that kind of thing. They become a beast. I think the beast should always be 100% controllable by the player, but the circumstances should force the player to feed. When in the beast-state, the player must continually feed ... the hunger bar is hardly ever satisfied. I think making the beast uncontrollable is a bad idea. The feeding-schedule alone should make a player adhere.

Other things to consider:

* The strength/agility of a werewolf should be a % above that of the player's normal character. A weak player will have a slightly stronger wolf... a tough warrior would have an even stronger wolf. The level of hunger that the player has to stem is dependent on the size/strength of the beast. A weak player might ALWAYS get away with eating rabbits and small-critters. A big strong player may have to have a grizzly-bear-diet.

* Wolves have an enhanced sense of smell. A cool overlay could be on a client screen with little whispy trails pointing off screen in a whispy line towards places where other characters/critters are (the smell). Different colours of trails could determine different classes of person/critter.

* Wolves are inherently "unholy" in history. Should "holy"-aligned players be able to be turned? Does a wolf have access to unholy-abilities even if their character is not normally aligned to that particular school?



I know it may seem above that werewolves might be a "cool thing to happen to my dude", but I'm pretty sure a rigourous feeding schedule would balance this out.

Just my 2c

Posted by: Hankellin Oct 10 2006, 11:00 PM

I really like Bingo's Idea of hunger driving the werewolf..

Just a question:

If a "good/lawful" character were to become infected and refused to feed the hunger would the starving wolf die?

Here would be my idea: if he refuses to feed then once the "Hunger bar" is filled he would loose health and if his health drops to zero then perhaps loss of char control until the wolf kills and feeds on the first available prey.. At this point any fresh kill would provide the regain of control. Rabbit, deer, cattle or other red meat.

If the player had taken percautions to prevent feeding, then on death maybe able to rezz with out the curse due to foresight and penance done by enduring the pain/rage of the beast's death?


One thing I do not agree with is the linage being broken kind of thing. I do feel that the players should have an "out" a blessing or charm available to cleans the beast from the PC?

Posted by: Maxwell Oct 19 2006, 11:15 AM

I think an "out" would be nice but rare. What keeps the Werewolf PC from saying "Hey I am a werewolf shoot me with this and I will be better." Isn't that a cure as well? What will exactly happen to a werewolf when he dies?

If all of these questions in earlier post I am sorry, I just skimmed.

I do like Bingos Idea as well.

Posted by: Alter demise Oct 19 2006, 12:38 PM

I think an "out" would be nice but rare.  What keeps the Werewolf PC from saying "Hey I am a werewolf shoot me with this and I will be better."  Isn't that a cure as well?  What will exactly happen to a werewolf when he dies? 

If all of these questions in earlier post I am sorry, I just skimmed.

I do like Bingos Idea as well.

Posted by: KingNothing Oct 19 2006, 03:05 PM

You got very good ideas. Heres mine:
If you become bitten by someone contaminated with vampirism/lycanthropy, you'll become one, even if the contaminated dies/you die. During the day if you are a vampire, you are your normal character, during the night however, you gain more power/skill than usual, while the curse being when you die (dieing during the night that is), you loose a percentage of all your skills related to how many people you drank blood from, perhaps you loose 1% less per person you contaminated, starting from 100% loss.

Same as above goes with werewolf, just that the character becomes a werewolf once every full moon instead of every night. There might be a full moon during the day, and you can work in partys of wolves where everyone gets 1% less loss for every victim.

You may also gain skills as a vampire (only as one) the more blood you drink.

So there might be plagues of vampirism and lycanthropy, and what will stop them is the death of the vampires and werewolves which will make them loose skills. It would also be very interesting if both were included, the vampire wanting to suck the blood of the werewolf and the werewolf wanting to bite the vampire, if you bite one of the other league you should be immediatly transform to that league with one percentage less left or what?

Posted by: Hankellin Nov 8 2006, 12:56 AM

I was searching dragons and came across a wesite the dealt with many other topics as well. Here is an excerpt:

Posted by: GageEndal Nov 8 2006, 01:55 AM

I am now and have always been against Vampires and Warewolves. Not for balance reasons or anything sane like that. I just don't like them.


Although they are an untapped setup in MMOGs. Only one game has them and they aren't that good. Heh

Posted by: vedomec Nov 19 2006, 12:39 PM

i propose another, albeit similar, creatures,
human leeches

these are people, who attach themselves to you, sapping your strenght/money/will. more time they are with you, feebler you are. and they are stronger in strenght/money/will. try to imagine a man/woman that becomes your partner in the quest. at the first glance he/she is your companion. but you are getting worse every day...

just a thought

Posted by: Pandra Nov 19 2006, 08:26 PM

i propose another, albeit similar, creatures,
human leeches

these are people, who attach themselves to you, sapping your strenght/money/will. more time they are with you, feebler you are. and they are stronger in strenght/money/will. try to imagine a man/woman that becomes your partner in the quest. at the first glance he/she is your companion. but you are getting worse every day...

just a thought

Posted by: vedomec Nov 19 2006, 10:24 PM

thats where i got the idea too :-((

Posted by: Void Nov 29 2006, 02:52 PM

I agree with what Shaidar said. Though werewolves and vampires are cool, you could get rid of them by adding classes with similar features. A shapeshifter could get rid of the need for a werewolf, and another with special abilities at night would take care of a vampire.

If the classes were to be added, I think that they should only be temporary forms. It is a curse, but seeking a cure and losing control could get annoying. As soon as someone is bitten, a quest should go out, either for an NPC or a player, to go and "cure" that player of their condition. This would limit a players length of the curse. The infected player should be able to control where they go, but not whether or not they can attack. For example, if a player attacks him/her, he would automatically attack back, and would become NPC -like. If, after a certain amounter of time, no player takes the quest to cure the curse, an NPC hunter gets sent out to "cure" the player. The hunter should be able to be killed, but not easily. If a hunter is killed, an angry mob should go and kill the beast.

Thats my thoughts on the subject.

Posted by: goatboy Nov 30 2006, 04:43 AM

If 'anyone' can catch vampirism or become a werewolf unintentionally, and if these effects have anything beyond short term consequences, I suspect that a lot of people are going to be Unhappy. Players should be able to choose whether or not they can be exposed to something so seriously character changing. For instance, if a certain area was well known to harbour werewolves and the player walked into the area on a full moon, stacked with silver-tipped weapons, it'd be fair to assume that the player is willing to risk becoming a werewolf in order to claim whatever loot / karmic reward is associated with the death of a werewolf.

As for causing the player to 'lose control' and become an NPC (even if only for an hour or so), complete loss of control can be extremely frustrating. Perhaps the inability to perform non violent actions, and a reward for 'playing the part', such as temporarily returning to your previous form if you eat enough innocent-meat, thereby allowing you to enter a town and seek a cure for your condition would be more appropriate?

Posted by: Maxwell Nov 30 2006, 08:50 AM

Very good Idea Goat, and an Offical welcome goes to you. I think playing the part, is a good Idea, but how could you reward them? I can't think of anything off the top of my head, but if I do I will post it.

Posted by: Void Nov 30 2006, 03:33 PM

QUOTE(goatboy @ Nov 30 2006, 05:43 AM)

Posted by: Exudos May 6 2007, 12:09 PM

I think that both Werewolves and Vampires should be playable, but that this information should not be known untill someone is cured of it, or someone sees a Werewolf running around without being killed. I think that being a werewolf should also make you hungry during your human form, and that when you become a werewolf you gain a skill "Eat". This skill would allow you to feed on animals or humans that have a low amount of hitpoints, or corpses, and if you let your hunger bar drop too low, you simply die. Permanently. This would allow for people to become outcasts, as seeing someone crouched over ripping a rabbit's entrails out with their teeth would be a sure sign. However, I also believe that while you are in human form, you should get certian bonuses, like the ability to see smells, and a slightly improved night vision, along with a large bonus to movement speed or stamina. Your hand to hand would also increase, as you might not be a wolf, but your hands now have claws instead of fingernails, they look the same, but are much stronger and deadlier. I also believe that people who have been turned should not be able to communicate with other players, unless said player knew the lycanthrope language. These players could maybe help cure them, which could be easily done at a temple, but getting to the temple could be the problem. These players that spoke the language would be the only ones who could group with them and help them, and in order to be cured you had to be grouped with someone who could tell the priest to cure you, and could tell people to back off. For players that did enjoy their new being, they could start new were-guilds in caves far far away from civilization, much like vampires did in morrowind. Now, for the weaknesses...
* They would have to eat constantly
* They would become outcasts to anyone but their own kind
* They would be weak to silver and fire
* Permadeath via silver, fire, and starvation
* Little or no armor and weapons

Those are just my thoughts.

Posted by: Alexander May 6 2007, 12:25 PM

Basically you want there to be Vampires and Were-beasts in the game as a secret project started out as either character created (cult or magic experiment) or NPC inflicted.

With Were-beast I naturally mean all the myriad forms there are of them; rats, wolfs and bears to name but three.

I do like that language barrier you speak off, I've seen talk of it before and why only a barrier between were-beasts and ordinary character, why not such a barrier between all species?

It also goes to say that with all the known strengths of these things you shut also inherit all their known weaknesses.

There are many possibilities for Vampires and Lycan’s.

Posted by: effigydrums May 7 2007, 08:00 AM

Beware of the wererabbit.

Posted by: Pandra May 7 2007, 07:20 PM

hehehe Muah <3! Effigy

Posted by: Exudos May 7 2007, 09:13 PM

Indeed, they shall destroy us all with their mighty pooping and reproduction powers!!!
RUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUN

Posted by: Alexander May 8 2007, 11:42 AM

For my to do list; Wererabbit breading program, check!

Posted by: MikhailU Dec 18 2008, 07:15 AM

I believe there are different versions of werewolves, one being humans that can change form at will without the aid of the full moon.

Posted by: Windragon Dec 18 2008, 07:46 AM

QUOTE(MikhailU @ Dec 18 2008, 02:15 PM)