Brotoi mentioned monsters..., (in his blog) Options

[RicoSuave]

Here's a quote from Brotoi's blog:

Today I came up with descriptions for the pallisade and buildings in Three Bridge Outpost, a commercial and military settlement in the midst of the Oak forest. I also added descriptions of musical themes for several key points in the Three Bridge Outpost area. Then I went to the Oak Forest page and added some new creatures to the magical beastiary for the forest. From the moment a person enters the forest until the time they finally leave, I want them to encounter beasts that are both oddly familiar and shocking in their uniqueness. I'd like to have a dozen, but even after adding today's entries, I am still far from that number.

The part I want to discuss is underlined. I have a question and perhaps a discussion topic. First, will we be sticking to normal convention and using monsters with strict min-max toughness? For example, In UO, I know that I won't be able to take on a troll until I've battled for at least 50 played-hours. But once I get to about 80 played-hours, no troll would stand a chance against me. Additionally, at 150 played-hours, I could stand indefinately against millions of trolls. Not just that, but troll from server to server is nearly exactly the same... give or take a stat or skill point. Should our adversaries be the same, where one can just Wiki the expected value of a goblin and know where to find them, what they drop, their exact strengths and weaknesses, et cetera? Or should some goblins be very weak and others exceptionally strong, with adolescent ages?

Whatever we decide on, how will the player learn about the relative strengths and weaknesses of beasties? Trial and error on a random system? That sounds a little harsh. Should town folk have rumors/quests? How about a towncryer? Newspaper? What about completely no reference at all, and needing the players to piece together information about missing PC/NPC parties or trade-routes being overcome?

Personally, I love exploring with a chance of getting my butt handed to me. To me, that is a key element to the excitement of a game. If I know what to expect, if I know how to prepare, I will succeed, but won't have as much fun as if I got beat on a few times in the process learning new tactics. Personally, I like knowing that I outsmarted someone, whether it be the coder or a random number generator... while OBEYING the rules.

I would like to see Brotoi's strange and new monsters and learning about them like a scientist would... by poking and prodding then recording a response. I think it would be cool to see a cute, little fuzzy caterpillar thing (with big puppy-dog eyes) turn nasty in a split second... only because I was wearing a blue shirt instead of red (or something). Discovering these nuances in the game is what thrills me. I guess I'm just weird that way. Most people would just like to know what is the best/fastest/easiest way to get to the top. Yes, I want to have my character develop and be respected, but there is a game to be played as well; not a race to be won.

I look forward to Brotoi's response along with anyone else's. Do we already have something in place?