~ Suggestions & Improvement ~

[isadorbg]

haha first.

 

So the question remain: can peeble comes back to such vileness? And if yes, we may have found an original path to Godhood

 

Edit: i just reread the description and you're right the familiar can refuse (even tough they don't) ! but for scientific purpose let just say it accepts to see if it is very invincible.

[Metis]

I doubt it'll ever matter because I'm sure Mr. Pebbles would simply refuse. At least if he's the one that gets diablerized.

[freespace2dotcom]

Mmm, Pebbles probably would refuse. However, I could see him being totally on board with the idea and it still failing.

[Legate of Mineta]

Free;

 

Y1 Textbooks return to the Library or your College's Library. You could purchase them in town, though, definitely. I don't think they are created as actual Items right now, though.

[Metis]

Here's an actual suggestion for the suggestion threat - add a publisher shop in Y1 that sells the Y1 textbooks, spending a turn studying them will inform you of all the relevant subskills and/or hand out +1 SS. IIRC becoming informed of skills will work differently in Y2, and it'd be nice to have easy access to the Y1 class skills.

[isadorbg]

that would be nice. Some magic skill are even harder to learn that the forbidden pillar.

[Legate of Mineta]

Metis;

 

I'll certainly pass it along! It seems reasonable.

[freespace2dotcom]

Well, if that gets into Y1, maybe the Y2 textbooks should be similarly available in Y2 for all us ambitious omnis, as surely they would be even more valuable for unlocking and raising class skills you're not actually taking since Y2 has more classes!

 

This seems almost reminiscent of that time we were all talking about being able to take on another 'class' to study for the purposes of acquiring study bonuses, hehe.

 

Maybe if the team chose to go that way, this would be an excellent way to do it! Give study bonuses for using these items, make it happen, Legate!

 

Then make it so we can sneak into the exams for classes we don't take just for the fun of it! That was talked about before, too!

[Albert]

I would expect more advanced books to get increasingly expensive, because fewer would be sold to the public since it's generaly over their head and therefor not verey useful or interesting. (Economies of scale)

The people writing these books would expec to get paid, they likely expect even more pay despite the smaller volumes.

 

This also makes me think it could be interesting to try and write a book for year one students in an adventure.

 

To be sucessful you would have to be extremely good at whatever subject it is, Incantation maybe.

While writing you would also have to be good at caligraphy to make it easy to read and reproduce for the publisher to prevent unfortunate typos. +1 point

Study level/Incantation parrent skill and test-taking could add to the customer satisfaction. Study level of 10 pluss a good theory of Incantation (assuming it's a book about Incantation) would satisfy the Professors(+1 point) on it's theoretical correctness.

Test-taking would add a short summary of each chapter that would be greatly appreciated by the students. +1 point

A sucessful Filing roll would add a professional looking table of contents and index. +1 point

Library knowledge would add cross references and sources that would increase the books authority by quoting authorities in the field and usefulness when studying since it would help the students find the books they need if they need further information on a subject. +1 point

 

Bookbinding/illustration roll would make the book look more appealing to potential customers increasing the sales.

 

The endreward would be determined by the amount of point accumulated.

You would get varying degrees of advance payment based on the initial reception of the book.

 

If you got a good economy skill you could send one copy to the incantation professor in charge of the new class of first years(assuming it's a book on incantation.) +1 point to it's sucess rating.

 

First there is a monetary reward that increases dependign on the sucess.

Then if it's really good then there would be glory effect and possibly some kind of Prestige and a boost to confidence(author's affirmation, or something) and glory. by the recognition recived by teachers and especialy younger students for beign the authority that wrote one of heir books they are studying.

 

Perhaps a a follow up adventure where schoolars outside the academagia might have misstaken you for a professor or post graduation alumni at the Academagia that released a publication that they want to comment on, which you could choose to try and "Defend".

For this to happen the book would have to be pretty damn good, or no serious, even minor schoolar would bother to take it seriously enough to comment on it.

Even if it's basic stuff there is bound to be people with opinions on the content or the way it's presented compared to other books.

Luckily, even if their knowledge is decades above your own the subject would be easier to defend and comment on with some additional research since it's a book for first year students and the more basic arts. The additional reasearch performed to defend your publication could give you a Maximum skill level boost to a theory skill aswell as the passive ability "Academic research" which gives a boost to the Research parrent skill and library knowledge.

A sucessful defence of your publication could give you a serious boost of glory by the publication in Wizardry monthly. (or whatever the the publication would be called that's similar to todays science publications, like "Nature")

http://www.nature.com/news/

 

In the end a brilliant sucess would make a very minor authority, yet still somewhat recognised in schoolary circles since there is a minor entry regarding your contribution to the Wizardry sciences.

[Schwarzbart]

In year 1 I would put this books into a catalogue and unlock it with Study Habits.

Catalogue out of the reason that it needs time to deliver (sometimes they even start only with making the book after the order gets in) and nothing can sold to the shop.

For the price I think between 200 and 300 should fine for 1st year topics.

The mechanic of the books could look like this

Ability: Read Basic Glamour Techniques

Effect: +1 step Random Glamour SS; INT + Study Habits vs 6 inform all Glamour SS;

This books should only be a more focused version of Train to make going to class not even worse.

[freespace2dotcom]

I could just see doing that book adventure.... On books that no longer are taught at the school for legal reasons! Think of the money you could make should the proscribed arts be unbanned. You just happen to have textbooks all ready for the school to conveniently use!

[Metis]

This books should only be a more focused version of Train to make going to class not even worse.

Eh, Schwarzbart, did you forget? Train already makes classes useless. Besides which, those books will be useless beyond informing you of the skills if they don't teach a decent amount themselves because than you'd just use it once to unlock the skill and train the rest by way of Longshade/Sphinx. Especially Glamour, since with a lucky Explore roll you can just go with Glamour Classroom: Professor's Podium, assuming you get some decent CoD reduction. 200-300 Pims for a few skill unlocks is not at all worth it.

 

I could just see doing that book adventure.... On books that no longer are taught at the school for legal reasons! Think of the money you could make should the proscribed arts be unbanned. You just happen to have textbooks all ready for the school to conveniently use!

I think that's going to result in more than a few...unfortunate questions being asked. Besides, what will the Gates book say about the Chaos Factor? "Don't be surprised if you spell suddenly summon a Dragon, it happens"?

[Albert]

That book quest makes the most sense during the summer break, maybe it should be limited to those months as a sceme to make some extra pocketmoney.(for those that are really good, it would be the students that are at the top of their class it wouldn't make much sense for the others to attempt such an EPIC moneymaking sceme. It would also explain how you got a chance to introduse it to the faculty before the new first years arrive at the school.

It would also make sense if you immediately gain 1 relationship point with your new "apprentice" the first year you will be assigned if your book was supplied to them by the school. That would make the term "Mentor" seem impressive, you wrote one of my school books? Can you sign my book?

 

Then there is a risk the kids will come running when they got question about the stuff in the book... Because they are about to have a test on the subjects covered in the book....

[isadorbg]

I could just see doing that book adventure.... On books that no longer are taught at the school for legal reasons! Think of the money you could make should the proscribed arts be unbanned. You just happen to have textbooks all ready for the school to conveniently use!

 

I don't think you would make that much money. I am sure The forbidden section of the Vernicalum already has all the materials you need for study of Gates and Mastery in Academagia.

 

In fact thats probably one of the main reason of the existence of that section (in the case of an unban) and keep knowledge of those two to fight more effectively against them.

[Schwarzbart]

Metis, on 10 Jun 2014 - 12:45 PM, said:

Eh, Schwarzbart, did you forget? Train already makes classes useless. Besides which, those books will be useless beyond informing you of the skills if they don't teach a decent amount themselves because than you'd just use it once to unlock the skill and train the rest by way of Longshade/Sphinx. Especially Glamour, since with a lucky Explore roll you can just go with Glamour Classroom

Yes from a powerplay perspective they shouldn't even worth it. The books should only give you a alternative to unlock the skills of the different class and otherwise not more then train.

Also it is RPG fluff as many other things in this game.

[Metis]

Yes from a powerplay perspective they shouldn't even worth it. The books should only give you a alternative to unlock the skills of the different class and otherwise not more then train.

Why shouldn't they be worth it? Why add something to the game and specifically make it worthless (and cost 200-300 Pims on top of that)? Especially the Revision and Astrology books, because it's nigh impossible to get anywhere in Y1 without opening up the Manetele and the Mantle of Stars.

[Schwarzbart]

Why shouldn't they be worth it? Why add something to the game and specifically make it worthless (and cost 200-300 Pims on top of that)? Especially the Revision and Astrology books, because it's nigh impossible to get anywhere in Y1 without opening up the Manetele and the Mantle of Stars.

Because having a single book is always worse in what you can learn from it then having a complete library about the same topic at your finger tip. Also don't forget trough the summer break you might not be able to visit anything in Academagica.

[Metis]

Okay, I can buy that explanation. Still, having items that are, by design, useless seems silly from a programming perspective. Not to mention that while libraries are indeed more useful in theory, none actually allow you to actively study something you want to study more than Train allows you to, unless your ambitions coincidentally line up perfectly. Want to learn something and The Everard Equation in the Mantle of Stars? "Oh hey look at all these books about Moon and Stars that have nothing to do with The Everard Equation. I should not look up what I actually want to study and read these instead". Want to learn something and some Revision in the Manetele? "Oh hey another book about Revision Methods, let's not actually learn any Revision Spell or Revision Phemes, that would simply be silly". And Longshade? "Let's see, I came here to learn more about Glamour, so let's see...Glamour, Glamour, oh, an essay on Gates Methods. Eh, what the heck, I'll read that instead". Also, those purchasable textbooks giving a random SS? "Let's see I've completely mastered everything except Glamour Phemes, so let's read through the entire Glamour Methods section backwards just 'cuz I don't feel like it".

 

...Legate, are you sure the Academagia isn't a mental asylum dressed up as a school?

[Albert]

Tbh, it should be possible to find the class material and unlocks in the Library's we got available. We havn't got an option for that however outside of accidentaly stumbling over the relevant material.

 

But If I actualy lived there and wanted to learn abotu Glamours but hadn't taken the class then it should be possible to go and look them up in the library. There should be plenty enough references in the books to find information on the primary skills needed for Glamour magic.

 

Just do some research. It does ofcourse requier you to some how have heard of it's existance for you to seek it out. But the classes being taught at the Academagia should be easy enough to recall and do some research on.

 

The main hurdle would be that it takes time to actualy learn the skills and get any good at it.

 

It would make more sense that you would buy rare material or the teachings of schoolars not recognised by the faculty, but who might have something interesting to add on the subject. Even if they are somewhat unorthodox or controversial. One would be Glamour or Revision books written by a known Mastery or Gates wizard whos books were removed simply due to a bad reputation, not due to incompetence or lack of briliance.

While some stuff remains in the forbiden archives we also know that a lot of Gates and mastery books or books written by people who knew Gates or Mastery were burned simply due to proximity and political reasons. Even if some of the material wasn't Gates or Mastery related. The in-game lore tells us this.

The Ban on Gates and Mastery was kind of the beginning of a dark age of magic, even if it did remove a lot of nasty accidents, fatalities and other nasty things at the Academagia.

 

Knowledge was lost, but accidents/incidents involving dangerous magic was decreased.

The Academagia did get safer, but a lot of knowledge was lost or hidden away, some of it wasn't even Gates or Mastery related, but rather removed by proximity.

[Metis]

Technically true, story wise, but if that is true mechanics wise we should be able to look up anything we have a vague concept of as soon as the PC tidies Longshade. You can learn freaking anything in Longshade, Gates and Mastery included.

[isadorbg]

I agree with you for the lost of Magic Knowledge but i don't think it is only due to the ban of Mastery and Gates.

 

And lets not forget that they have been banned more than one time. In fact at the begining I though it was just a few times but the more the Legate talks about the different bans the more I think it has been a common sport to ban and unban them since the last war with the dragons.

 

Its one my theory that the chaos factor is due to those repeated ban (and the lost of knowledge each one of them caused) and maybe also the exile (can't have such dramatic event that makes travel impossible between 2 part of the same planet without having effect on THE travel magic).

 

But the lost of knowledge affect all the pillars and is for me too bad to be sorely explained by the ban of 2 pillar and the subsequent bias.

 

Mages forgot how to maitain and repair the Wall. The Academagia doesn't seem to know what is the magic behind the Vernin tower. Even powerfull mages of today seems less powerfull that mages of old (mastering a dragon anyone?).

 

Anyway my only suggestion is release year 2 then we can talk about improving year 1/2

[Svinik]

Books used to be very rare as they were so laborious to make. Several RE's have books on magic getting rambunctious - in a library which is presumably enspelled to discourage such issues, randomly enchanted books churned out by junior spellcasters with impulse-control issues? Possibly somewhat hazardous...

 

However Milena's tutoring service should possibly be capable of matching you with a desired skill (Hi Milena, a tutor on duelling circles please...), alternatively you could ask a professor to recommend additional reading / a study-buddy in their area, or outright bribe an older student. Ability: Avail yourself of the tutoring service. -20 pims, +1 ss to a skill or research topic of your choice.

 

Or ask a clique-mate to teach you one of their skills - if Zoe knows skill X why can't we study it together in Longshade? Ability: Clique-support. Lean on a friend to learn a chosen skill-step from their favoured skill list, with a successful persuasion roll of X learn another skill, pheme, or location known to them...

 

That said, unlocking skills is one of the limiting-factors in game-play so perhaps shouldn't be too easy.

 

Plus, I've no idea how you'd code for any of that, if Longshade or the Tapestry absently teaching you Mastery is bad, using Milena's tutoring service would be bizarre!

[Metis]

That said, unlocking skills is one of the limiting-factors in game-play so perhaps shouldn't be too easy.

When it comes to unlocking skills, assume that any weirdness is purely out of gameplay mechanic necessity. And if it isn't, well, I've mentioned the stupidity of Use The Athletics Field to learn Running...

[Svinik]

When it comes to unlocking skills, assume that any weirdness is purely out of gameplay mechanic necessity. And if it isn't, well, I've mentioned the stupidity of Use The Athletics Field to learn Running...

 

But you aren't learning to run like a 13 year old, you're learning to run like an athlete

 

No idea on the difference for that one in particular, breathing or pacing issues possibly, it makes more sense for other stuff, like, climbing, practical jokes, patience, ummm, losing here... ok, just game-play mechanic weirdness!

[Metis]

Not using the Athletics field to learn how to run, but using it to discover the concept of running so that the PC will be able to actively Train the skill. In his room, if you're so inclined.

 

EDIT: Oh, here's the quote.

Oh boy, I do not like the sound of that. It's bad enough that at the start of a Y1 game my character does not comprehend the concept of "running", so I have to spend time using the Athletics field until, apparently, the dimwit I control flails around uselessly and randomly stumbles around like a drunk enough until, after four or five hours, she finally grasps the idea of "place one foot in front of the other, and now do that again but faster", thus unlocking the ability to actively train the Running skill.

 

If she doesn't fall into the swimming pool first, and instead discovers the concept of "swimming". That I can sorta-maybe understand given the whole "floating island" deal, but still...

Edited June 10, 2014 by Metis