Posted by Polemachus on March 27, 2000 at 16:08:51:
This post was born out of the rather long _Sylvan_v._Arbiter_(2000)_ case that was discussed on the log board. The thread came to a close with myself stating(but not stating), that it was a sad fact that pacifism gets you nowhere in the world of CF.
Now this topic has been brought up before, and several imms have shown considerable interest in the topic which has most often centered around ranking without killing.
My route towards increased pacifism, and therefore more in-depth roleplay, will go through classes and hang a right at cabals which will bring me to my final destination.
A warning to imms before going any further: My ideas will likely lead to a more time-consuming CF experience for the immortals, but I feel as though the end result is well worth the extra effort.
Certain classes lend themselves to gaining experience through means other than killing mobs. The two major examples that I can think of are the bard and the healer. Bards have the ability to contribute to the overall roleplaying environ in ways that no other class can, through notes. Therefore, I don't think that it's too much of a stretch to imagine a system in which a particularly well-written bardnote, contribution to the Lyceum, painting, song, or otherwise would lead to perhaps a full rank gained by the bard that contributed the piece.
One problem arises from this thought. Who will decide the worth of a bardnote. I can think of two possibilities. A) The immortals, perhaps one or two in particular or B)Troupe. If this idea were implemented it would be necessary to screen bardnotes more strenuously and more consistently. It's quite possible that all notes from bards could be sent to Troupe, who would have the sole responsibility of screening the notes and then passing the worthy ones on to the immortals who take up this task. Once the immortals have made this decision, they raise the bard that contributed the piece a full rank. Other rewards could be available, perhaps a skill or song could be raised to 100%, perhaps a stat could be raised, etc. It would be necessary to limit the amount of contributions, as it would be kinda silly if a bard could raise himself to hero without ever leaving his guild. Maybe 5 contributions for 5 ranks, that is if they're deemed worthy of the reward.
The second class is that of the healer. This takes a little more omniscience on the part of the immortals, and would generally be more difficult for the healer to get raised the rank. Any healer that displays extraordinary devotion to his craft, avoiding any form of pk, healing en masse, and generally being what a good healer should be, could be raised a rank. Perhaps a number of lengthy quests could be written in which the healer would have to follow a trail to a very sick mob, that once healed would reward the healer with a rank. This shouldn't be any easy quest, and should probably be fairly high in rank. Only one per healer would be allowed.
Then there's the general idea of exploring points. The imms set up a number of obelisks or whatever that when touched add 500 or so to your exp. There'd be one per area, hidden in the deepest part of that area. Lower areas would award maybe 100 exp, hero level areas might award 5000-7000 exp depending on the overall dangerousness of the area. Hell could reward 15000 exp for instance if you get to Satan(although it'd be kinda silly for a hero to care, but at least any non-hero spelunkers would benefit.
Having travelled through classes we arrive at the cabals, and the heart of my post. Certain cabals, Troupe and Dawn especially lend themselves to passivity. Cabals wouldn't care much about exp gained, but would care more about additional power, a cabal hq upgrade, a special quest, special titles and so forth.
Troupe could be rewarded for putting on an exceptionally detailed, well-written, and entertaining show or debate. Dawn could be rewarded for getting people to convert, saving people, exceptional roleplay, and so on. Like I said, these ideas would take increased immortal vigilance so that abuses could be stopped.
Every cabal lends itself to some sort of non-pk, non-mob-killing form of reward. Great roleplaying is the most clearly defined, but other examples included Empire's growth with increased donations. Possible arbiter growth after a particular number of criminals are apprehended, possible master growth if they were to find a hidden form of magic in some remote location.
I think any number of cabal-related quests could be set up, not necessarily advertised, but if masterA happens to stumble across OrbB the tower might gain a new power as they get closer to the 7th? magic.
Just something, anything, to break the monotony of "I hate you, so you will die and I will loot you and my power will grow" mentality.