Well... since all the weapon skills are on one side of the table, then yes, that will help with the old intimidation.  I guess I mistook "heroic" and "Conan-like" to mean something else.  Personally I think the "value" for BD is wrong, comparitively speaking.  I'd take weapon finesse L1 as my first bit (to counter the disarms), wear some armour to give me a "second chance" against crushes and then trust to my OOC ability to stay nimble (because I'm not wearing much armour) to avoid being hit. All that then means is that I've got 3 points to spend on artisan/bushcraft/apothecary/magic, whereas a newer and presumably less experienced larper would sink their points into say Weapon finesse 2 (giving them through), and body dev 2 giving them a bonus 3 hits.  Assuming they also wear armour then they have between 4 and 5 hits versus my 2-3.  Since they only have a limited number of throughs then the fight will be very short unless they get lucky or I get careless or some combo of the two.  I don't know, I don't regard the advantage they get from being a bit bigger IC to balance out the advantage I'll get IC from my extra trade goods that I've made through crafting stuff.  Obviously PvP in such a situation isn't very sporting, but I still feel that I'll get more out of the game then they will.    I'd like us both to get lots out of it because then we'll both be happy and play again.

Wouldn't this be better resolved through say, roleplay?

I'm going to have to laugh at this one.   All it takes to be a PC trader is to talk to people and arrange stuff to happen.  It's not a d/t skill or a soft skill, it's a hard skill.  Also, if you have an economy and people want to do stuff, I _guarantee_ that there will be PC traders.  Book price is a mistake.  Don't make me say "I told you so." Nobody wants that.  Lots of people like trading and the crafters will happily trade with each other.  Also, if high level warrior skills and healing can only be unlocked through access to buildings (like pharmacy's) or special items (like swords) then the player's will barter and trade.

I'm _sure_ the PC's will take care of such things (*laughs at self* since when did  _I_ become a dedicated free market believer?).  Also, I'm definitely going to have see who's backing up this "cash" thing.  Who's the bank?  Why should I trust them?

i.e. Evaluate will tell you what the item should be worth according to the ref team.  It won't tell you what it's worth according to the players.  I'm basing this on my experience of flogging silver swords at CP btw.  Really hard to get hold of, but some people insisted that it was worth an absurdly low price because "that's what the book says".  Needless to say, they had rather less silver swords than other people.

Without lore codes, how will this be evident?  Put it this way, how will you _know_ it's lower quality?  Either:

1) You say what it does on the card

or

2) You don't

Which means either:

1) I can read the card as can anyone in the game.

or

2) I don't know what it is I'm buying.

I'm sure you said no lore codes, so I'd expect crafters to BE the traders.  They're the only people who know what stuff costs, anyone else is a fixer or middleman.  I can't think of an alternative to lore codes, but without them, there's no hidden knowledge and all evaluate gets you is:

a) A pain in the ass of trekking off to god, when quite frankly you'd rather people didn't see you looting this corpse

b) the bitter realisation that you'd have been better off talking to the other players and seeing what _they_ think something is worth (because as noted above, NPC's will want to rip you off by their book)

People aren't stupid dude.  If you go ahead you're going to find certain items are "inexplicably" popular about being sold to NPC's whilst others "inexplicably" aren't.  That's because there'll be a mismatch between your "True" value and say _my_ "true" value.  Where I see profit, I'll play your NPC trader like the gullible fool who's willing to pay for tat I perceive him to be.  Either that or I'll trade for better prices with PC's and get rich that way.

Support traders by either making the evaluate skill functional and easy to use (not going to god every 2 minutes but having a lore sheet) OR not providing the illusion of utility of having a skill.   Because quite frankly, I wouldn't buy "evaluate" as stands because it's rubbish, and if I was young and new and brought it (like I did when I started at CP) I'd be _pissed_.

But don't take my word for it!  I think one of the nice gentlemen on here (either Balor or Ian_Sturrock) recommended "Dr Strangelove's Game" I found it eye-opening, intriguing and very, very, very applicable. 

Trader: "Is that brambleweed you're selling there. How much do you want for it?"

Grumm: "Think so. How much? Erm.....I don't know. How much is it worth"

Trader: "Erm..I'll give you 3 gold for it"

Grumm: "Sounds fair. There you go"

Trader: "Get your Brambleweed here. Only 600 gold"

-------------

 

Brighton Below : Organiser

Serenity: Capt Tom Crowson

RL: Simon / Trez

So, how many times do you think that will happen?  Let's be generous and assume 1ce per character.  Is that worth 25-75% of your starting character points?  Is Grumm _ever_ going to deal with that trader again?  What use _does_ Grumm have for gold?

Economic modelling is quite complicated

So essentially you're both playing warriors. You're a crafter (for sake of argument) with 3 points in crafting, who can use a sword, the other person is a dedicated warrior. Lets assume you're wearing the same armour (medium) for the moment as its fairly irrelevent at this stage.

They have 3 throughs - if they use one to hit you in torso or head, you're on the floor. You'd need to hit him 6 times (3 hits and 3 hits of armour) to have the same effect.

If you buy body dev then he'd have to hit you twice with through, you'd still need to hit him 6 times and your crafting skill drops a lot now - so you're a competent crafter, who can use a sword and is a bit beefy.

So I think it works and is quite nicely balanced.

There will be no written book price in game. This will come through by the value people with evaluate are given to tell them how much something is worth. As stated this takes multiple factors into consideration and is nowhere near as simple as you seem to imply.

I wouldn't assume that what you know of how trading in CP works will be true here - its very different.

regarding Lore codes - a lammied item will tell you the obvious material components, obvious level of crafting, any special OOC information you need to know and will have a unique ID code. This unique ID code can be given to a ref/taken to God who will then inform you what you think its worth based on your evaluate skill. Can you evaluate something by glancing over it as you loot a body? No! What you'll see is the obvious stuff - crafting level and material components. If you spend some time to check whether it weighs the right amount, whether its actually solid gold or lead plated with gold etc (represented by the time taken to find a ref and get them to look it up for you) then you'll get an answer (ie true components, and estimated worth)

There's no way we're having lore sheets in Typhum - I hate them with a passion!

Crazy like Croolis-Ulv!

LIKE I KNOW THAT PAYING £1.50 FOR A CAN OF COKE IS A LOT, BECAUSE I BY COKE FROM OTHER PLACES, BUT WHEN I CAN ONLY BUY IT FOR THAT PRICE FROM A NEC SHOP, I JUST KNOW IM BEING DONE, BUT I STILL BUY COKE

www.mandalastudios.co.uk www.kangena.co.uk

RL - Mark (Coventry)
CP - Urtsi (Ael) [Ex Head Weapons Checker/ Ref]
Mandala - Wookie (Ref/ Props)
PD - Wookie (Ref)
GF - Organiser
Dark Secrets - Philip Stanley (Tech Assistant)

Fair enough, you don't want that looked at.  Moving on.

Sorry, I didn't mean to imply it was a simple process, IMnsHO it's fairly complex, but, crucially, is a hard skill.  So, you don't want that looked at, moving on.

Would say, a jeweller, be able to do a similar thing?  I guess they must have an automatic version of evaluate, but without the estimated worth?  Seems like you've got your mind made up there.  Moving on!

OK, I didn't know that.  I only like ones that work or have a point.  Thus my "affection" for them is largely theoretical.  Hate with a passion you say?  Best move on.

So, you don't want me to look at warrior skills (under revision), artisan skills (sorted and not ready for publication), healing skills (not published), magic skills (deeply FOIP) or economics (FOIP and not for publication)?  Fairy nuff. I'll go proof read the races shall I? 

Seriously, I do appreciate you feel very protective of your work, but would you rather I try and theoretically break stuff now, when you've asked and have time for a rewrite or would you rather someone else broke it in play, because if there is a loophole, players and their characters will seek it out.  As stands I couldn't tell you what I would like to play because

a) none of your rules are, apparently, actually ready to be seen by the public.

b) I haven't had a chance to look at the races yet.

I don't mean to be discouraging, but why ask for feedback if you've already made up your mind?