Death, graveyards & deposit boxes

[Bjørn Georg Ludvigsen <bjornlu>]

After having read some ideas and comments, this is my view on how death,
graveyards and deposit boxes should be in Crossfire.

Contributors to my view:

Tero Haatanen <Tero.Haatanen@lut.fi>
Peter Mardahl <peterm@soda.berkeley.edu>

Death
=====

If you die, a corpse is created, which isn't immune to everything, but has
quite a lot of hp. Say 2000. Then it is destroyed. If you die in front of
a dragon, and the dragon continues to breate fire on your corpse while
your buddies kill it, the corpse takes damage. Say it takes 500 hp damage.
When the smoke clears, your buddies see your corpse lying on the ground
and all go "whooah, let's get back to town and resurrect him!".

To explain further, this is how I want the spells to be. 

Raise dead.........: Raise, -500 hp.
Resurrect (dead?)..: Raise, no modification.
Reincarnation......: Raise, +500 hp.

Now then. The remaining hp of your corpse when the resurrection attempt
on you is made is the amount of the old character that is put into the
resurrected one. Meaning: If your buddies were poor and only could afford
the raise dead-spell, you would only get 50% (1000/2000) of everything
(stats, xp) back. And, your con/cha would be 3. (After all, you're neither
pretty nor fit when you raise from the dead) If they could afford the
resurrect-spell, you would come back 75% (1500/2000) of your old self, and
if they were fortunate enough to be able to afford the powerful
reincarnation spell, you would come back with 100% of your stats/xp. (with
con/cha at 3, though)

So, if the body is very damaged (less than 500 hp left), a raise dead-spell
will not be able to resurrect the character at all. Then, you can wipe your
tears and stroll across the street to the undertaker. 

Technical details: maxhp and maxsp of the corpse is the players, sp=0 and
hp=2000. Slaying is the players password, name is name minus the "corpse 
of"-part. The stats all are the players. Other_arch is killed by. The corpse
is saved to the map as the player dies, and again when all players have left
the map. If they took the corpse with them, it is removed from the map. If
players happen to die in gates or similar, the corpses are destroyed after
a while (crushed by gate, like any other item). If you die in a doorway, the
door is placed on top of your corpse. When the door is opened/bashed open,
the corpse is revealed. If you die on a button, you did just that - die on a
button. Of course, your corpse stays there.

Graveyards
==========

When you've collected yourself, the undertaker is ready to take care of
business. His excellent store carries the finest selection of monuments,
coffins and shovels for your pleasure. You simply walk in with a corpse
under your arm, pick up and pay for the monument and coffin you want to 
put on/in the grave, buy a shovel, and off you go to the graveyard. You
apply the shovel, put the corpse in the coffin (it's a container (heavy
one)) drop the coffin and the monument, and apply the monument. The monument
is put up, with the name/title on it, killed by and maybe even a few words
of remembrance (taken from some kind of cookie file?). 

Technical details: The map is saved each time a monument is applied on it.

Deposit boxes
=============

A special type of key is used to get into the deposit boxes. You have to
apply it, and then, when you step into the teleporter in the bank, you are
teleported to the deposit box that belongs to the map. Each key has a
number on it, and is indestructable. They are saved to maps in the same
manner as corpses. When you step into the teleporter, you arrive in a room
(say 4x4), with a teleporter in one of the corners. When you step into the
teleporter, you are teleported back to the bank.

Technical details: When you step into the bank-teleporter, you are teleported
to the map in the slaying-column of the key. When you leave the deposit
box-map, the map is saved. You cannot die in a deposit box, no food is
deducted during your stay. It is also a no-magic-zone.

Adventuring possibilities: 
"Now, here's the key to a deposit box at Wiener's in Santo Dominion,
 where is the cash?"
"Wow! A key to a deposit box! Let's get back to town and see if there's
 anything in it!"


Just some ideas, in the heat of the moment I probably forgot half of what
I wanted to say anyway. Comments are very welcome.

- Regards, Bjorn.