Details: Letting Players Look Closer
One of the building tools already coded into Tales of Zalanthas is Details.
Details allow builders to attach extra descriptions to specific features in a room, NPC, or an object. The main description can stay concise and readable, while important features can still reward closer inspection. Some details will be available to everyone – imagine looking closer at a statue, or a pile of bones. Anyone could glean more information by looking at the details closer. But some people might be able to glean even more information, depending on their skills.
For example, a room might mention scratches in the flagstones, an old etching in a wall, or smoke stains near the ceiling. A player can then look scratches, look etching, or look smoke to get more information.
Details are useful because they let builders layer a space without overloading the first thing a player sees. The room description tells you where you are and what is obvious. Details let you slow down and investigate.
They can be used for atmosphere, clues, puzzles, cultural information, hidden exits, craftsmanship, damage, strange markings, or anything else that deserves a closer look. Some details may be visible to everyone. Others may, at some point, be tied to skills or checks such as Perception, Literacy, Survival, Psionics, Magick, crafting skills, or other systems.
Details can be added to rooms, NPCs, and items.
Lore: What a Character Knows
Another recently coded tool is Lore.
Lore is different from details or a description.
A Description tells the player what their character can plainly see on first and second glance. Details reward further investigation in that description and may be hidden behind skill checks. Lore represents what the character may know, recognize, interpret, or understand based on their skills, background, or abilities.
Lore is also a skill – we intend to have a 'Scholar' subclass that can read and write in sirihish (and potentially learn other languages) and have the Lore skill. The lore skill can be 'trained' by uncovering more lore/items/places with lore, or books and scrolls with knowledge within them. The lore skill might also be taught or branched or part of other class/subclass choices, though we haven't worked out all the details there.
Lore is separated into three levels:
lore_surface is the most basic or accessible knowledge. A warrior might recognize that a weapon is well-balanced. A literate character might understand a simple inscription and what language it is. A tribal character might recognize a landmark and what it represents to their culture.
lore_deeper is more specialized knowledge that will require the Lore skill, as well as whatever relevant skill/status would be needed. A master swordmaker might recognize how a blade was made, where its flaws are, or whether it follows a particular tradition. A scholar might be able to provide the historical context for an inscription and the hidden meaning behind it. A skilled survivalist might know not just what made a track, but how long ago it passed and whether it was wounded. A tribal elder might know the historical significance of a landmark and how it plays into their tribal rituals and its context.
lore_hidden is rare, secret, or highly specialized knowledge requiring the lore skill and the relevant skills/conditions. This might involve forgotten histories, magickal residue, psionic impressions, obscure or occult writing, or forbidden knowledge.
We intend to roll this out in a very basic form to start and see how much interest/use there is of having IG lore set by builders in rooms/on objects/on NPCs. Our hope is that it's both popular and ubiquitous.
As it stands – We can set each of the lore for one 'category' of skillset. So lore_shallow might be set for 'subclass_swordsmith'. To start, we have it so you must have the 'lore' skill to access deeper or hidden knowledge. A tribal elder may know more about the history of an object or place than the younger tribe members, or a Sorcerer might gain access to hidden lore that would otherwise be unseen to mundane folks, and so on.
Notes: Leaving Context for Staff
Alongside Details and Lore, builders also have access to Notes.
Notes are an out-of-character tool for Staff and Builders. They are not shown to players. Instead, they preserve context about a room, NPC, or object so future staff can understand why something was built, what it connects to, or what it may be used for later.
A note might explain the history of a room, the purpose of a strange marking, the intended role or history of an NPC, or why an object exists in a particular place. It might also record a hidden exit, a future plot hook, a planned skill interaction, or an area connection that is not obvious from the visible description.
For example, a room might contain scratches in the flagstones. The visible description and Details tell the player what they can see. Lore may let certain characters understand more. Notes let staff preserve the reason those scratches are there: perhaps a stone sarcophagus was dragged through the corridor during a failed burial rite, or the room is meant to connect to a sealed crypt later.
This matters because staff and builders come and go, and areas can live on for years. Notes help keep the world understandable to the people maintaining it and preserve the context of that object/NPC/Room. We can think of it like commented out notes on a program; it allows future Staff to implement that program or understand why it was made at a glance, and takes the guesswork out or need to track down the author to ask about it. Notes can be added on by future authors as well, if / when more history or more context is needed for a NPC/Room/Object.
Our hope is this makes the experience less anecdotal for players (and for Staff). They can get immediate context when they need it, and not need to track down a specific player or staff that knows the history.
In Sum --
Adding these features is an attempt to make the world more detailed, feel more alive, and provide more fun easter eggs/useful knowledge to those who discover how to find it.
As well, the ability to leave OOC notes on objects, rooms, and NPCs provides a great through line for knowledge that we did not have in ArmageddonMUD. Often, story threads and plot lines and rooms and objects would be relegated to the pile of forgotten ephemera because the current Staff team just didn't know what they were; they could make their best guesses, or ask a previous staff member or player, but that yielded mixed results.
Our hope is these features make things more consistent, fun, and discovery more meaningful and juicy in the game world.