Users > Hekatef > Scratchpad

Overview

This is a page for me to jot down my various musings on tests and technologies I might like to see in future Tellings.

If you've got ideas or commentary of your own, and you feel like adding it to this page -- by all means, feel welcome!

Test Ideas

From the endgame of Tale 1, we can guess that by the time Tale 2 comes to an end, Egypt's playerbase will have designed another batch of tests for future generations. Until official hashing-out of Tale 3 tests begins in earnest, I'll record here any ideas that may strike me.

New test discussion page from Tale 1

Body: The Test of the Mirage

No real details here, just vagueness. It would somehow involve that while running through the desert, a player would occasionally see what appears to be water on the horizon. The player would have to approach it to determine if it was a real pool of water or only a mirage. If it is real, the player can drink from it, and this allows progression through the test. Or something? I dunno, I just think mirages would be neat.

Technologies

Leather Tanning

Egyptians are presently accustomed to pulling their leather supplies straight off the backs of their sheep and camels, but in reality the process of converting raw hides into leather is a process intensive in time and labor. By simulating tanning in ATITD, we provide another simple low-tech activity, add a little complexity to the economy, and find some more uses for materials such as oil.

• When sheep/camels are slaughtered, what is produced is "hides". (Possibly "Hides:camel" and "Hides:sheep", with slightly different properties.) Hides must be converted into leather on a building called a Tanner's Bench.
  • The first step in tanning (Soaking) involves soaking hides at the bench -- there is a small tub built in to the bench. Soaking uses a quantity of water; adding ash, lime or salt to the water is optional, but speeds the process.
  • In the second stage (Bating), dung is mixed in (this improves the pliability of the skin).
  • In the final stage (Finishing), oil is added to polish and waterproof the skin. At this point it becomes leather.

Thoughts:

• This creates more of a continuous demand for oil and dung, two products which are usually in excess supply in Egypt.
• One possibility is that, since tanning is such a noxious process, a Constitution timer is somehow involved, adding utility to the Constitution attribute.
• Possibly different types of leather could be created. Instead of regular "leather" as a resource, you'd have "hard leather" and "soft leather" -- different buildings would require different amounts of these. As hides are treated, changes in the process (ingredients used, time taken, etc.) could move their attributes toward hardnes or softness, in a manner similar to wood treatment of boards. Hides:camel might have starting attributes that make it easier to convert into hard leather, whild Hides:sheep would be easier to turn into soft leather.
• Perhaps even gazelle hides can be taken. This could be made into very high quality leather.
• Tanning should ideally be a process that takes a bit of player skill, but less than, say, charcoal production. There would be economic advantages to being good at it, and to using expensive ingredients such as lime; but nearly anybody should be able to do it to some extent.

Electrochemistry

(Actually, given that metal salts already exist in the game, for all I know Teppy could already have something like the following in store for us. But if not, at least the game already supports the material types necessary to make this work.)

Some speculate that historical ancient civilizations already knew something about primitive batteries. We ATITD'ers, as their fictional counterparts, deserve some of this action. Electrochemistry would be a later technology that would allow for the creation of chemical batteries to produce very weak electrical charges.

• What I know about real-world chemistry could fit into a matchbox and still leave room for the matches, so I won't try to define any details of this tech. However, as far as I can tell, it seems as though Electrochemistry could make use of the following resources at least: glass, metals, metal salts, acid, copper sheeting, copper wire, gold wire, iron bars. Heck, maybe even cabbage juice, for all I know.

I'm not suggesting that this technology could lead to electric lights, Clappers, or any such modern conveniences. The current produced by these primitive cells would be extremely weak. However, one obvious use for all this would be electroplating, which would allow for the design of new metal goods. For instance, you might create such goods as "Steel sheeting: zinc-plated" or "Iron bar: gold-plated". These might be used in various buildings and art projects.

Toad Licking

In Tale 1, drinking alcohol was a primary method of improving Perception. In Tale 2, smoking herbs has been added to the repertoire of useful vices. At this point only one mind-altering pastime has remained unexplored, and I hope that it will be introduced in Tale 3: licking hallucinogenic toads.

• Throughout Egypt dwell numerous species of toads, some of whom secrete psychoactive venom from their skin. A new skill, Toad Identification, will be learnable at all Schools of Body, permitting the discovery and capture of these mildly toxic amphibians. Once captured, a toad may be licked every TeppyHour, providing a description of the effect and a possible skill increase, as shown in this example:

You close your eyes, inhale deeply, and drag your tongue slowly across the toad's back. You hallucinate the following sensations:

Rainbows (Visual), Itching (Tactile), Melting Camels (Visual)

An interesting new trip! Your Toad Licking skill improves by 1.

• Toads can be kept in a new building, the Toad Pond. They eat beetles and may be crossbred to produce toads with new hallucinatory characteristics.

I believe that toad licking will provide fascinating new content to ATITD, as well as a fun new activity to share at parties!

(Okay, this idea is meant as a joke. Could you tell?)