Elder Dragon Movement Messages

Cooper

Elder Dragon Movement Messages

I recently got Elder Dragon, and went to look at the 'custom' movement messages you can pick (cool, right?!).

After reading them, all I could do was facepalm and sigh. For those that don't know, here is the list you can pick from:

You may select the following alternative enter/leave messages for dragonform.

(1):
Enter: Light shines prismatically from the outstretched wings of the elder dragon Cooper, who glides
in from the $dir before landing with a ground-shaking thump.
Exit: Launching him/herself $dir with $his/her powerful hindquarters, the elder dragon Cooper
unfurls his/her enormous wings and glides effortlessly to the $dir.

(2):
Enter: Cooper glides gracefully in from the $dir on open wings, the air rippling in his/her wake.
Exit: With a sinuous dip, Cooper wings gracefully away to the $dir, the air rippling in his/her wake.

(3):
Enter: With ominous portent, Cooper's draconic form approaches from the $dir.
Exit: Cooper vanishes to the $Dir, the surroundings seeming to shift in his/her wake.

(4):
Enter: The immense body of Cooper, his/her iron-hard scales gleaming brightly, emerges from the $dir.
Exit: The towering, draconic form of Cooper moves to the $dir, razor-sharp claws leaving deep gouges
in his/her wake.

(5):
Enter: The earth trembles underfoot as the elder dragon Cooper enters from the $dir.
Exit: The elder dragon Cooper leaves to the $dir, the earth trembling in his/her wake.

The only one that makes any sense and isn't bad RP in most situations is #2.

#1 - Not every Elder Dragon is going to have prismatically shiny wings, and they definitely aren't going to fly and land in every single room they enter.

#2 - The best of the bunch, but I'm not going to glide gracefully in every room I enter, and in certain environments 'dipping' as you leave does not make any sense.

#3 - The second least bad, but not every dragon is going to move with 'ominous portent' (p.s. ominous and portent are kind of the same thing, anyway). Sometimes we're happy, or come with joy.

#4 - Our claws leave deep gouges in every room we leave, eh? I guess we'll all be living in holes soon. Also, how do scales gleam brightly in dark areas?

#5 - Dragons are capable of being light on their feet. Not every room has earth in it, either (you know, rivers, lakes, etc.)

I don't know who wrote those or who approved them, but whoever did it was absolutely high.

Suggestions:

1. Re-write all the enter/exit messages so they actually make sense.

2. Allow every Elder Dragon to customize their own message so they aren't at the mercy of others.

3. Have a different exit/enter message for different environments.

4. Random other thing I haven't though of yet.

p.s. "The List" in this forum hasn't been updated since April.

Kyrra

The first five to get Elder Dragon got to choose the messages. You can thank them.

Cooper

I said I didn't know who more to be kind, I know who wrote them.

Shirszae

Terrible all around, but I wonder if they would actually change them. At the very least, they could get the same people who submitted the first messages to rewrite them to make sense.

Penwize

Well, first I'll defend mine a bit (#2). I think the motion of dipping does make sense in most environments in the way I imagine it. What I mean by "sinuous dip" is more like you might imagine an oriental style dragon to look like when it flies, where its head dips down and its body follows. Did a bit of a youtube search for something to illustrate what I mean, this is the best I could find in a quick search: youtube.com/watch?v=yezmC8BI_OQ.

As for the others, I have to agree with your criticisms overall. While the messages aren't meant for every dragon, if you ignore that bit the criticism still stands honestly. Not sure where the prismatic light comes from, leaving deep gouges doesn't make sense in a lot of environments (and would probably get them charged with vandalism in others!), and not all environments have earth underfoot.

That all said, I think they can each be modified to maintain their original intent, without having such glaring oddities. I think just fixing them up that way would be the better approach over just giving all elder dragons their own, since it was intended to be a reward for the first 5. I'm just not sure how much scrutiny these were given before being placed live, if any.

Blujixapug

Leave those five, but get someone qualified (ie. a god not a player) to write a few more better options for Elder Dragons to choose from.

Silas

@Cardan, where are you?

Draekar

What Blupikaachu said

I think the original idea and intent was great, and the first five earned their reward but it would be great to have another, maybe five special and more generic/neutral ones for the other elders to choose from.

Katzchen

They really should have just given the first five the option to write their own unique enter/exit, and designed some for others to choose from. I posted a thread a while back saying pretty much exactly this, it had some recognition from admin, but I guess it's not a high priority. I can understand that, just waiting and hoping they're fixed till I choose mine.

Santar

#2 ain't terrible @Penwize.

It's probably one of the better ones, but the problem is that it wasn't even an option for me because it doesn't fit my style.


I ended up going with #5, which I'm decently satisfied with. Overall, it's a pretty shoddy list though and definitely needs to have some more added on.

Cathy

I was so relieved there was #2, @Penwize was the only one to cater to a dragon that didn't want to be HUGE, so thank you

Silas

He is a Golden Dragon, immense and powerful. Mighty wings jut from a huge, scaled back, and a large sinuous tail trails off his hindquarters. Four powerful limbs terminating in deadly-looking claws support its massive, scaled body, but the most impressive feature of this most impressive being is the proud, regal head. A long, flattened snout sports row upon row of razor-sharp teeth, and the glint in his saucer-sized eyes speaks of an ancient and formidable intellect.

Sorry, but you're huge.

Tahquil

I don't like #1 and #2 purely because you're going to have to go about to all the old doorways in Achaea and widen them to allow dragons to come in and out with their wings outstretched.

As a side thought.. having two enter/exits sets would be cool. One for flying movement and one for walking.

Iocun

And one for cartwheeling.

Penwize

Tahquil said:

I don't like #1 and #2 purely because you're going to have to go about to all the old doorways in Achaea and widen them to allow dragons to come in and out with their wings outstretched.

If doorways already handle the massive bulk of dragons, or people riding crazy things like giant mammoths, I don't think that's something we really have to worry much about. I've always just tried to largely ignore size as a factor in anything, if only because otherwise I have no idea how Mhaldor fits 20+ dragons into a single toilet. Suspension of disbelief for size is already a must, so I try to treat it as an inherent quality of Achaea's reality.

Cathy

Silas said:

He is a Golden Dragon, immense and powerful. Mighty wings jut from a huge, scaled back, and a large sinuous tail trails off his hindquarters. Four powerful limbs terminating in deadly-looking claws support its massive, scaled body, but the most impressive feature of this most impressive being is the proud, regal head. A long, flattened snout sports row upon row of razor-sharp teeth, and the glint in his saucer-sized eyes speaks of an ancient and formidable intellect.

Sorry, but you're huge.

So's your face

Peak

Clouds of smoke and soot billow into the room, preceding the elder dragon Elderdragon's entrance from the _______.
(or)
Clouds of smoke and soot billow in from the _____, preceding the elder dragon Elderdragon's entrance.

The air settles and the area gets cooler as elder dragon Elderdragon leaves to the _______.
(up for suggestions)

I like these.



Or auction another custom message.

Tesha

I would honestly prefer a plain movement message. Whatever dragon movement is already. Is that an option?

Makarios

There is now, can specify option 0 to reset to the default dragon messages.

Tahquil

$elderdragongriefer thunders in from the $dir to fuck up your day.
Leaving a wake of rage and angsty tears behind him, $elderdragongriefer thunders out to the $dir.

Exelethril

Tahquil said:

$elderdragongriefer thunders in from the $dir to fuck up your day.
Leaving a wake of rage and angsty tears behind him, $elderdragongriefer thunders out to the $dir.

Greed evident in his/her eyes, $elderdragon stomps in from the $dir to compete for talisman drops despite already being an Elder dragon.

Moving his/her oversized bulk as quickly as possible, $elderdragon leaves to the $dir to quickly kill more denizens before you do.

Katzchen

Makarios said:

There is now, can specify option 0 to reset to the default dragon messages.

Or not specify, so you can choose to do so later if you want.

Silas

@Makarios, while you're at it, can you make it so that choosing your elder dragon movement messages is either more intuitive or outlined plainly somewhere? I had to ask around to find out how, and even then it became a process of trial and error.

Iocun

Elder dragons are supposed to be wise and intelligent. It's all a test if you're really worthy of being one.

Silas

>:P

Aepas

I would actually like to roar really loud every time I enter or exit a room, and everyone has to emote covering their ears. While we're at it can we have the roar be area wide too?

Every time I enter or exit a room. thanks.

Blujixapug

Aepas said:

I would actually like to roar really loud every time I enter or exit a room, and everyone has to emote covering their ears. While we're at it can we have the roar be area wide too?

Every time I enter or exit a room. thanks.

The first time you walk past someone it's like, "The Elder Dragon Aepas enters from the north with a deafening roar!" Then it changes to, "You barely notice as the Elder Dragon Aepas enters silently from the north."

Cathy

You hear an ominous rendition of the pink panther theme tune as $person sneaks in from the $dir, trying to avoid the authorities.

Anaidiana

oooh ooooh. Dibs on the Imperial March, then!

Synbios

Light shines from above, as $person hovers from $dir, to the tune of the Ride of the Valkyries.

As $person hovers to the $dir, the memory of the fat lady singing begins to fade from your thought.

Xli

Wing pulled up to his|her chin, $elder_dragon tip-toes comically into the room, a shifty look in their eyes.
$elder_dragon pulls his|her wing up to their chin, looks shiftily round the room before tip-toeing comically to the $dir.