Shattered Kingdoms

I propose that within a city, town or what have you, that track will find any NPC within the city. It would be tied to key words and adjectives. This should also work with any PC that happens to be within the area, however, I realize some would probably emo quite if that ever happened.

A secondary change to track would involve tracking in the wilds. I realize this will be difficult, perhaps there is a way to tie it to track solely within each kingdom and work the same way as stated above for non-wilds areas? If there is interest, I could possibly talk to the staff from my old MUD and ask them how they made it work to see if it's something Dulrik wouldn't find too hard to implement.

I forgot to add another part to this. The ability to autotrack should be added as well. This would work the same way, but would move your character in the direction of what you are tracking automatically.

The more specific you are with your key words the more likely you are to find what you're looking for. Lets say you type track dwarf... that is rather broad and you could wind up tracking a number of NPCs/PCs in the area. Now, if I used the name of npc/pc, it would be very specific and take you to the desired location, as long as what you're searching is in that area. A middle ground for the tracking would be to track <insert adjective>. All should be viable options, however, depending on how specific you are will determine your success. The command would be simple: track <name, race or adjective/descriptive keyword> This would then prompt: You sense <insert> to the north. or You find a trail leading to the north. The auto command would be: track <name, race or adjective/descriptive keyword> auto, which would do the same thing, however it would move your character in the direction you sense or see the trail.

Your level of training, what you're tracking's level of training and your skill of expertise will determine how successful you are at finding a trail. Also, throwing in random no tracking rooms to put a wrinkle on it would also be a thought, as well as certain areas where tracking simple does not work. Or even npcs that simply cannot be tracked.

That sounds like a fantastic way to spam die.

I like this idea. I also like as an idea having people who're bleeding profusely leave bloody traces in their wake (definitely if they have any limbs mangled or severed but maybe also if they're at "very hurt" or worse - something like that anyways).

Could code it to have space for like 3 bloody traces in any given room before it becomes "the area here is damp with fresh blood" and have them last for say 2 in game hours.

So after someone runs past, then doubles back, you get:

The road
You're standing on the road. Awesome.
Obvious exits: n s e w u d
There are bloody traces leading north.
There are bloody traces leading south.

Then, someone walks through it again, aaand...

The road
You're standing on the road. Awesome.
Obvious exits: n s e w u d
The area here is damp with fresh blood.

I like your addition, that's not a bad idea. It makes me think of a spell used in my old MUD called imprint aura. I didn't use it very much at all... I don't recall exactly how it works, but I think you can see footprints on the ground, including your own.

Just to add a little more.. this would definitely be a good addition to help newbie players learn where things are within cities and other areas. Not everyone is good at giving instructions on how to find something simple! :p