SouthLab: reconsidering academic scarves.
Maybe the way my illness weakened me played into these thoughts, but the more I've thought about the whole college scarf idea, the less I like it. And much of it is rooted in the colleges themselves. I always imagined Ockham University to be a small school with a relatively intimate campus, like the two I studied at in my undergraduate years. So ramming the colleges in was more on untamed enthusiasm than anything. In my excitement I started ramming the college concept in everywhere.
In my excitement I forgot why I called the university "Ockham" in the first place. SouthLab is supposed to be much simpler than Soulthieves, and adding its own brand of complexities only complicates the development of the Soulthieves Labyrinth Engine. The idea was that scarves should be treated just like other neckwear, but I was leaning toward the scarves being common items, and given the sheer number as well as their peculiar enchantments that still would've stretched the base mechanics of the system.
The previous post on the college names was just brainstorming, but now I'm leaning toward discarding the notion wholesale. Ockham shouldn't have colleges. Large, old schools like the University of Toronto do have them, although even U of T doesn't have that many compared to the huge English schools, and the Scarborough campus I attended doesn't have any such subdivisions.
The idea of scarves in itself isn't totally out of question, though. One thing I might do is make academic scarves unique items instead (appearing potentially and strictly once during the game). They'd represent individual departments or schools within the university instead of colleges (for example the Department of Magic Studies), or they'd be named along completely different lines, and they'd be far fewer in number. A different and not necessarily exclusive option is to change all amulets and/or necklaces to scarves, otherwise leaving them intact in terms of name and enchantment. For example, the amulet of clarity would become the scarf of clarity and would continue to offer the same enchantment (confusion resistance). The latter option might not have much point, although it shouldn't require anything special in the game code to facilitate. Since scarves are more of a novelty in the roguelike context, the unique items idea is okay; there'll have to be unique Neck slot items, anyway.
Regardless of how one imagines the university and its campus, in any case, this is still just a game. It doesn't have to put forth every little detail. After all, the very idea of a 50-level subterranean laboratory contaminated with crazed hobgoblin doctoral students and unsanctioned dragon visitors is pretty goofy in itself.
Don't be disappointed, Eric. Though now I'll have to find another place to slap in your acknowledgment.
In my excitement I forgot why I called the university "Ockham" in the first place. SouthLab is supposed to be much simpler than Soulthieves, and adding its own brand of complexities only complicates the development of the Soulthieves Labyrinth Engine. The idea was that scarves should be treated just like other neckwear, but I was leaning toward the scarves being common items, and given the sheer number as well as their peculiar enchantments that still would've stretched the base mechanics of the system.
The previous post on the college names was just brainstorming, but now I'm leaning toward discarding the notion wholesale. Ockham shouldn't have colleges. Large, old schools like the University of Toronto do have them, although even U of T doesn't have that many compared to the huge English schools, and the Scarborough campus I attended doesn't have any such subdivisions.
The idea of scarves in itself isn't totally out of question, though. One thing I might do is make academic scarves unique items instead (appearing potentially and strictly once during the game). They'd represent individual departments or schools within the university instead of colleges (for example the Department of Magic Studies), or they'd be named along completely different lines, and they'd be far fewer in number. A different and not necessarily exclusive option is to change all amulets and/or necklaces to scarves, otherwise leaving them intact in terms of name and enchantment. For example, the amulet of clarity would become the scarf of clarity and would continue to offer the same enchantment (confusion resistance). The latter option might not have much point, although it shouldn't require anything special in the game code to facilitate. Since scarves are more of a novelty in the roguelike context, the unique items idea is okay; there'll have to be unique Neck slot items, anyway.
Regardless of how one imagines the university and its campus, in any case, this is still just a game. It doesn't have to put forth every little detail. After all, the very idea of a 50-level subterranean laboratory contaminated with crazed hobgoblin doctoral students and unsanctioned dragon visitors is pretty goofy in itself.
Don't be disappointed, Eric. Though now I'll have to find another place to slap in your acknowledgment.