Shooters Galore II (odd drops)

[buzzkill]

The title of the other similarly titled thread, more than the content, got me thinking about something that happened very recently (NPP), but probably applies to V as well as most variants. Rather than hi-jack that thread (which I came very close to doing) I started this one instead.

I killed Ulfast or Urfang or Brodda, one of relatively early uniques and he dropped 2 bows, a long bow and a short bow, both {good}.

It seemed just a bit odd when it happened. I'd say it's questionable whether it's even a problem or not (and at this point you may well be wondering what the heck I'm talking about). More of a flavor problem than a game play problem. Just odd, and a bit frustrating from a player's perspective.

When I kill a humanoid type, I assume (big assume here) that the item(s) dropped is one that he was actually using, or at least that's what I'd like to believe. When an illogical drop occurs, it breaks the illusion. Sure, drops often make no thematic sense, but this stood out to me for some reason. I wouldn't apply this logic to dragons or even giants or other probable trearure hoarders.

Would it be difficult to enforce (some) variety in the drops of (certain) monsters that drop multiple items? Would it be worth the trouble?

[andrewdoull]

Originally Posted by buzzkill

The title of the other similarly titled thread, more than the content, got me thinking about something that happened very recently (NPP), but probably applies to V as well as most variants. Rather than hi-jack that thread (which I came very close to doing) I started this one instead.

I killed Ulfast or Urfang or Brodda, one of relatively early uniques and he dropped 2 bows, a long bow and a short bow, both {good}.

It seemed just a bit odd when it happened. I'd say it's questionable whether it's even a problem or not (and at this point you may well be wondering what the heck I'm talking about). More of a flavor problem than a game play problem. Just odd, and a bit frustrating from a player's perspective.

When I kill a humanoid type, I assume (big assume here) that the item(s) dropped is one that he was actually using, or at least that's what I'd like to believe. When an illogical drop occurs, it breaks the illusion. Sure, drops often make no thematic sense, but this stood out to me for some reason. I wouldn't apply this logic to dragons or even giants or other probable trearure hoarders.

Would it be difficult to enforce (some) variety in the drops of (certain) monsters that drop multiple items? Would it be worth the trouble?

Unangband does this and IMHO it is worth the trouble.

Any time a monster drops, it limits the monster to dropping one item from each 'category': weapon, armour, lite, shooter, junk etc. before it generates the second from each category.

It helped that I could do this 'for free' because I was already limiting what item types each monster could carry.

Andrew