CLOK BBS

As many of you may be aware we are currently developing an entirely new forging system. This system is currently in the beta stages and will most likely change before release but I felt I would share some of the upcoming changes and present an opportunity for you, yes you, the player to leave your mark on the game.

Here are a few changes that are currently in the new system:
- Every item is now handled individually with its own file and separate code to allow us to customize each item, its forging process, tools used, prefix and suffix descriptions, quality descriptors etc.
- Blacksmiths will no longer automatically know how to forge EVERYTHING from the start, instead they will begin by learning a few techniques from a basic blacksmith NPC then be allowed to discover new methods on their own or learn from other player blacksmiths.
- All forging schematics will now be on a "what you have learned" system. You can learn from NPCs, other players or by discovering them on your own as you work.
- This new learning system will allow us to easily add new items in the future AND will allow us to release super secret special schematics to individual smiths from roleplay situations or other events.
- The new system will have greater rewards for those who have spent a great deal of time increasing their skill. Master blacksmiths can expect to know schematics that others do not and be able to customize things unlike others.
- As your skill increases there will be new adornment methods available. Such as, encrusting items, haft, hilts etc with jewels, adding custom leather wrapping or even etching your your own custom artistry onto the item via a large "pick a word" customization system.
- All of the current artisan benefits have carried over to the new system and their special schematics will be allowed to be shared with others on a very limited and monitored basis. Expect both OOC and IC consequences to artisans who teach others needlessly or carelessly.

With all that fun stuff this is where I would like to ask you the community for some help. There is a TON of text to write for each individual items crafting process and to help me avoid becoming too generic I would like to present you with the opportunity to write it for me, right here, and have it copy pasted into the game for time and all eternity.

Here is an example straight from the code to forge a longsword blade:

Beginning messaging - 'Taking the hot bar from the forge you begin to hammer the %material, slowly moving it into the shape of a %craftitem. Hot sparks ignite, and the clammer of your hammer and anvil fills the surrounding area. Some progress is made but you still have some ways to go.'
Middle messaging - 'You continue to hammer away drawing the %material out longer and longer into the correct shape. You add a little bit of flux as you work to clean the bar from impurities and brush it from time to time to remove any excess scale. You are also careful not to hammer too much down the center to later allow for the grinding of a fuller down the central ridge of the blade.'
Finish messaging - 'Finally done with the hammering and shaping you have moved the hot metal into the proper %craftitem shape. Carefully you plunge the material into a nearby barrel full of water. Listening for any sounds which might indicate a fracture or bending of the material.'

Here is an example straight from the code to forge a longsword hilt:

Beginning messaging - 'Taking the hot metal in your tongs you begin to hammer away at the %material. Slowly shaping and moving it into the the proper %craftitem design with your %tool'
Middle messaging - 'You continue to hammer away at the hot metal. You slowly work on the guard, the grip and the pommel eat following a cruciform design of the classic longsword shape. Carefull not to move the metal too quickly to avoid stress fractures and continuing to add flux as you work your bar starts to look more and more like a longsword hilt.'
Finish messaging - 'With all the pieces properly hammered out you have completed your work! You take each metal part and plunge it into a nearby barrel of water, careful to listen for any *PINGS* or other sounds which may indicate a bend or stress fracture.'

Here is an example straight from the code to forge the final longsword:

Finish messaging - 'Using a special metal jig to hold the longsword blade and hilt togther you assemble the parts of the hilt onto the blade. Guard, grip and handle all slide onto the end and with a careful technique you screw the end of the pommel on to give it a tight mechanical bond. Sword now in hand you give the newly formed weapon a few swings to test for balance and grind down anything that might hinder the performance. After a final sharpening you now behold your completed longsword!'

As you can see that is a lot of custom text just to make one item. Also you will notice a few special words in there that will change depending the situation.
%tool - This will become the name of the hammer you are using.
%tongs - This will become the name of the tongs you are using.
%material - This will become the name of the material you are forging with, bronze, iron, steel, etc.
%craftitem - This will become the name of the item you are trying to create. Example: longsword hilt.

So pick a weapon and show me what you got! I currently have armors done on my end but if you want to do a shield as well, feel free. Keep in mind that all weapons are in 3 parts like the example above. That is a hilt/haft, a head/blade and the final construction. I know that many of you are looking to be builders or GMs so this may be a good place to show me your stuff. It helps if you do a lot of research and really look into how the items were made before creating your text. If you would like to have your text evaluated for pasting into the game just follow the above format and plop them right here. Happy CLOKing all!

I will try to get started on this today or tomorrow with some more meaningful contributions. For now though, typo:

Noctere wrote: ↑Mon Sep 02, 2019 11:53 amHere is an example straight from the code to forge a longsword hilt:

Middle messaging - 'You continue to hammer away at the hot metal. You slowly work on the guard, the grip and the pommel eat following a cruciform design of the classic longsword shape. Carefull not to move the metal too quickly to avoid stress fractures and continuing to add flux as you work your bar starts to look more and more like a longsword hilt.'

should read "each" (I think?) and "careful"

Yep, good typo catch. Also keep in mind that the middle message gets repeated 5 times as you work on the item.

Hi, before i make my contribution I would like to know whether its alright to add messages for the new items which we wish to be added or just the existing items present in the game already? Because I would love to have scimitars in the game as well.

For now just existing weapons. However, I do have a few mystery items that are waiting to be discovered when this is released. I plan to do the text for those myself to keep them extra mysterious.

Noctere wrote: ↑Mon Sep 02, 2019 12:23 pm Also keep in mind that the middle message gets repeated 5 times as you work on the item.

If the new system is coded like the current system, advanced smiths will see the middle message 5 times. Beginners and non-artisans will see the starter message then 3-4 iterations of the middle message and then have to reheat the bar. Resuming after the bar is heated will display the beginning message again, then potentially one middle message, and then the finish message.

I had thought to divide out the hammer head messaging into punching the haft hole (beginning), hammering out the cheeks (middle) and then shaping the face (finish). Your note is appreciated; I'll condense the first two into both the beginning and middle messages and keep the shaping of the face in the finish.

Correct, the new system was designed to be backwards compatible with the old. This will allow existing weapon parts to be carried into the new system. So no problems taking your masterfully-crafted celestium longsword blade from the old system and finishing it with the new.

Current research because it's fun to share!

I started out with the idea of doing a forging-hammer, though most hammers will be pretty similar.

Hammer head:

Beginning messaging - 'Taking the hot bar from the forge you begin to hammer the %material, creating the basic shape for a %craftitem. Sparks and cooling dross fly from %material with each strike of your %tool.'
Middle messaging - 'You continue hammering away at %material with your %tool and a punch, creating a haft hole and flattening the sides. You carefully turn and rotate the %material with your %tongs between strikes, keeping the eye even and symmetrical.'
Finish messaging - 'With the eye completed, you quickly finish shaping the sides and face, leaving you with a finished %craftitem. You brush the cooling metal with a wire brush, [add your crafting mark, ] and carefully plunge the %craftitem into a nearby barrel full of water while listening for any sounds which might indicate a fracture or warping of the material.'

Hammer haft:

Beginning messaging - 'Taking the hot bar from the forge you begin to hammer the %material, drawing the bar to a proper length for a %craftitem.'
Middle messaging - 'You continue hammering away at %material with your %tool, constantly rotating it to create a straight haft and an even surface for a comfortable grip.'
Finish messaging - 'You mark and trim the excess metal, finishing your %craftitem. You brush the cooling metal with a wire brush, [add your crafting mark, ] and carefully plunge the %craftitem into a nearby barrel full of water while listening for any sounds which might indicate flaws or weaknesses of the material.'

Vice:

Finish messaging - 'You heat the head and place the haft through the eye, hammering the cheeks for a tight fit on the haft. After cooling the head, you heat the tip of the haft, secure the base of the haft in the vice, and hammer the tip of the haft flat against the top of the %craftitem, securing it strongly in place. You release the weapon from the vice and cool it off a last time before grinding off any rough edges.'

Looks good! Just a few points to consider though.

'[add your crafting mark, ] '
I currently do not have a special word to plop in the crafting mark and there is also the situation where they may not have a crafting mark or have it turned off. In this case it would work if I left it blank but it is something to think about.

'Vice'
The vice has always bugged me as not all work areas have them and I also consider that there are a lot more tools needed that are not listed in the room so there is some ambiguity. In the new system though all items are plopped on the anvil and put together there, given that anvils come in many different sizes depending on the job and what is needed. This is another one of those real life to game ambiguities. But if you like it like that you can just assume that you remove the item from the anvil and bring it over to the vice. Blacksmiths do not keep stuff plastered to their hammering surface 100% of the time.

Other than that, looks good. Keep it coming!

Is casting planned for the system at all? I'm trying to work out how one would make a hammer head with another hammer and an anvil and I'm drawing blanks

Hakkon wrote: ↑Tue Sep 03, 2019 5:03 pm Is casting planned for the system at all? I'm trying to work out how one would make a hammer head with another hammer and an anvil and I'm drawing blanks

check out the first video I linked to in my post. It's how to make a hand hammer using a hand hammer. Even if you're part of our VI community, the audio content of the first is pretty good. (The second video is nearly no audio, and thus not nearly as good.)

Hakkon wrote: ↑Tue Sep 03, 2019 5:03 pm Is casting planned for the system at all? I'm trying to work out how one would make a hammer head with another hammer and an anvil and I'm drawing blanks

check out the first video I linked to in my post. It's how to make a hand hammer using a hand hammer. Even if you're part of our VI community, the audio content of the first is pretty good. (The second video is nearly no audio, and thus not nearly as good.)

Casting is more in the smelting department. (Not something we are doing in these descriptions) Once again we get some real life to game vagueness but you don't really need to work copper or bronze the same way you would iron or steel but for the sake of the game and the process we just sort of 'assume' that the item is being done as if it were steel.

To answer your question though, making a hammer head via forging is actually quite easy. All a hammer head is, is a lump or weight at the end of a stick which is securely head in place via many different methods. Methods such as compressing the wood into the outer ring with nails, or using a mechanical pin to hold, or wrapping the metal over the haft and crimping it etc. The head itself can be shaped and molded to be whatever you like. As fancy or plain as you have skill. Heck you can make hammers with twine, sticks and rocks. But that's something for another craft.

In your case, I would focus more on what you are trying to make the hammer head look like and what features make it different from other hammer heads.

Neat thought: You can make a forging hammer with a forging hammer and a pair of tongs with a pair of tongs. In fact, many blacksmiths will make custom tongs for different projects or modify the ones they have to suit their current project.

Added. Have any more you would like to contribute?

Might do a shield, though starting with a bar seems not a popular choice, so I'm doing more research.

Feel free to pull in some random tools or scrap items 'you find around the shop' *wink wink*. This is ok for minor things but if the shield is made mainly of something other than metal then that is when the entire process needs to be changed or it may not be suitable for forging. By the way, I did change the process for some items and they WILL require something other than just a metal bar. I am open to suggestions on this but remember, this is forging and the process should be at least 75% forging work. Go ahead and look around the game and if you find one specific item that you would like to be required to be included to forge this, please tell me. The new code supports requiring additional items.

A word of warning. Be careful having too many items on the forge and workbench at once. Both code wise and in real life, if you have things you care about on your work and hammering surface... bad things can happen. Also still accepting custom messaging if any care to submit any.

First, a typo correction for my past submission (added "the" before "%material" in both middle messages):

Nobody wrote: ↑Tue Sep 03, 2019 3:54 pm Hammer head:

Middle messaging - 'You continue hammering away at the %material with your %tool and a punch, creating a haft hole and flattening the sides. You carefully turn and rotate the %material with your %tongs between strikes, keeping the eye even and symmetrical.'

Hammer haft:

Middle messaging - 'You continue hammering away at the %material with your %tool, constantly rotating it to create a straight haft and an even surface for a comfortable grip.'

And now for the next one:

Pickaxe head:

Beginning messaging - 'You begin making the %craftitem by hammering a square section in the middle of the %material.'
Middle messaging - 'You continue hammering away at the %material with your %tool, rotating every few strikes to create a sturdy tappered point and a flat scraping edge.'
Finish messaging - 'With the sides finished, you grab a punch and hammer an open eye to fit a haft into the square mid-section. You brush the cooling metal with a wire brush and carefully plunge the %craftitem into a nearby barrel full of water while listening for any sounds which might indicate flaws or weaknesses in the %material.'

Pickaxe haft:

Beginning messaging - 'Taking the hot bar from the forge you begin to hammer the %material, drawing the bar to a proper length for a %craftitem.'
Middle messaging - 'You continue shaping the %material into a straight, slightly oblong haft and the air rings with the sound of metal on metal as you strike with your %tool.'
Finish messaging - 'You hit the %craftitem with your %tool a final time and decide it is finished. You brush the cooling metal with a wire brush, and carefully plunge the %craftitem into a nearby barrel full of water while listening for any sounds which might indicate flaws or weaknesses in the %material.'

Pickaxe:

Finish messaging - 'You heat the middle of the %material head and place the haft through the eye, hammering the cheeks for a tight fit on the haft. After cooling the head, you heat the top of the haft, secure the base of the haft in the vice, and hammer the tip of the haft flat against the top of the %craftitem, securing it strongly in place before grinding off any rough edges.'

Added.

Also if you want to submit more custom objects for approval please do so in this format: Or a smaller example: Of course all submitted tables should be lore friendly and fit with the current format for the prefix words that precede them. Submitting a list does not guarantee that I will include any or all of them but I do thank you for taking to consider one and make it code friendly should I decide to copy paste it in.

Noctere wrote: ↑Tue Sep 03, 2019 5:31 pm
Neat thought: You can make a forging hammer with a forging hammer and a pair of tongs with a pair of tongs. In fact, many blacksmiths will make custom tongs for different projects or modify the ones they have to suit their current project.

Someday soon IRL, someone is going to figure out how to use a 3D printer to create...another 3D printer. When this happens, any​ shares you have in 3D printer manufacturer companies are going to be nigh worthless.

I'd love to see these additions: These I expect you may want to reserve some or all of them for event and festival things, but if they're not reserved I'd love to see them:

And another typo correction. I really should spellcheck =(

Pickaxe head:

Middle messaging - 'You continue hammering away at the %material with your %tool, rotating every few strikes to create a sturdy tapered point and a flat scraping edge.'

How do all of you know so much about forging? Genuinely curious, I know my stuff from watching a show in which two people compete to make the best weapons, they're bladesmiths.

I added a few from both lists, special event ones will be reserved for NPC events and should not be in the hands of most players.

This was added but may be amended later if we find something inappropriate that I missed.