Slime Mold Juice

[StultusTemporis]

Quick question:

I noticed that slime mold juice no longer cures blindness. Was this intentional, or was it an oversight?

[Nick]

It used to do this? That's news to me.

[Saru]

In moria it cured blindness & confusion.

[StultusTemporis]

It was back in the days of Moria. Slime mold juice was the main treatment for blindness, which was rather important because of how common and annoying blindness was. If you want to test it, I can attach it for your reference (it is under the shareware license, which allows public distribution so long as it is not "sold or marketed IN ANY FORM without the permission and written consent from the author").

[Nick]

OK, after a brief lesson in the original Angband code I can tell you that in the first released Angband version - 2.4.frog-knows - slime mold juice cured blindness and confusion, but it was removed in the next versions (both PCAngband 1.0 and version 2.5 beta).

At this point, it looks intentional, but it was a change made in April or May 1993 so it's hard to say for certain.

[DavidMedley]

May 13th 1993 -- The Day Angband Died

[StultusTemporis]

Would it be appropriate to restore this effect? With the introduction of status effect reducing effects, such as provided by the Cure Wounds potions, there is a lot more developer control over the balance of the curing effect. And, since confusion and blinding abilities rarely deal damage (at least in the early levels, where potions of slime mold juice are relevant), there is a call for a potion that reduces or ends those effects without wasting a Cure potion. And frankly, how often are characters chugging potions solely to reduce their hunger?

[Selkie]

Quick question:

I noticed that slime mold juice no longer cures blindness. Was this intentional, or was it an oversight?

Next you'll be telling me canine skeletons could be eaten to restore life levels and filthy rags could be worn for shard resistance

[Voovus]

I would support this for the sake of passing on the lore of our elders to the younger generation. I believe this particular quirk dates back to Rogue, where a potion of See Invisible cures blindness and "tastes like Slime Mold juice".

I would not support canine skeletons curing life levels. Preserving random nonsense is one thing, introducing it is something else.

[tangar]

yep, it should be included, my vote for the legacy!

[StultusTemporis]

Next you'll be telling me canine skeletons could be eaten to restore life levels and filthy rags could be worn for shard resistance

Not necessarily a bad idea, but it strikes me as something more appropriate for a variant . Maybe one where spell components are used for magic rather then mana. (Eating monster parts was always more of a NetHack or Omega thing anyway.)

[Nick]

Would it be appropriate to restore this effect?

It's kind of tempting in some ways, but I don't think I want to go down that path. It is, after all, one of the very first changes made by the early Angband developers once they forked from Moria. So what would we revert next - reduce the dungeon to 50 floors again? Balrog as end boss? Remove rune ID?

There's still plenty of Moria legacy left in Angband - I think if that's not doing it for you nostalgia-wise, play Moria. Or NPPMoria.

[tangar]

Some minor things gives game some additional flavour and won't hurt... anyway there are always variants for such stuff

[Egavactip]

During character creation, each character should be given a random effect that slime mold juice in that game will always have on them. So in this game, slime mold juice is equivalent to a CSW. In my next game, slime mold juice gives me Heroism. In the game after, that, slime mold juice cures confusion.

[misanthropope]

could get a "tip of the hat" easily by making "slime mold juice" one of the flavors of potion.