Volume Eleven Issue Twenty-Three

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 .............._______
 ............./      /            THE LEGENDARY TIMES
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 ...../ Celebrating    / /./       /./     /./  /.../  /./       /
 ..../ our 10th year  /_/..\______/./_____/./__/.../__/./_______/ MUD
 .../________________/      running on         mud.legendmud.org 9999
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 VOLUME ELEVEN, NUMBER TWENTY-THREE                November 21, 2004
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                         TABLE OF CONTENTS
                         The Editor's Note

                       NEWS, REPORTS, UPDATES
                         Calendar of Events
               Contest Reminder: SEND US YOUR PROMPTS!
                           Recent Updates
              News From the Whips and Chains Department
                         Recent Q&A Topics
                     DID YOU KNOW: Experience 

                            LEGENDITES
                       The Expies are Coming!
                             
                             CLAN NEWS
                         1337 Squad Forms

                             PK Front
                Sandra's PK Contest Final Results!

                       A Word from Our Sponsor
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/__|                      The Editor's Note                      |__\
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It's Thanksgiving Week here in the U.S.! Have a great holiday for
those of you who celebrate! We won't be having Q&A this Thursday as
many of us will be sitting and stuffing ourselves with turkey, but
there will be one on Dec. 2nd.

There's been a lot of confusion lately, even from very long-term
players about not getting experience when they get the killing blow.
I put together a Did You Know... on that this week and I hope it
explains what's happening. Feel free to drop me a note or post to the
discussion board if it doesn't make sense or seem to cover where you
thought you should have gotten experience points and didn't.

Another report that's been coming in a lot lately has to do with
randomly named items that show up with a %s in BUILD PREVIEW. This
simply means that the item comes in several different varieties and
the exact one will be determined when it is loaded into the game.
This can be a single word or small part of the object's description
or it can be the object's whole description. Most commonly, you will
see something like: '- a soft, %s carpet' that will result in 'a
soft, (red blue green multicolored woven beautiful or hand-made)
carpet'.

There have also been several reports about certain items always
scrapping when the mob wearing them is killed. Remember, different
materials withstand different damage types differently. Taking a
slashing or piercing weapon to something that rips easily might not
be your best strategy!

Have a great week and please take a few minutes to cast your votes
for LegendMUD at TopMudSites.com and MudConnector.com.

-Kaige
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/__|                LegendMUD Calendar of Events                 |__\
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       [All times are system time unless otherwise specified]

                 NOVEMBER                    DECEMBER     
          Su Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa        Su Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa
              1  2  3  4  5  6                  1  2  3  4
           7  8  9 10 11 12 13         5  6  7  8  9 10 11
          14 15 16 17 18 19 20        12 13 14 15 16 17 18
          21 22 23 24 25 26 27        19 20 21 22 23 24 25
          28 29 30                    26 27 28 29 30 31   

Wednesday,  November  24th,   2pm-10pm    PK BattleZone (HELP BATTLEZONE
                                                         for more info)
Thursday,   November  25th,               Happy Thanksgiving!
Sunday,     November  28th,    4:00 pm    Autumn Feast Social Gathering
Monday,     November  29th,    7:00 pm    PKill Doubles Tournament
Tuesday,    November  30th,   11:59 pm    Prompt Contest Entries 
                                                 Due to Natalia

Coming in December:
  More Trivia! More Social Gatherings! More PK Games and Events!
  Plus: Christmas!


Subscribe via iCal or view the calendar with any browser. 
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/__|           Contest Reminder: SEND US YOUR PROMPTS!           |__\
   '-------------------------------------------------------------'
   
                   Time is quickly running out! 
        There are only 9 days left to send in your prompts!

We are holding a contest to find new prompts for the prompt library.
Impress your friends, make your enemies jealous, and win fantastic
prizes doing it! Prizes and eternal fame are yours for the taking!

- include colors, delimiters, whatever you use for a prompt.
- combat and group prompts are also welcome.
- feel free to include a short note explaining your prompt, but
  it isn't necessary.

   Use the PROMPT SHOW, CPROMPT SHOW and GROUPFORMAT SHOW commands 
           to grab everything you need to submit!

    I can be reached at [email protected] or via mudmail. 

  The contest closes at 11:59 pm system time November 30, 2004.

     I look forward to receiving your submissions. Thank you.

- Natalia
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/__|                       Recent Updates                        |__\
   '-------------------------------------------------------------'

    /\                      CODE UPDATES
   /  \     
  /    \    There was no code update this week.
 /_    _\   
   |  |     
   |  |                   HELPFILE UPDATES
   |  |     
   |__|     General Topics:
    /\           BOARD, MUDMAIL, EXPERIENCE, KILL, EMPORIUM
   /  \     
  /    \    
 /_    _\                   AREA UPDATES
   |  |     
   |  |     If you want to suggest specific improvements or new
   |  |     additions to existing areas please don't hesitate to
   |__|     submit them with the idea/bug/typo commands or drop
    /\      mudmail to the builder currently responsible for the area
   /  \     (check AREAINFO to find out!).
  /    \    
 /_    _\   Thanks to everyone that submitted bug/typo/idea reports!
   |  |     
   |  |     ALHAMBRA
   |  |          Lope is more responsive about his mules now.
   |__|     CELTIC IRELAND
    /\           Aengus reacts slightly differently to poison and
   /  \          bleeding.
  /    \    KLEINSTADT
 /_    _\        Fix for the problem with the lost and found box
   |  |          disappearing.
   |  |     MISC
   |  |          Generic 'short saber' used in several areas saw a
   |__|          rent increase.
    /\      MELBOURNE
   /  \          Fix to Susan's gold-buying acts.
  /    \    
 /_    _\   SAN FRANCISCO, SHERWOOD, TORTUGA, and VICEROYAL LIMA
   |  |          Fix for smiths accepting new metals to repair.
   |  |     
   |  |     ABORIGINAL DREAMTIME, ANASAZI AMERICA, ARABIAN NIGHTS,
   |__|     ANCIENT NAZCA, BEOWULF, FRENCH INDIAN WAR, GENERIC
    /\      ANIMALS, HOSPITALLER MALTA, MEDIEVAL SEAS, OOC, PARIS
   /  \     EXPANSION, ROMANIA, SOUTH SEAS, TUDOR LONDON, WWI SOMME
  /    \         Various minor bugs and typos fixed.
 /_    _\   
   |  |     
   |  |                    In Progress Area Updates
   |  |     
   |__|     This section is intended to share what builders are 
    /\      working on behind the scenes. It is not a perfect record
   /  \     of progress as all builders do not commit updates every 
  /    \    week. Badgering builders about progress gets you flogged. 
 /_    _\   
   |  |             Nestor        Ancient Carthage
   |  |             Kaige/Ptah    1950s Americana
   |  |     
   |__|     
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/__|         News From the Whips and Chains Department           |__\
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               ,____  
               |---.\ It seems like it was only a couple of weeks ago
       ___     |    ` that I wrote one of these articles for the LT
      / .-\  ./=)     about the Admin department. Time flies when you
     |  |"|_/\/|      are distracted by many things both in the real
     ;  |-;| /_|      world and in Legend.
    / \_| |/ \ |      
   /      \/\( |      I've been trying to focus on one "point" from
   |   /  |` ) |      the HELP RULES each month so that each of them
   /   \ _/    |      can be covered in a little more detail within
  /--._/  \    |      about a year's time. This month, I would like 
  `/|)    |    /      to focus on #12, cooperating with the immortal
    /     |   |       staff.
  .'      |   |       
 /         \  |       12. Never lie to an immortal; always be fully
(_.-.__.__./  /           cooperative with them, as they are trying
                          to do a tough job. Do not assume they have
all the information they need, and be as helpful as possible to them
so that they can respond appropriately.

If an immortal asks you to do something (such as moving a
conversation on chat to a conference), you should follow their
instructions. If you have a problem with what you have been asked to
do or have questions about it, take it up in private with that
immortal or the Head Admin at a later time. (See HELP WIZLIST).

Cooperating with the immort staff when they ask you to do something
is the only way to keep situations from getting out of hand. Often an
immortal will see a situation happening that they have seen before
and want to head off. It may seem unfair to be asked to stop
discussing something you find to be amusing or important, but the
staff has a lot of experience with this and can generally see bad
situations happening.

On another note. Please remember that purges are going to start up
again January first. Purges will happen on schedule the first day of
each month and any character that has not been played within the
previous 30 days will be moved out of the active player directory. If
you have a character that you don't play often enough but don't want
to lose please ARCHIVE them. You can see who would have been purged
on November first on the purge list on the website.
      
There will be a new list posted around the first of December with the
list of chars that would have been purged on that day. We will then
change the script that handles this from logging only mode to purge
mode on January 1st, 2005.

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  _______   ____    _______
 /  ___  \ / __ \  /  ___  \  Logs of Q&A sessions are available on
 | /   \ | \ \/ /  | /   \ |  the the web pages for those who are
 | |   | |  \  /   | \___/ |  unable to attend or had to leave early.
 | |   | |  /  \/\ |  ___  |  The most recent ones are listed on the
 | | /\| | / /\  / | /   \ |  sitemap page or you can get a complete
 | \_\ \ | \ \/  \ | \   / |  list on the Q&A index page at the url
  \___\/_/  \__/\/ \_/   \_|  below.

     http://www.legendmud.org/Community/lectures/QandA/QA_index.html

Yes, there's still a backlog of them to be cleaned up (they're the
ones that don't have topics listed in the index) but they're posted!

                           RECENT TOPICS

 o PK Balance?                     o More Info in Help Hands? 
 o Headbutt?                       o Druids Overpowered? 
 o Retreat?                        o Pkill Status? 
 o Bug with Snipe?                 o Dual School Mages? 
 o Quaff During Combat?            o Old Blind vs New Blind? 
 o Dispel Illusion Directable?     o Perc & Detect Illusion? 
 o Old Blind and PK?               o Problems with Create Mages? 
 o PK Meeting Rescheduled For?     o PK Doubles Tournament? 
 o Changes with Scan

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   _____       
  /  _  \      DID YOU KNOW     ... that gaining experience by 
 /__/ \  \     killing a mob (or another player) depends on more than
      /  /     just getting in the killing blow?
     /  /      
    /__/       You must be part of the group that does the majority
    __         of the damage to your opponent when it is killed. If
   /  \        you come across an opponent that is bleeding freely,
   \__/        covered in blood, leaking guts, almost dead or DYING
               and you weren't in the group that did that damage you
   _____       will receive no experience for finishing the kill.
  /  _  \      
 /__/ \  \     This also applies even if you log out or are killed by
      /  /     that opponent (and are effectively removed from your
     /  /      own group if you are solo) and go back and finish them
    /__/       off. When you leave the game, the game erases much of
    __         its knowledge of you, the only thing that is retained
   /  \        is specifically stored information on your character
   \__/        and occasionally on a specific mobile. Gone is any
               'record' of the damage you did to your opponent.
   _____       
  /  _  \      Poison damage is not tied to any particular character
 /__/ \  \     and thus cannot be used solely to kill an opponent for
      /  /     experience points.
     /  /      
    /__/       So, if you want experience points, you'll have to wait
    __         and once again do the majority of combat damage to your
   /  \        opponent by the killing blow. If you simply want the
   \__/        satisfaction of a victory or their gear, go for it!
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/__|  LEGENDITES: Information Regarding the People of Our World  |__\
   '-------------------------------------------------------------'

                 Moo has reached 300 million experience!

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                       The Expies are Coming!

  It's not too soon to think about the LegendMUD Expies Awards!

The Expies are awarded for achievements throughout the entire year,
with a ceremony held on or near the mud's birthday on February 14th.
HELP EXPIES has more information on these annual awards.

Everyone has the opportunity to nominate candidates for awards, and
to vote for their favorites. The more nominations we get, the better
the final ballot will be, the more fitting and diverse the awards
will be -- so we need your help! It's time to start thinking about
your nominations for the many categories of the Expie Awards.

This week we're turning the spotlight on three player awards: Most
Helpful to New Players, Most Likely to Help a DT/Overrent Victim, and
Best Clan.

The Most Helpful to New Players award is, as you might guess, given
to the person who has been most helpful to new players over the last
year. This is a vital role, and a great deal of work for those who do
it well. Today's newbies are tomorrow's group-mates -- who does the
best job acclimating new people to our environment, and helping them
to become the types of players we all enjoy interacting with? We
encourage you to think about what you've seen over the last year --
the quiet folks who give advice and encouragement as well as those
performing well-known heroics.

The Most Likely to Help a DT/Overrent Victim award is an excellent
way to honor those tireless folks who rescue us from our mistakes and
get us back on the road to playing again. By contributing their
skills and advice to equipment runs, these helpful folks not only
cheer us up after a loss, they may actually leave us better off in
the end! Who deserves your nomination based on their work over the
last year?

Winning any Expie is an honor, but the Best Clan award is a
particularly coveted one. This award reflects group effort -- not
simply leadership (honored by the Best GM award), and is given to the
clan best exemplifying the community-building, fun-promoting, social
alliance role which clans play on the mud. Visiting the clans page on
the website or typing CLANS ALL in the game will give you the names
of all the clans -- which do you recognize? Which clans have been
particularly active and creative this year?

Interested in past Expies winners? Head OOC N W N to visit the Expie
Trophy Room, filled with the names of winners both long-ago and
recent!

Want to comment on Expie-worthy actions you've seen over the last
year? Thought up some nominees as a result of this article and want
to make sure you don't forget them? Post to the wall of Expie
reminder post-its, located in the OOC Auditorium as well as other
places throughout the OOC. All the categories are on the board, as
well as collected comments from the year. Don't forget that
campaigning for Expies is prohibited, but sharing your observations
on the post-its is encouraged -- please read HELP CAMPAIGN to get a
sense of this rule, or ask if you're uncertain!
  ___                                                          ___ 
  \  |--------------------------------------------------------|  /
  /__|                     Clan News                          |__\
     '--------------------------------------------------------'

                        1337 Squad Forms

The 1337 Squad was formed on Saturday, November 20, 2004. The clan's
stated purpose is to lead and populate large xp runs and large/small
group runs. They are not associated with any particular rp. Contact
Static for more info.

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There are currently 20 RP clans and 3 PK clans. This leaves open
slots for nine (9) more clans to form. For more information, read
HELP CLAN and see the clan information list via the CLANS command
while logged into the game. For a basic handbook and reference guide
for players interested in starting and running a clan, we recommend
that before you even type FORM, you visit:
             http://www.legendmud.org/Reference/gm.html.
  ___                                                          ___ 
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  /__|                     PK Front                           |__\
     '--------------------------------------------------------'

               Sandra's PK Contest Final Results!

Aaaaannnnnnd the results are...

In 3rd place with 14 kills - Axaxaxas!

In 2nd place with 24 kills - Horror!

and...

The crazy, mad pkiller of the month... Vendetta with 35 kills!

Worth mentioning:
     Each week, the pk deaths increased, not decreased.
     Some pkillers even came out of hiding this month.
     There were 3 sets of multikills that were deleted from the
     count.

Other players with some nice tallies:
     Delandel and Chandler with 13.
     Trousers with 11.
     Static with 11.
     Molath with 10.
     Geraden and Dalia with 9.
     Dharma, Sana, Malandrino, Asterix with 6.

Prizes go to the first, second and third place winners.

Please append your thoughts on the game to the post "Contest Final
Results!" on the war board, and if you'd like to see it run again.

And finally..

Thanks for playing everyone!

-Sandra
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If you witness or commit any glorious or nefarious deeds, send a
short report to us at the LT. If you are looking for a fight,
recruiting, or anything else related to PKill (not necessarily PK
Clan related), send it in! It's free AND you'll get a prize token! Be
a celebrity, the envy of all your friends! Tick off your enemies or
just tell your side of the story! Get YOUR name up in lights! We
can't report it if you don't tell us!
              _______________________
             /                       \
        o O | Wonder what folks are   |
  `\|||/    | doing over at LegendMUD?|
   (o o)     \_______________________/
ooO_(_)_Ooo__________________________________________________________
_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|___
__|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|

                      A Word from Our Sponsor

                Big Mitch's Smithy & Livery Stables

Everyone in Frisco knows if you want good horses ya come to my livery
stables. My stablehand will help you select a perfect mount fer yer
needs, or help you in acquiring a burro to help haul yer prospectin'
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In addition, I can also do small repairs for a fee, and have been
known to rent out buckboard wagons as well. Some stop on by the next
time yer in Frisco and we'll strike a deal that benefits both of us!

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  The Legendary Times is published by the immortals of LegendMUD.
Please send replies, additions, or corrections to [email protected]
for inclusion in the next issue. All subscription options are handled
at: www.legendmud.org/lists/listinfo/legendarytimes and submissions
at: www.legendmud.org/Community/ltsubmission.php. For RP submissions,
copyright ownership remains with the author. We do reserve the right
to moderate the forum and edit or reject any submission.
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