Volume Five Issue Eleven

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  ............./      /            THE LEGENDARY TIMES
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  ..../                /_/..\______/./_____/./__/.../__/./_______/ MUD
  .../________________/       running on         mud.sig.net 9999
                                                 199.1.78.16 9999
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http://mud.sig.net/                                     ftp://mud.sig.net/pub
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VOLUME FIVE, ISSUE ELEVEN                                     March 6th, 1998
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                              TABLE OF CONTENTS

                -            The Editor's Note           -
                -       Upcoming Calendar of Events      -
                -      Departmental News and Updates     -

                                 ARTICLES
                -        Site Name Change Reminder       -
                -        Q & A Session Report 2/24       -
                -             Did You Know...            -
                -   Expies nomination ballots are out!   -
                -         Scavenger Hunt Results         -
                -             Did You Know...            -
                -          Legend Meet '98 Info          -
                -        Q & A Session Report 3/3        -
                -              PK Tourney!               -

                                LEGENDITES
                -             A Terrible Loss            -
                -              Guapo's Curse             -
                -            Xerox Finds Love            -
                -      A Note From A Reluctant Emperor   -
                -         A Dreaded Plague Spreads       -
                -              War? Which war?           -
___                                                                    ___
\  |------------------------------------------------------------------|  /
/__|                           EDITOR'S NOTE                          |__\
   '------------------------------------------------------------------'

                      LegendMUD: Viturally a Community
                          or A Virtual Community?

Many topics crossed my mind during the collation of this issue. However,
the one central idea behind all of them has been that of "community."

Several things have brought this to my attention not just this week, but
since the first of the year. I hope it's not just wishful thinking on my
part and others from when the Player Relations Department set forth its
goals.

Looking over the web pages, I found the log of the discussion held in the
OOC on July 8th, 1995, "An Open Forum on the Future of the MUD"(1) and
Greebo's essay on "Ethics and Virtual Reality"(2) that looks at ethics in a
virtual reality setting (such as a mud, and more specifically, LegendMUD)
and deals with the issues of "play" versus "game" and the moral
implications of a virtual society. If you haven't read these before or
haven't read them in a while, do so. They're quite interesting and provide
much food for thought.

As pointed out in the Player Relations Department goals, the form of
LegendMUD's community is two fold. There is a community of characters in
the game itself and there is the community of players who control those
characters. Often it is difficult to separate the two, but there is a
division which can most easily be detected by examining the interests and
goals of the characters and their players.

The interests of the players are often more diverse than that of the
characters, while the goals of the players are more similar than those of
the characters. Players come to LegendMUD to have a good time, relieve
stress of the real world, find companionship and conversation and play a
game. They bring with them interests bio-engineering, blacksmithing, middle
eastern studies, popular music, classical music, military service,
homemakers, and students. We even once had one of North America's top
grasshopper expert playing with us.

The characters they bring to the world of LegendMUD, are usually interested
in bettering themselves, but also have widely varied objectives that have
ranged from leading the life of a fiesty bard, keeping the world safe for
hedgehogs, to conquering the world and dominating it, to meeting the loves
of their lives and making their fortunes and fame.

That we're on our 3rd annual Legend Meet this year points to the
recognition of community and a desire to meet the people behind the
characters. That this newletter has a subscription base of around 650
readers shows there is interest in the world that LegendMUD has become
beyond just what stat you can boost the highest.

However, this idea, this sense of community, is often shattered or
forgotten. The personal out-of-character attacks flung wildly in the heat
of pkill don't increase the enjoyment of the game for everyone. People have
accused of wanting UtopiaMUD. Perhaps we do in some ways. However it's much
more interesting if the strife, stress and insults are made in good fun,
not done out of pure malice because you feel you can hide behind your
relative anonymity provided by your character. You can expect people to move
out of your neighborhood, but we've had far too many people lately feel that
they've been driven out for various reasons.

Of course, I can always hope that in this forum, I'm preaching to the
choir. What we need are more missionaries taking the message to the people
in the world that don't subscribe. So go forth and spread the word.

LegendMUD is a community of players who can be more than civil to each
other.

1. "An Open Forum on the Future of the MUD" can be found at:
    http://mud.sig.net/Lectures/future.html
2. "Ethics and Virtual Reality" can be found at:
    http://mud.sig.net/Lectures/essay.htm

___                                                                    ___
\  |------------------------------------------------------------------|  /
/__|                    UPCOMING CALENDAR OF EVENTS                   |__\
   '------------------------------------------------------------------'

        [All times are system times unless otherwise specified]

                   -<>-<>-<>-<>-March-<>-<>-<>-<>-

Friday,    March  6, 6:00pm - RP/PK Tiny Plot
                              Mudmail LadyAce for more details
Saturday,  March 7, 11:00am - Q & A Session in OOC Auditorium
                              This Saturday session is held once a month
                              to allow our overseas players a chance to
                              attend, although all are welcome.
Saturday,  March  7, 3:00pm - Murder Mystery!
Sunday,    March  8, 2:00pm - Newbie Kit Contest
Tuesday,   March 10, 7:00pm - Q & A Session in OOC Auditorium
                              General Session, led by Croaker
Saturday,  March 14, 4:00pm - Star Trek PKill Tourney
Tuesday,   March 17         - LegendMUD celebrates St. Patrick's Day!
Tuesday,   March 17, 7:00pm - Q & A Session in OOC Auditorium
                              Special Guest: Zandy, answering questions
                              about MortMUD
Tuesday,   March 24, 7:00pm - Q & A Session in OOC Auditorium
Tuesday,   March 31, 7:00pm - Q & A Session in OOC Auditorium


                   -<>-<>-<>-<>-April-<>-<>-<>-<>-

Wednesday, April 1          - MortMUD!
                              Special mortal-written areas replace
                              LegendMUD for a space of 24 hours.
Saturday,  April 4          - Q & A Session in OOC Auditorium
                              This Saturday session is held once a month
                              to allow our overseas players a chance to
                              attend, although all are welcome.

___                                                                    ___
\  |------------------------------------------------------------------|  /
/__|                   DEPARTMENTAL NEWS AND UPDATES                  |__\
   '------------------------------------------------------------------'
          ADMINISTRATION              |             BUILDING
          -=-=-=--=-=-=-              |             -=-==-=-
                                      |
Lately the Admin Department has been  | o Alhazred: continue work on the
working on pkill issues and pkenabled |   Mongol Invasion.
a couple of characters. They also had | o Croaker: worked on playtesting
to hand out a few warnings for        |   his area and London, a Roman
eq-swapping, multiplaying, and        |   Britain update, and his area
profanity on public channels.         |   for mortmud.
                                      | o Kheldar: installed an
Requests for restrings, descriptions  |   update of Romania with various
and registrations for descriptions    |   fixes and some of the new builder
were also handled. The boards were    |   features, worked on area reviews:
also gone through to clean up         |   the Aborigines, Peloponnesian 
irrelevant or outdated posts.         |   Isles and Ithaca, and worked on  
                                      |   his next area proposal.
Several characters were archived      | o LadyAce: proposed adding on the
and others were unarchived or         |   Black Forest, and started work on
rescued from the backups from the     |   it. Did some building for PR.
monthly purges.                       |   Also worked on Klein, adding room
                                      |   descriptions and room acts.
--------------------------------------+ o Wraith: Answered builder questions
        PLAYER RELATIONS              |   and debugged his updated version
        -=-=-=-==-=-=-=-              |   of the animal files and his own
                                      |   area. Made lots of minor fixes to
Rusalka has stepped down from her     |   the ancient Andes and Nazca.
post as Head of Player Relations.     | o Zandy & Sandra: installed the
Although she has greatly enjoyed      |   Garden of Remembrance.
working with both the PR imms and     |
players, Real Life demands the larger +------------------------------------
share of her time and energy at       |              CODING
present. RL permitting, she hopes to  |              -=--=-
eventually resume work on various     | Fixed a bunch of bugs and typos,
building projects, including a long   | fixed a crashing bug, hopefully a
awaited update to the Tudor Area.     | hanging one, too. Tried to get the
Although she will be inactive for the | code to work with Insure so that we
indefinite future, she will most      | could find and eliminate some bugs.
definitely keep in touch with Legend. |
                                      | o Because of multiple complaints
LadyAce has accepted to take over the |   and questionable intent, guests
position of Head PR. In light of her  |   can't write, append or post notes
recent enthusiasm and efforts to      | o Small change to the input buffer
coordinate and revitalize the PR      |   code, trying to speed it up.
depart., the imps, Rusalka and the    | o Checks for pkenabled characters
other department heads feel she is an |   should be correct now.
excellent choice.                     | o Actions/Quests that give items
                                      |   and failed, should be fixed.
Let's wish both Rusalka and LadyAce   | o AFK will only show "So-n-so is
the best of luck!                     |   AFK" on info if a character is
                                      |   muzzled, limited or in a SILENT
Be sure to check out the new EVENTS   |   room and have show afk info on.
command online for a current          | o Dip is no longer available in
Calendar of Events!                   |   no_update rooms.
                                      |
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

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\  |------------------------------------------------------------------|  /
/__|                          NEWS AND REPORTS                        |__\
   '------------------------------------------------------------------'

                      !!! Site Name Change Reminder !!!

Sig.net Partners have asked us to drop the .aus from our domain name. The
deadline for using either mud.sig.net or the old mud.aus.sig.net is drawing
close. Please change all your aliases, web links or other such pointers to
address the machine as mud.sig.net. The address mud.aus.sig.net will not
work after our net connection contract is renewed in March. Be prepared!


                           Q & A REPORT 2/24
                           -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

LegendMUD's first Q & A session in a while was held Tuesday, February 24,
in the OOC Auditorium, hosted this week by LadyAce.

LadyAce explained the purpose of Q & A, which is to answer questions that
players have about how things on Legend work and why they work the way they
do. In the future, the session will alternate between being run by a member
of the PR department, and a special guest from another department. The guest
may choose to talk about a specific topic, or just answer general questions.

Arsene asked how the dispel magic spell works if the person it's being
cast on is affected by magic sink, in particular with reference to pk.

Ea! responded: 'Sink and dispel magic can be thought of as opposite spells -
they cancel each other out without any other effect.

Tancred pointed out that at 2 am, not many Europeans will attend the Q &
A session. He suggested rotating the time and or the day, and announcing
this in advance so that people can plan for it.

LadyAce responded: 'I think that a special discussion time could be set
up every other week, perhaps.'

This was followed by a long discussion of changes to pkill.


=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

   _____       DID YOU KNOW     ...if you type DESCRIPTION or DESC you
  /  _  \      will see your full description (that which you enter in
 /__/ \  \     the menu after leaving the game), your short description
      /  /     AND your long description - which are no longer shown in
     /  /      the new score format.
    /__/
    __         Long and short descriptions can be obtained by requesting
   /  \        them through mudmail to Sandra. They must be human and
   \__/        descriptive of your appearance to be approved as well as
               within the rules of the Player Code of Conduct.

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=


     The LegendMUD 4th Annual Expie Award nomination ballots are out!

If you didn't receive a ballot, simply send a note to [email protected]
saying you would like a ballot, and one will be mailed to you in the next
day.

Ballots are due on March the 9th at 12 midnight SYSTEM time. Ballots _MUST_
have a valid character name at the top, and be returned to
[email protected] or they will not be counted!

Contrary to popular notion, the Expies are not a popularity contest. They
are not an election, but an award.

Many have complained there are too many people involved in LegendMUD to
know everyone and their accomplishments. This strikes us as a good reason
to advertise yourself throughout the year by submitting stuff to the
Legendary Times. Get yourself recognized! No need to campaign for an award
that is seen as deserving by past deeds!

So there's plenty of space to "advertise" but you'll have to start
working for next year's awards now and continue throughout the year!

        Vote for the deserving players and immortals today!


/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
|                                                                      |
|                       Scavenger Hunt Items                           |                                                                         |
|        to be brought to the Jolly Beggar in London for tallying:     |
|                                                                      |
|     Vague Theme: necessary items for a Legend-style birthday party   |
|                                                                      |
|            Creative, non-literal thinking encouraged!                |
|                                                                      |
|   Party Supplies!                                                    |                    |
|   1. pin the tail on the donkey (3pts)                               |
|   2. 16 candles (1 pt)                                               |
|   3. Vanilla, chocolate, strawberry (3pts)                           |
|   4. Pie and cake (1 pt)                                             |
|   5. an elephant (10 pts)                                            |
|   6. a lady in red (5 pts)                                           |
|   7. something heavenly (3pts)                                       |
|   8. a reason to drink (3pts)                                        |
|   9. 4 different heads (2pts each)                                   |
|  10. a diamond encrusted tiara (3 pts)                               |
|  11. make a wish! (5 pts)                                            |
|  12: 5 sugary sweets (3 pts)                                         |
|  13: 4 different ways to cook potatoes (1 pt each)                   |
|                                                                      |
|  Gifts!                                                              |
|  14. a silk robe (3 pts)                                             |
|  15. a book you'll never read (1 pt)                                 |
|  16. a ribbon and a bow (3 pts)                                      |
|  17. 3 different purple objects (2 pts each)                         |
|  18. 5 different keys (1 pt each)                                    |
|  19. slippers (3 pts)                                                |
|  20. something for the bath (2 pts)                                  |
|                                                                      |
|    If you can make a good argument for your item fitting the         |
|    description of the thing listed, the judges will consider         |
|  partial, full, or bonus credit (for creativity and cleverness)      |                           |
|                                                                      |
\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/

On Sunday, March 2nd, the above list was distributed to several teams of
anxious and clever scavenger hunters. What resulted was a merry, spammy
mayhem, involving cajoling, dashing, teamwork, creativity, and 4 elephants
in London. When all was said and done, and all the points were tallied,
the scores were as follows:

                 Arsene, Galron, Reckless:      75
                 Asmodean, Magius:              74
                 Uma, Jen-Creature, Willow:     64
                 Stick, Madison, Zero:          61
                 Ronnie, Armand, Laurana:       53
                 Stradivari, Darkwolf, Gaebrel: 31
                 Fairfax:                       20
                 Tullus:                        18
                    (out of 75 possible points)

               Congratulations to everyone who played!

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

   _____       DID YOU KNOW         ...when you want to repeat the same
  /  _  \      command multiple times, you can cut drastically on the
 /__/ \  \     spam (and hence make yourself a lot more popular, at
      /  /     least with weak-link people). The syntax:
     /  /      "buy 3*bread&;eat 3*bread" will produce the following
    /__/       output from the MUD:
    __
   /  \        You buy a loaf of bread.
   \__/        You buy a loaf of bread.
               You buy a loaf of bread.

               

   _____       You eat a loaf of bread.
  /  _  \      You eat a loaf of bread.
 /__/ \  \     You eat a loaf of bread.
      /  /
     /  /      
    /__/
    __         Considerably less spammy than six inputs, huh?
   /  \        Note that you cannot use the * with all commands, and
   \__/        there is a limit of 30 maximum repetitions.

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=


                           Legend Meet '98 Info
                           -=-=-=-=-==-=-=-=-=-

The date has been set for the weekend of March 20-22nd in Atlanta, Georgia.

           This is your two week warning for Legend Meet '98.

     For those of you that are coming and haven't told me, please
     E-mail me here or at [email protected] and tell me where your
     coming from so I can send you a good set of directions.  Else your
     gonna have to rely on the map that I post next week sometime.
     Hope to see you all there. - Alvis

The local Hampton Inn has a special weekend rate of $59 dollars a night
(American). You can make reservations by calling 1-800-HAMPTON. Ask for
reservations at the Hampton Inn in Roswell, Georgia. Now, if you'd like to
arrive early, or stay late, the Hampton has said that they are willing to
extend the special rate for one day (i.e. Thursday or Sunday night)
although they may give you both. If you intend to stay that long you'll
need to call the Hampton locally at (770) 587-5161. Ask for Ms. Vanessa
Clark and tell her that you are with Legend Meet to get the extended rates.

So far the meet is being geared for Friday night, Saturday, and Sunday. If
you are planning on arriving in Atlanta on Thursday or leaving on Monday we
can handle it cause we should have at least a few people who are free for
spring break then.

We are planning on getting together on Friday night at either one of our
houses, the hotel that everyone stays at, or at a specfic resturant (which
one it is will be determined by how many people show up).

Saturday is still very flexible, we are planning on going to the World of
Coca Cola,  and what ever else anyone wants to do.

Saturday night (depending on how old everyone is) we are going to go local
adult game bar (Atlanta's strange idea of an adult casino) and if we get
out early enough maybe a magic tourney for those who want to play.

Sunday will be the Mud day, we are working out wether to take everyone down
to Georgia Tech (it's a lot closer) or to U.G.A.

Currently we're going to leave a lot of the time open for disscusion by the
people who are planning on attending. Being from Atlanta causes one to miss
some of the things people from out of town would want to be able to see. So
if you have every wanted to do anything specfic (and legal of course) in
Atlanta, let me know.

Alvis is still working on getting a nice set of directions (southerners
have a bad habit of use Piggly Wiggly as reference points) to post on the
welcome board, so look for them in the future.

If you've questions or suggestions, contact Alvis either via mudmail or at
[email protected].

Hope to see you there!


                           Q & A REPORT 3/3
                           -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Q1:  What Language is the Code Written in?
     Funfrock says, intrigued, 'How hard is coding for LegendMUD if ya
     already know C/Java/Basic?'

     Ea! says, 'The code is pretty standard C, some of it is a real
     jumble.'

Q2:  Alphabetizing
     Omega says, eyes twinkling, 'Can you code a command to make my
     befriend list alphabetized?'

     Ea! says, 'I guess we could, but seeing as most people don't
     befriend 99% of the mud, it seems like a low priority.'

     This led to a more general discussion of alphabetizing command
     output, and the difficulty of doing so. The general assessment
     (thanks to some excellent suggestions and comments from Joachim,
     as well as FunFrock and Matthew) was that it would be possible to
     do without large problems. The coding staff is adding it to the
     list of things to do.

Q3:  Near-useless skills
     'Can you make a skill like armwrestle for all stats slots/ make
     that skill not cost a pratice?' Omega says, eyes twinkling.

     Ea! says, 'Armwrestling is a pre-requisite skill under skill
     trees -- that is, it has little functionality, mostly RP, but is
     required for learning other skills...'

     'One suggestion that was made was that eloquence become a similar
     type of skill (and moods be made available to everyone),' Ea(and
     moods be made available to everyone),' Ea! says. 'It's quite
     possible we'll act on that.'

     'It's quite likely we'll do it,' Ea! says. 'Probably it'd take an
     argument as the subject you're discussing with the person so that
     it could be used as a trigger for Mobs in quests.'

     'So you'd type: eloquence Ea!' Ea! says. 'Stupid changes to the
     code and you'd eloquently discuss with me "stupid changes to the
     code". .'

     'Isn't that like the way it used to work, that was so useless
     that they added moods to it?' a tall gaunt gentleman says.

     Ea! nods his agreement with a tall gaunt gentleman.

     Ea! says, 'But that's why it's a pre-requisite in addition to
     other function.'

Q4:  Skill wipes
     Dune says, 'Will there be a skill wipe so I can get all these
     neato skills?'

     'We're wiping skills when trees go in,' Ea! saya.

Q5:  Adding Clientlike Functionality to the MUD
     'How difficult would it be to configure spells so that instead of
     typing out chant guh vya lak ex... we could just do STUN,
     instead???' Destiny says.

     'Well, that way, you wouldn't even need to flip through your
     spellbook, as long as you remember the name of the spell,' Destiny
     says.

     'Generally we steer away from client-like functionality,' you say
     to Destiny.

     You say, 'Clients are very highly available, and free. You could
     use tintin from unix, or run the client on the machine you're
     using... if you always use a lab, carry a disk.'

Q6:  Skills Under Trees
     'If/when you switch to skill trees, are skills still only going
     to be 1 practice?' Funfrock says casually.

     'That's the current plan,' Ea! says to Funfrock.

     'Any more spells?' Funfrock says casually. 'Possibly another
     Cause/Create style thing?'

     '26 skills in the warrior tree, for example,' Ea! says. 'It's a
     large one, though.'

Q7:  The Rent System
     'If we die and we get all corpse then we don't rent how come your
     stuff is gone?' Darkwolf says.

     Fatale says to Darkwolf, 'If you were over rent you can lose your
     stuff.'

     Tad says to Darkwolf, 'Depending on how close to your rent
     maximum you were, the prestige loss from dying can lower your
     maximum rent enough to put you overrent.'

Q8:  Future Code Changes
     'What will be the next skill trees component we will see?'
     Matthew says.

     Ea! says, 'Player housing, or possible some of the banking
     changes.'

     'The banking changes that we're implementing mostly aren't
     related to the banking changes in skill trees, but...' Ea! says.

     'The changes limit the amount of money in the Legend economy,'
     Ea! says. 'They were in Tara for a while, but got pulled as they
     didn't work properly.'

     Ea! says, 'But the changes for skill trees were mainly things
     like different currencies for different areas...'

     '...are you going to implement those chant style spells?'
     Funfrock says casually. 'Weave, et cetera?'

     Kaige says, 'Cantrips?'

     'I don't know of any current plans to work on them,' Ea! says,
     'but inscribe/enchant will go in with skill trees. They allow you
     to create scrolls/wands.

     Ea! says, 'Cantrips would be small mostly-useless spells. I
     don't know of the plans for them, though.'

     Kaige says to Ea!, 'They'd mostly be a way for the non
     magical places to have a something to do with chant.'

     'Currently I'm working on a bunch of changes to the way that
     immortal commands work... that's not noticable at all to
     players...' Ea! says.

Q9: Stun
     'Why is stun so weak these days?' Vladamir says to Ea!.

     'Is it?' Ea! says to Vladamir.

     'Well in some ways,' Vladamir says to Ea!, 'For example, the
     worse for wear is nice.. but backlahsing ona croc when you have
     near 100 mind is damn silly,' Vladamir says to Ea!.

     'It's weaker than before, but I think it's not overly weak...'
     Ea! says.

     Vladamir says to Ea!, 'It really blows against mobs,.'

     'You shouldn't be able to backlash against a croc if you've got
     100 mind,' Ea! says.

     Vladamir says to Ea!, 'Talking about the mugger btw.'

     'Oh, well, the Mugger is a mind-numbingly smart Crocodile,' Ea!
     says. 'He's not your every-day-croc..'

     'Not just him..' Vladamir says to Ea!, 'Most of the larger mobs...'

     'Well, I think part of that is a relic of the days where they
     needed it to be stun-proof,' Ea! says to Vladamir. 'In the new
     fight system it's not as necessary.'

     Vladamir says to Ea!, 'Will it be changed?'

     'I dunno, it's not my department,' Ea! says to Vladamir. 'Though
     I suspect that there will be less of them going in as builders
     don't need to rely on high mind as much any more. When we allow
     mobs up to level 100, it'll happen even less...'

Q10: Elbow
     'Is elbow gonna always cause damage to the elbower?' Todd says.

     Ea! nods his agreement with Todd.

     Ea! says, 'I suspect it'll stay the way it is.'

Q11: Damage Roll
     Vladamir says to Ea!, 'Ok.. want to talk about damge roll stuff?'

     'Sure...' Ea! says to Vladamir.

     'We were doing some testing.. and it doesn't seem that having a
     high damage roll is that effective..' Vladamir says to Ea!.

     'For instance..' Vladamir says to Ea!. 'I hit a clanmate 10 times
     in 1 bout .. had a 15 dam roll and did about 5 points...What's up
     with that?'

     'That's wierd...' Ea! says.

     'Damage is slightly reduced in pkill situations... it
     artificially makes the fights longer to give people more time to
     react and do interesting things,' Ea! says.

     'Though it must have been pretty crummy rolls in addition,' Ea!
     says.

     Ea! says, 'But in terms of your original quesiton -- a damroll of
     15 is 15% more damage than you'd do with a 0 damroll.'

     Ea! says, 'By far the best way to determine whether it is worth
     it is to try it out...'

Q12: Equipment
     'How about making the jeweled dagger q5 again?' Zeppelin says to
     Ea!.

     Ea! says to Zeppelin, 'You'd need to talk to the maintainer of
     the area it is in.'

     Zeppelin says, 'Theres only 4 good daggers now tho.'

     'Though I think that there are more weapons that are worthwhile
     partially because they don't all need to be q5 w4 or whatever it
     was,' Ea! says.

     Zeppelin says, 'Why is Erin's whip a str weapon not a dex one?'

     'The primary weapon attack type takes precedence over the
     secondary,' Tad says to Zeppelin.

     Tad says to Zeppelin, 'And the primary is "whip"'

     Zeppelin says to Tad, 'Would a 100dex 100str fighter get better
     use than say a 100str mind  mgae?'

     'Since it has 2 attack types,' Zeppelin says to Tad.

     'He'd get the same number of attacks, but 100 dex is more likely
     to hit with those attacks than, say 30,' Tad says to Zeppelin.

Q13: Housing
     'So how is player housing coming?' Vladamir says to Ea!.

     Ea! says to Vladamir, 'Well, we've got the general ability in
     place, it's just a matter of filling in a lot of tiny details,
     like the cost structure, how we're going to charge for them,
     etc.'

     'What (if you can say) are the odds of 100dex perc tumblign
     stuns?' Zeppelin says.

     'I had a sniper tumble 3 high mind stuns in a row,' Zeppelin
     says. 'Seems a bit high could be bad luck.'

     'Odds are okay-not great. About 25% or so is where the
     dodge/tumble wears out... ,' Ea! says.

     Zeppelin says to Ea!, 'It has seemed higher, but like i said
     could be bad luck =P.'


                       STAR TREK PKILL TOURNEY
                       -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

It's time, once again! Get out your favorite character, and get ready for
LegendMUD's semi-anual Pkill Tourney to be held on Saturday,  March 14,
starting at 4:00pm! This time, our tourney will be held in a new area,
created by one of the mort builders for the April 1st Mortmud. Special
thanks to Lupus for the Star Trek area, the first completed for Mortmud.

Rules for the tourney are as follows:

o You may enter only ONE character per player.
o That character must be one of your own.
o You MUST have everything you will need for the tourney on that character.
o No eq, vials, herbs will be given at the tourney.
o No excuses will be allowed for copying a pfile at a later time.
o Both nonpkenabled and pkenabled are allowed to enter the tourney.

Entries will be recieved by mudmail from the character entering no later
than Thursday, March 12th at midnight central time. Mail your entries to
Sandra with the level you plan to be on that date. Playerfiles will be
copied the following day(Friday) in the AM.

Catagories are, again, by level, and are as follows:
   10-19 lightweight
   20-29 light/middleweight
   30-39 middleweight
   40-50 heavyweight

Mail your entries today!

             ________________________
            /                        \
        o O | Wonder what folks are   |
  `\|||/    | doing over at LegendMUD?|
   (o o)    \________________________/
ooO_(_)_Ooo________________________________________________________________
_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|___
__|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|
___                                                                    ___
\  |------------------------------------------------------------------|  /
/__|    LEGENDITES: Information Regarding the People of Our World     |__\
   '------------------------------------------------------------------'

                           A Terrible Loss

It is with great sadness we bring you the following information from
Karyn's web page at:   http://www.geocities.com/SouthBeach/5393/

     To those who knew Karyn:

     We are slowly recovering from our saddened hearts after the
     terrible accident at the end of January, and feel the need to
     supply more information to you, being a friend of Karyn's.

     The owners of Geocities has let us enter this information and we
     are grateful for it. The page will be upp for a while before we
     will ask them to delete it.

     We thank you for being Karyn's friend when she was still with us,
     and hope you also remember her as a joyful person like we do.

     We never knew you, but in her own way, Karyn always spoke of you
     as her friendes on internett.

     Karyn's Mom and Dad.


The aforementioned article reads:

     Sometime after 6 pm on the January 29th, Karyn and a friend of
     hers were out test-driving a Porsche 911. They were going too
     fast and lost control of the car, drifting over into the lane for
     oncoming traffic where they collided at high speed with a Volkswagen.
     Both girls were killed, along with the driver of the VW.


In Karyn's memory, LegendMUD has constructed a Garden of Remembrance
outside of the Hall of Legends. A tree has been "planted" with a plaque
that reads,

     "In Memory of Karyn,
           Whose kindness and companionship will always be missed."

All are welcome to visit as many have already.

The Garden of Remembrance

This ever-lit room exists in memory of the people that had brought light to
the land of Legend and left us prematurely. The grass grows soft and green,
the sky above seems always to be a perfect, endless blue. The memories of
friendship and laughter and joy abound. A rose garden lies to the east and
a quiet pond to the west. An imposing arch of trees leads out to the north.

A small tree is here, lovingly planted in memory of Karyn.
A brass plaque has been placed in front of the tree.
A bouquet of flowers, with a card from Fairfax is sitting in front of a small
tree.
A circlet of red roses is sitting in front of a small tree.
A flower basket is sitting in front of a small tree.
A green rose from Flagg is sitting in front of a small tree.
A bunch of wildflowers is sitting in front of a small tree.
A red rose from Sandra is sitting in front of a small tree.
A red rose from Zandy is sitting in front of a small tree.
A red rose, with a card from Bronwyn is sitting in front of a small tree.


We will also be putting up a web page at http://mud.sig.net/karyn.html with
a guestbook for people who wish to sign it with thoughts or memories. We
will try our best to share this with her parents as they were kind enough
to share the painful information of their loss with us.


                <([------------------------------])>
                <([         GUAPO'S CURSE        ])>
                  <([--------------------------])>
                  <([ In the Silver Branch Inn ])>
                  <([--------------------------])>

'Har!' Guapo said to Sasha. 'Another wench!' Guapo stood and gave Sasha a
long and passionate kiss. Sasha, outraged, slapped him. Guapo only
snickered at her nastily.

'Stop that!' she said. Guapo raised his eyebrow at her. Guapo stood, and
said 'Stop what, this?' and kissed her again. Sasha pulled away and said,
'I'm so sick of you doing stuff like that to me!' Then she spit in his
face.

Guapo called out for all to hear: 'Har! Sasha be one fiesty wench *wink*'
The two continued to argue, and Guapo continued to kiss poor Sasha. Stella
called out 'Kill him, Sasha, that usually helps a little.' Sasha got
angrier and angrier, but Guapo persisted. Finally she cried, 'Enough is
enough! I want an apology!'

Guapo persisted in touching and kissing Sasha, despite all her warnings.
Finally, she said: 'If you do that one more time I'm going to have to kill
you.' Guapo snickered and said, 'Supposing I do, what do I get out of it?'
Sasha replied, 'Why, you want to turn this into a bet?'

Guapo shrugged. 'Why not? I be a sporting boucanier,' he said. 'Nothing
like a wager AND a brawl at the same time...unless ye throw a wench into
the mix.'

Sasha asked, 'What will you offer of yourself when you lose?' Guapo
pondered a while, and then shrugged. 'What do ye want?'

Sasha replied, 'I want your honor -- and your pride! And I want you not to
be able to attack any other women (myself included).

Guapo snickered again. 'Alright, ye're on. What do I get if I win, though?'

Sash said, 'I'll offer my body -- since I don't intend on losing.' She went
on, 'I'll be yours (and Amethyst's) slave for a week'

Guapo responded, 'Only if me wench agrees to share... what do ye say
Amethyst, do we want her?' Amethyst said, 'Yes Guapo, since she shall be
shared...'

Guapo kissed Amethyst passionately, and said 'Ye've got a bet, then --
where and when?'

Guapo kissed Amethyst passionately. Guapo said to Amethyst, 'Wish me
luck... Not that I'll need it.' He snickered again.

'Good luck, win for me, and the baby...' Amethyst said to Guapo.

The two headed to the stables, and the battle was joined.

                  <([----------------------------])>
                  <([ At the scene of the battle ])>
                  <([----------------------------])>

Guapo arrived from the south, and immediately bashed Sasha to the ground.
She struggled to her feet, and with a powerful blast, stunned Guapo. He
looked like he might never wake up. Sasha hacked into him, and eventually
he awoke from the pain, and stood up slowly. He issued his battlecry:
'Har!'

Sasha was stunned for a moment, but bleeding heavily, she stood up again.
Again, Guapo sent her sprawling with a powerful bash.

But Sasha's black serpent dagger found its mark, and pierced Guapo's heart.
Blood gushed as he slumped to the ground. The whole world heard Guapo's
death cry.

But when Guapo had returned to life (in a miracle which seems to happen
every day, but never mind that), his old raunchy ways returned with him. He
did not keep the terms of the bargain he had made with Sasha.

In desperation, Sasha cried out 'Damn you Guapo! I need a witch or a
witchdoctor to curse you! So you won't be ABLE to touch me!'

Then the voice of the houngan was heard: 'Guapo, the mambo, our
priestesses, have long complained of your depradations. This offense goes
too far. Know my curse and the curse of the five loa I summon:

The houngan said: 'May Oungan dog your tracks and force you ever to battle
when you wish it not.

Guapo shuddered, and looked around confused.

The houngan cursed him a second time: 'May Agwe rock your boat and bring
you sickness at sea.

The houngan cursed him a third time: 'May Baka interrup your sleep howling
by your fire.

The houngan cursed him a fourth time: 'May Baron Samedi make constant
preparations for your arrival. May Dambala slip into your home and bite you
upon the heel.

The houngan cursed him a fifth time: 'And may Sango bring you lightning
when you wish only sun.

Amethyst screamed, 'EEEK.. this can't be happening!'

The houngan only said: May my curse resound in your ears until you have
received the forgiveness of Sasha and all her clan.

Guapo began to feel rather strange.

He said, 'Sasha hon, what WAS I thinking?'

Sasha laughed, and said, 'Hey Guapo, you're looking kinda funny!'

Guapo put on a green lacy corset and a pair of black leather patent spike
heels on his feet.

Sasha giggled.

Guapo stumbled sideways slightly on the heels and said, 'Ye know, I'm
feelin a might peakid today, don't know whats comin over me...'

Sasha laughed. 'I love the outfit.'

Guapo turned slowly, showing off his new clothes. 'Do ya really? I worked
SO hard picking it out...and these heels are just to DIE for!'

Amethyst was alarmed. 'Umm Guapo? Are you feeling ok?!' The
newly-effeminate boucanier flounced around a bit. Amethyst said, angry and
confused, 'What have you witches done to Guapo?!'

Guapo continued to effuse. 'Oh! And to think I'm a father! We can dress our
little daughter up in such CUTE outfits!

                  <([--------------------------])>
                  <([ In the Silver Branch Inn ])>
                  <([--------------------------])>

Amethyst bursts into tears. The effeminate boucanier said to Amethyst,
'What do ye think hon?' Amethyst said to an effeminate boucanier, 'What
will I tell the baby?!' Sasha said, 'Tell the baby its father has found his
true calling!'

'Hiya, hon,' the effeminate boucanier said to Renee. The effeminate
boucanier modelled his figure - he looked pretty good! Now it was Sasha's
turn to snicker softly.

Then, the effeminate boucanier slid up to Webley and tried to seduce him -
uh oh!


                          Xerox Finds True Love
                          -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Xerox is no longer "a gentleman who wants for nothing but true love" but he
shall be now known as "a gentleman, who has found true love" as he has
pledged he will be "a faithful and true gentleman" when he married to
Chante' on the 27th of February. Congratulations to the happy couple.


                     A Note From a Reluctant Emperor
                     -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Just recently, after a hard won battle fought with a local baron, in my
home of Norway, my father has battled and defeated the enemy house of
tyrants. In this victory my father has aquired a vast section of the
highlands of Norway. Being in his old age, he has handed his lands over to
me, making me Emperor. I did not want this land, but I must take it as a
tribute to my father's victories. Praise the Prophets!

                                               Emperor Dameon Styre


                        A Dreaded Plague Spreads 
                        -=-=-=-=-=--=-=-=-=-=-=-

Posters have recently been sighted around the mud with the message:

     "Lemming has bitten me, and I have developed the rotting disease.
      Please help me find a cure...I'm not sure what heinous crimes
      I am capable of!
                                      - Jen-Creature"

Who's next? The warning signs seem to include massive slobbering, much
gibbering and a low growling noise deep in the throats of those infected.


                           War? Which War?
                           -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
                           
The following went up on the War Board as a press release from the
Mercenaries:

    As GM of the Mercenaries, I would like to know at this moment
    who we are at war with, and the reason for the war. This
    silly war started by or towards the mercenaries of the past
    has nothing to do with us now.  So for those of you who
    attack mercs for reasons being past grudges, please stop.

    Whiplash

The Secretives, true to their nature, replied with this release of their
own:

    I believe you are currently at war with us. And its not merely a carry
    over of aggression towards past Mercs, but more a fundamental
    disagreement with your clan philosphy of "Pay us to kill another 
    player." I personally dislike this, in fact, I disliked it when the
    Assassins did it, with style I might add.

    However, you your clan has reached a period of rebuilding, and you wish
    to talk terms, that can be arranged. Talk to Zelon, our GM. He can 
    arrange a satisfactory end to this war.

    Zeppelin


Also scrawled across these posts was a bit of graffiti reading :

     Yes, the Mercs are a sad and disgraceful sight to the Mercs of old.
     Quite unworthy of the name Mercenary."

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Legendary Times is published by the immortals of LegendMUD. Please send all
replies, additions, or corrections to our address at [email protected] for
inclusion in the next edition. We, however, reserve the right to moderate
this discussion, and may object to some submissions.
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