Volume Two Issue Eighteen
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=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= .............._______ ............./ / THE LEGENDARY TIMES ............/ / .........../ /.....______.._____.....______.._____.......____ ........../ /...../ /./ \.../ /./ \...../ \ ........./ /...../ ___/./ ____/../ ___/./ __. \.../ /\ \ ......../ /...../ /_.../ /....../ /_.../ /..\ >./ /./ / ......./ /...../ __/../ /____../ __/../ /.../ /./ /./ / ....../ /_____/__/__../ \_\ /./ /__../ /.../ /./ /_/ / ...../ / /./ /./ /./ /.../ /./ / ..../ /_/..\______/./_____/./__/.../__/./_______/ MUD .../________________/ running on sylvester.cc.utexas.edu 9999 128.83.108.29 9999 =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= http://www.cs.cmu.edu:8001/Web/People/johnmil/legend/legend.html anonymous ftp: nebula.keene.edu, /pub/users/legend =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= VOLUME TWO, ISSUE EIGHTEEN Mar. 22nd, 1995 =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= SPRING BREAK ISSUE ...:/:[ CONTENTS ]:\:... MUD STUFF - Mingus resigns - - a holiday to try something big and new - - we gain anonymous ftp archives! - ARTICLES - The Secretives reveal some - FUND DRIVE STATUS SOCIAL EVENTS - Greyscot and Birdy get married - - Mystique and No in a brawl - - Greyscot and Peleg vs. Bremmar - - Ozy departs the realm - - Roy_Mast assassinated! - - Tempus kidnapped by "ladies" - =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= MINGUS RESIGNS FROM IMMORTHOOD Mad Mingus of Clan Gunn has resigned from immorthood at LegendMUD. He tells us that he did not feel he had the time to commit to it just now as events in Real Life are preventing his participation to any large extent in Virtual life. He does promise to be back to visit once RL settles down somewhat. And he urges everyone to remember that this is a nice place to play, and never to lose sight of the word "play." :) A nice sentiment with which to leave us. We wish him the best of luck. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= WE'RE PLANNING A HOLIDAY Many of our collegiate players are on Spring Break this week or next, so in the spirit of the times we thought we'd offer up a fun holiday for the players on the mud. Starting on Friday night at midnight system time (US Central), anything you do on the mud for a while won't count. You can die, you can explore, you can murder freely. Your current playerfiles will be backed up so when the Holiday ends, you'll be able to pick up right where you left off, with no penalties (even if you permadied because you wanted to see what the inside of the vampire's tummy looked like!) While this is going on, we'll take advantage of the fact that things don't count in order to test out a potential new fighting system. We'd really like your feedback on how the system works out--if it doesn't work out at all, we'll ditch the idea. There are a lot of implications to this, so what follows goes into detail on what this alternate system is like. The basic idea of this system is to permit different weapons and people with different skill levels in various weapons to have faster or slower attack speeds. In other words, instead of the current 'rounds' we have now, people would instead be able to attack after set intervals. Some people would thus get in an extra blow every once in a while, or even as many as three quick blows in the time that their opponent gets in one. In general, however, the weapons which permit such extremely fast attacks would tend to be the lighter ones that cause less damage. Under this system weapons would be different. Currently, weapons have dice rolls to determine their damages. Many of the most popular weapons, such as the Sceptre of Minos, are popular precisely because their damage ranges give the weapon not only a high maximum damage (max damage for a conventional weapon in the game is 20 in one blow) but also give high MINIMUM damages. In the case of the Sceptre, it's also 20 (i.e. the Sceptre does 20 a blow every time it hits). The new system sets the minimum damage for all weapons to 1. (This may sound like a major downgrade, but remember that this weapon that does from 1 to 20 may end up hitting the opponent 3 times in the time it currently hits once). The maximum damage during the test would be determined by the weight of the weapons, because we're not changing all the weapons in the game for just a one-week test. If we go with this system, then weapons would be revised and there would be more variety between a weapon's weight and its damage. That's not the only change to weapons. Weapons would also have a 'quality' rating that affected their speed. Weapons of higher quality would be faster and better balanced and more maneuverable. Those with the forge skill would be able to make weapons of varying quality according to their ability. Those with armslore would be able to tell the difference between otherwise apparently identical weapons. For the test, we would start out with all weapons assumed to be of quality 0, which is the base, and magic weapons of quality 3 or four (3 for sword of light, which will become staff of light, and 4 for ice dagger and flaming sword). Armslore would be available in its new form to give speed and quality ratings on weapons. We'd also start out by assigning max damages to current weapons based on their weights. This means that many of your current preferred weapons will lose a LOT of damage. However, they will also become a lot faster weapons. Expect to find weapons like the greatsword suddenly better than ever--and also very heavy, for the dedicated slasher only. Wobble will be selling weapons of all quality ranges and types in the Wild Boar Tavern, so you'll be able to find what you want and try out all the sorts. So how do you get these fast attacks? Well, here are the factors: - Weapon quality - Weapons proficiencies - Your stat in the 'prime stat' for the weapon Every weapon falls into one of the three existing weapons proficiencies: fencing, arms training, or swordsmanship. We'll be giving each of these proficiencies three levels (i.e. three pracs to learn swordsmanship to the max). Prime stats for the proficiences are as follows: Swordsmanship: strength Arms training: constitution Fencing : dexterity The prereqs are simple: 40 in the prime stat for the current skill, 60 for the next level, and 80 for the master level. Each level shaves time off your attacks. Wobble will be sitting in the Wild Boar Tavern teaching these skills, so anyone will be able to come up and learn them. If you already have the base level of these, then you must also have the new prereq stats to get the effect in combat, but you won't have to relearn the skill. You also get a bonus based on your stats, regardless of whether you have learned a proficiency. Those with high dex will be faster with fencing weapons even if they do not have the fencing skills. How much dex they need is based on how heavy the weapon is. In other words, a very agile fellow with a lightweight (and therefore low damage) dagger could very likely do more damage than a person with a heavy high damage sword, because of the extra attacks. As for why the extended test? Well, this system is very much merely a proposal, and we do not know how feasible it is. The hope is that it will help game balance as well as make fights more varied and interesting. But we need your help to make it happen. We'll stop the test when either the system works fine, or the overwhelming consensus is that it won't ever work. Some of the particular areas we're worried about and hope you can help with--how do mages fare in all this? Will the fast attacks that people can get with the light daggers make powerful weapons useless in practical terms? How does it work with skill usage in combat? Which weapons need adjusted? (And there are sure to be many of this latter). In the meantime, all the mobs will be working off of their usual once-a-round attacks, so their abilities will be unchanged. This should give us an indication of the relative alteration in the difficulty of combat that this will cause. As a side issue to this test--the 6 attacker limit will be in effect finally in combat. Mage-created mobs will be unchanged, but elementals will have more fight skills used. Dancing sword damage is based on that of the weapon, so that will likely change and different weapons will be useful than were before. The technical specs of the fight system will be posted to the LDL for those interested in poking through the guts of it. To subscribe to the Legend Discussion List, send email to [email protected] asking to join. It is an unmoderated email forum for discussion of game issues of any sort. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= LEGEND GAINS AN ANONYMOUS FTP SITE We have anonymous ftp of the past issues of the Legendary Times at nebula.keene.edu, in pub/users/legend/lt. Also there, though not in the lt directory, will be proposing.txt, a text file of info for those considering immorting. Look for other stuff to be put there as we upload new files. The space is being offered to us courtesy of Chris Gann, sysop of nebula, and Dusty, who is maintaining the archive. Before you ask--we doubt we will have the space there to keep graphics files, such as gifs of all the players. :) =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= .:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:. .' '. .: FEATURE :. '. ARTICLES! .' ' ' ':':':':':':':':':':':':':':':':':':':':':':':':':':':':':':':':':':':' AN OPEN LETTER TO NEW ADVENTURERS AT LEGEND by the GuildMaster of the Secretives The other evening, as I was wending my way through the clan hall--down the aisles of filing cabinets and around the crated obscurities--I finally decided that the place has become much too crowded. We have just stored too much information. And much of it, still classified "Secretive," is common knowledge to many. For instance, picking a file cabinet, a drawer, and a file at random, I found a memo (the date was smudged with chocolate frosting from a donought, so I don't know when the memo was drafted) that read: "There appears to be a group of neutral songmasters organizing, devoted to aiding the needy. They call themselves sometimes 'The Order of the Scroll' and sometimes 'Bards.' Such benevolent goals almost always attract a great number of people. These 'bards' bear further observation, lest they become too powerful." Great. That's useful information. So the next day, we brought in some help from Washington, DC, and the shredders have been running day and night cleaning out the useless files. We should have space to spare soon, if you're interested in joining us. But in the interest of good public relations--and taking a tip from some of the others who have recently offered advice for players--I offer ten de-classified tips from the files of the Secretives (I've even decoded them for you). New adventurers may find them especially useful, but even experienced players may find something of note. 1) One of the greatest benefits of your increasing experience is that it permits you to use more equipment. If you have the ability to use additional equipment, do so as soon as you can. Room to spare for equipment does you no good when you might be wearing or wielding something to better advantage. And gold in the bank is often similarly worthless. 2) One of the other greatest benefits of your increased experience is your ability to learn new skills or spell words. As with spare room for equipment, unused opportunities gain you no advantage. Unless you're saving the "practice" with a specific goal in mind, spend it promptly and begin enjoying the benefit it buys. 3) Never intentionally carry more equipment than you are permitted [never exceed your "rent"]. When you are so overburdened, the odds of something terrible happening that makes all your equipment vanish seem to increase proportionally. If you find yourself with more than permitted, get to an inn and see what items you might rid yourself of. If you plan to auction the offending item, find yourself an isolated spot (where no opponent will pick up what you drop) and drop enough of your equipment so that you are secure from catastrophe during the auction. 4) Legend is a large place. Cautious exploration will yield you many benefits as you find new skills, spell words, items, or opponents to provoke. Lingering in the popular areas--where you must compete with a horde of other adventurers for opponents who never seem to be plentiful enough--can be frustrating. 5) The Secretives are your friends. Tell the Secretives everything you know. [Thought you'd get a kick out of one of our early attempts at a subliminal message; we've gotten much more sophisticated since this one was drafted]. 6) A tip for mages: When trying out new spells or searching for new spell combinations, do so in an empty room or, if you must, in a room with one weak potential opponent. Some spells will provoke everyone in the room into attacking you; learning this the hard was is not as amusing as it sounds. 7) Grouping with people of your own or similar experience can be satisfying. Grouping with very experienced adventurers can also be satisfying, but if you find that the rewards from a grouping with a high-level player are too small--in short, if it appears to you that you would be doing better alone--speak up. He or she will understand. 8) Buying waterskins in the inns is a good habit to cultivate. They come filled. Mages--and other unsavory characters--sometimes like to do things to public wells and pumps that you will find unpleasant. 9) Always carry some food and drink with you. If you find yourself hungry or thirsty in mid-combat, you can quickly eat or drink and thereby ensure that you are not unnecessarily weakened for the fight. 10) You will not always be able to effectively judge your oppenent. When you attack a new class of opponent for the first time, always be sure that you are at full strength and that you do not commit yourself to fighting without the possibility of flight (for instance, "rage" prohibits you from fleeing). Well, there's more, as I said, but I've filled another filing cabinet with new paperwork that allows this old paperwork to be released. And, anyway, we can't de-classify everything at once--we'd lose our funding . . . Hope you found these words useful. Live and grow stronger, Bay_El-Lor .:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:. ':':':':':':':':':':':':':':':':':':':':':':':':':':':':':':':':':':':' FUND DRIVE STATUS The pace of donations has drastically slowed. Although we have the memory and the hard drive we need, we still do not have the case, the monitor, the keyboard, the motherboard, the network card... so please do keep the pledges and checks coming. TOTAL CASH IN HAND: $575 up from $525 last issue TOTAL DONORS: 7 up from 6 last issue ROUGH TOTAL PLEDGED: $950 TOTAL PLEDGES: 14 up from 13 last issue We suggest that those who have the money burning a hole in their pocket go ahead and send the checks directly to the following address and we will get the letters out to them as soon as we can, perhaps even crossing in the mail. This is the address to send donations to: (make checks payable to Raphael and Kristen Koster) Raph and Kristen Koster University Station PO Box 1114 Tuscaloosa AL 35486-1114 USA If you are an overseas donor who cannot write a check in US Dollars, please email us at the LT address given at the end of this newsletter. .:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= ________________________ / \ o O | Wonder what folks are | `\|||/ | doing over at LegendMud? | (o o) \________________________/ ooO_(_)_Ooo_____________________________________________________________ _____|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____| __|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|___ _____|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____| \|/ \|/ \\||// \!/ Greyscot Fitzgerald of the Order of the Scroll, a man well known to most of you, and Lady Birdy of the Knights of Legend, were married in a private ceremony held atop Mt. Kilimanjaro this past Saturday. Dusty and Silk were not in attendance, unsurprisingly, but a large number of well-known personages were, including the several knights led by Sir Dominic, who gave the happy couple a salute of honor. Member sof the Order of the Scroll were on handm and music was provided by a range of visiting jam partners ranging from the Beatles to Bob Dylan to Mika, who played the wedding march. Greyscot and Birdy spent their honeymoon in an undisclosed location. \|/ \|/ \\||// \!/ Some sort of trouble is brewing in a different quarter. Mystique atatcked No but was unsuccessful in her attempt to slay him. Her motives are unknown, as indeed are most things about this mysterious person. After the encounter No publicly offered to drop hostilities if she stopped trying to kill him. No word was forthcoming on whether Mystique accepted this deal. \|/ \|/ \\||// \!/ Not too long before his wedding, Greyscot was in the Hall of the Order of the Scroll with Peleg, fellow bard. To their shock, Bremmar, well-known member of the Dirty Pair, invaded the clan hall, presumably in order to loot it. Both bards stood their ground but were slain by Bremmar. \|/ \|/ \\||// \!/ The following letter arrived from a familiar name amongst the bards of the Order of the Scroll. It was written in an elegant hand.... " Lords and Ladies of Legend, I come to you as a storyteller today, but this time the story is mine. I have travelled the realm for what seems like only a brief time, and have learned so much. Alas I am forced to seek out a new adventure in places untouched by human hands. Remember me as I was in my prime, headstrong (and yes a little cocky), but helpful to whoever needed it. My songs of the Realm are almost complete...I wish I had more time to compose, but I leave you with this... When trouble comes crawling round your door, And gloom sits an easy perch oon your shoulder, Remember that a helping hand is always there. Simply reach out and ask for help, And someone will aid thee. Most of all remember that a friend, a true friend, Never ever fades away totally, their spirit remains with you forever. "And now I take my final bows to you all, may you be well, strong, and have a life that I may someday hear of in some other fair troubadors song." --Ozy, a little wiser every day" \|/ \|/ \\||// \!/ Last night without any apparent warning, Roy_Mast was assassinated. No rumors have made the rounds yet about why he may have been targeted or who may have hired the killers.... \|/ \|/ \\||// \!/ And a bizarre incident of kidnapping took place recently as well! Here is the firsthand account of the sad victim, Tempus... "I was resting at the inn in Klein when I meet two women. Following the Code of a Knight I offered to help them....one of the ladies by the name of Silk suggested we head to the Halls of Legend. So I followed these ladies (Silk and Kiera) to the Halls of Legend where I died defending them against Deathstalker. Just when I thought everything was okay.......the two Ladies took me by knife point as Hostage. They kept me locked in a room and ransomed me to my Ecstasy.....for 15k. *sigh* it was awful......they kept harressing me and blaming me for the wrongs of men. Many friends of mine tried to help......but only till the ladies got their ransom money did they let me go." It's worth noting that Tempus and Ecstasy have been quite a romantic item lately. The two kidnappatrixes surely knew Ecstasy's weak spot... \|/ \|/ \\||// \!/ =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Legendary Times is put out by the gods of LegendMUD. Please send all replies/additions to [email protected] for inclusion in the next edition. We, however, reserve the right to moderate this discussion, and may object to some submissions. If you feel we have wrongly omitted one of your messages, please talk to either Kaige or Ptah online or through EMail and see if we did indeed receive it in the first place. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=