View source for Volume Three Issue Eleven

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VOLUME THREE, ISSUE ELEVEN                               September 16, 1996
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                              FROM THE EDITOR
                        DEPARTMENTAL NEWS AND UPDATES
                                  Coding
                                 Building
                             Player Relations
                              Administration

                         OPINIONS ON CURRENT ISSUES
                           The LT Roving Reporter
          A Working Mud Economy, Part I: The Basic Necessities of Life
               Board Discussion Summary: Ideas From Other Muds

                        ADVICE, QUERIES, AND PROBLEMS
                          Unsponsored Immort Games
                                  Census
                           Overseas Correspondent
                              
                               SOCIAL EVENTS
                            Your Eye on Legend
                       The Legendary Times Personals
                            Mandolin's Marauders
                  The Death Of Agyar (or The Birth Of Quabble)
                        Latia's Bachelorette Party                             
                               Latia's Wedding

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Please send your responses to articles to the Legendary Times address at
lt@mud.aus.sig.net. Letters to the editor are welcomed.
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Hello again! We're trying out a few new things with organization this issue.
The most obvious is the division of the "Articles" section into: "Discussion
and Current Issues"; and "Advice, Queries, and Problems" Sections. The
"Socials" Section is also getting a new look. We're adding an "Eye on Legend"
Feature (announced last issue) and a "Personals" Column. Hopefully this will
make it somewhat easier to for you to find the articles you are particularly
interested in, and easier to determine where your submission belongs. Expect
the next LT September 30th, and remember to get your submissions in on the
Friday before (by September 27th) so we can get it ready to go out. Thanks to
all our readers!
-Sabella
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                              WELCOME HOME!
Last issue was our "Welcome Back to School" issue and we've since noticed
several returning players that we hadn't been seen for awhile! Legend would
like to extend a big Welcome Home too:
    CLeo, Daer, Dekker, Dolcino, Ea, Exotica, EagleFeather, Gulfdelta, Hayden, 
    Hp, Jondalar, Kodiak, Ryssa, Tempus, TerrorSpawn, Thanatos, and Yory.
Glad to have you back!!!
                            
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                       DEPARTMENTAL NEWS AND UPDATES

                                  CODING:

- BUGFIXES: 
    The Coding Department has been arguing with the crashing bug lately. One
    fix that went in made it apparent that one of the bugs was covering a
    hanging bug. As crashing was better than hanging, unfortunately we had to
    take it back out. A fix to some mobs should have alleviated some of the
    problem and we hope to have the others taken care of ASAP. We appreciate
    your patience as we deal with this complicated problem. A fix to the sneak
    spell, a fix to a bug in spells that caused some to cost one less mana
    than they should, and a fix to some affects on items were also recently
    added. Guest has been added as a keyword for all guests, and the
    punctuation characters (and numbers) will soon be removed from permissible
    newbie names. The Animate Dead spell has also been coded, so expect it in
    your spell lists soon.

- CODING POSITION OPEN
    Coding is still looking for another immortal. To propose in this area,
    you must know "C" and prior network programming experience is a plus. If
    you are interested and believe you are qualified, mudmail your
    application to Ganelon. (If you expressed interest previously, and were
    told coding wasn't taking applications, send in another now :). More
    information on this position can be found on the Coder Board.
    
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                                BUILDING                      

- NEW AREA: 17th Century Salem has been added!
        During the 17th century Europe endured a crisis - a series of social
    and political upheavals involving civil wars, revolts, peasant uprisings,
    and a rebellion of the nobility. The Reformation had ended, but religious
    strife continued in some areas. In England, a branch of Protestantism
    appeared which opposed the Church of England and sought to cleanse the
    Church by purifying it from rituals that were 'Roman'. Nicknamed,
    'Puritans' they became the leading faction in opposing the Stuart kings of
    England. Eventually the Puritans would settle in New England.
        Salem, a city of Massachusetts, about 15 miles NE of Boston, was
    founded in 1626 as a commercial venture, partly agricultural and partly to
    provide a wintering-place for Banks fishermen. Among the early Puritan
    settlers of New England, one might expect to find a population living
    under somewhat primitive conditions. Indeed, the earliest settlers did
    live in temporary structures under difficult conditions, but these
    structures were gone by 1660, replaced by more permanent houses.
        Salem village was the center of the witchcraft delusions of 1692. A
    wealth if court records, diaries, and letters dating as far back as 1650
    shows that Salem was not the first of New England's towns to be burdened
    with the witch-hunting. Salem became a place in which the natural and the
    'preternatural' were strangely intermingled and where powerful feelings of
    anger, grief, and revenge led neighbors to accuse one another of
    committing witchcraft, and within four months hundreds were arrested and
    tried, 19 hanged, and one pressed to death for refusing to plead. The
    reaction came quickly, and in May 1693, then Governor Phelps ordered the
    release of all prisoners held on the charge of witchcraft. Thus ending
    this gruesome period. This area is comprised of the village of Salem and
    Salem town. It has taken facts from printed documents of the time,
    journals, and the like, as well as mythical rumors that have been passed
    down through the generations in printed books, and other articles.

- PROMOTION
    Be sure to congratulate Sandra on her promotion to full builder!
  
- IMPROMPTU BUILDING MEETING
    Rufus held an impromptu meeting in the OOC Auditorium this past weekend
    (Saturday, Sept 14th) to get player feedback on some ideas for high-level
    areas. Many players attended and commented. After asking that emotes be
    kept to a minimum, and specifying that the topic for the evening was mobs,
    areas, and quests, Rufus asked what the players, as high level characters,
    consider challenges among areas/mobs.
Hell was universally acclaimed the most difficult area, with the Longhouse
(especially the last room), Beowulf, Sidhe Country, Hall of Legends, and a
Vampire or two gaining honorable mentions. Beam and Cliff agreed that mobs
that attack in groups are difficult, while Sabrosa noted that it depends on
what type of fighter your character is. Beam said that mob specials that do
damage, more than the damage cap, are bad and that some mobs are impossible to
kill pretty much cuz they do huge damage every round with a special. McDougan
mentioned that mobs aren't the basis of a good mud; quests are. Rufus pointed
out that without mobs we wouldn't have quests and Cliff asked how many players
could complete certain quests without hints from other players. Dekker said
the clues for the quests he found are either blatant or impossible to do, but
noted that he isn't the best at quests.
    "And how do y'all feel about being almost REQUIRED to group for an area?"
    Rufus asked.
Sabrosa: I wouldn't like it, cause I'm a loner. For a new area it wouldn't be
bad. As long as us loners have other areas to rampage. Numa: Depends on how
much a loner you are. I'm kinda a loner, like to solo. Beam: I have no problem
with it, if there's a reward. Cliff: Required to group would force us to work
together...unfortunately, some of us don't play at convenient times. Dekker:
It would depend on what it would require of the group. McDougan: I wouldn't
mind grouping IF that was clearly stated in areas, areas ads in the command.
Brick: It would be hard to make something that required people to work
together... we have some great minds here.
    Rufus says, "What would you consider as a decent 'reward' for such an
    area?"
Sabrosa: Coupons. Beam: Really good equipment. Dekker: Items that are possibly
one point out of current spec, but unrepairable or regetable. Cliff: Well, it
would seem only fair that each person in the group gets something for his/her
efforts... Only getting one item would be grossly unfair. McDougan: A good
reward would be to give each character a stat boost of his choice, and a minor
item. But not /TOO/ minor.
    "Unfortunately, I am not allowed, nor will I allow, any out of spec eq to
    be made regardless of its minuses. =(. And with stat boost quests, I think
    there are already enough in the game," Rufus stated
Brick: You could add more stat quests, where doing one removes your option to
do some of the others. McDougan: Then how about allowing them to access a
special area only accessible that way? An extra practice or an alternate
circle of magic words? Meet the immort day passes? I think that rewarding
quests, where the quest tells a really good story, is a bonus in itself.
Dekker: How about something like an odd item that is currently nonexistent but
really useful, like rings for all the stats, not just the ones that exist now.
Or how about an item with no apparent effects but has immunity from certain
skills or spells. Quests clues that aren't blatant, but not always so hard to
discern. Brick: IMHO there needs to be an expansion of rare items that have
spell affects, where their affect is measured against an aggressor's spell,
like magic sink. How about expanding the elemental magic and making the
elements mutually exclusive, or at least the diametrically opposed ones.
Legend is hampered by it's division into three eras. How about making use of
traps, and disarm trap? Cliff: How about immort for a day...no real cool
powers, just the ability to go anywhere/use all the skills, etc.? How about a
quest that lets you meet a special mob that teaches a special skill like, say
Jump, and you can only get some places by Jumping...not flying, climbing,
etc.? Beam: How bout wands? Wands with no rent. How about a wand with 5
charges of sanc spell. Or immolate. How bout a piece of eq that lets you
change the desc on it anytime you want. Sabrosa: If you made really cool stuff
that didn't rent, and put it in hard places, it would make things very
adventurous. What about items that boost a stat to max for a number of ticks.
And stringable gear. Valis: Make an item that lets you do a skill without
having that skill.'
    "How important are whois strings to players anyway?' Rufus asks. "I see a
    lot of people ask my morts "wow you have x whois, that's cool, wish I
    could" or something? Are they something to look forward to?"
Brick: I love the whois strings. Even if I don't have many. Numa: Me too.
Beam: Yah they're cool. Sabrosa: Me too. Candide: I like the whois a lot.
McDougan: /I/ think so, for most of them. Arturos: Some folks seem to use them
as a guide as to who they should ask to find out how to do a quest..my mort
gets a lot of tells cause of such.'
    "Okay in general you say 'really good items' 'whois flags' 'rewarding
    quests'..." Rufus says. "Would be enough motivation to head in to an area
    that is potentially the most dangerous area on legend?"
Dekker nods solemnly. The challenge will draw some people. The concept of mobs
they cant kill is very appealing to some players. Numa: Very good items.
McDougan: I think that also, we need humor. And the mobs don't respond to more
than one or two questions. Give them a list of responses possible a mile long
and you get mobs with a  a personality. The mobs here are flat and two
dimensional. Give them some character, guys! Sabrosa: But that's kinda like
Dis...and after one time you don't go back unless there is something there you
_really need_. Beam: I play an area either for fun, xp, or eq. Candide: At
minimum the xp has to be proportional to the risk.
    Rufus says, "The reason I ask this is ... Rufus is working on an area
    based on the Celtic Legends of Cuchulain. A lot of things people take for
    granted here are commonplace on other muds. Mobs that loot, hunt, steal,
    regenerate at enormous rates are almost givens on any other mud, yet we
    don't find many here. Areas that play players at a disadvantage rather
    than an advantage are commonplace elsewhere as well." 
McDougan: But a few really well defined mobs add immensely to the game for me.
I played this one now defunct muddish thing, and there were only 5 mob things,
but all of them were really well defined, plus a few minor characters. So why
not require one or two per area? How about a mob that insults you while you
fight him, humorously? Not like those peasants, give them a few resp dozen
choices! Beam: I like the Dhurtah's intelligent fighting. As opposed to
specials with damage. Dekker: Mobs that fight smarter not harder. Manic: More
mobs should have decent eq, I went through ***, killed heaps of mobs, found
nothing with even 1 stat bonus.. I'm sure there's some there but more mobs
should carry something useable.
    Rufus says, "Okay lemme backup and tell you where I stand on this area
    issue. Basically, I intend to make a medium to very aggressive area,
    intended for _groups_ of high level characters, with adequate rewards for
    the journey. Imagine though an area where grouped aggressive captains were
    the 'norm' like bunnies and bluejays in Sherwood?"
Dekker: VERY agg i think would be fun :). Hard agg mobs, make the HOL mobs the
norm for the area in difficulty :). Beam: More agg mobs. Boars are cool.
Cliff: Sounds good to me Rufus...
    Rufus looks surprised. "Generally aggressive mobs have been shunned off of
    legend."
McDougan: Not aggressive without a reason. For instance, hell agg mobs would
be logical. Heaven agg mobs is stupid. You have to think plot and character
definition! Define a character's personality in his responses! Dekker: If you
were evil in heaven they could be chasing you out, even neutral. Beam: Sounds
good. Give em area effect spells. 
    "What do you think of mobs that loot?" Rufus says. "You can get your eq
    back, but you'd have to have help? Not only that, mobs that wore the
    equipment if they felt like it?"
Beam: Sounds good if they don't eat it. If the mud wasn't crashing alot that
is. Brick: As long as you keep away from silly instant death things. Mobs that
sell them to merchants... etc :). With the skill trees, you could make things
that require one from each of the best skills for each stat, thereby
effectively requiring several people. Arturos: Mobs that steal, wear yer
equip, or do something else highly annoying are quite cool. Numa:
Hm...sometimes there isn't too many high levs around late at night:(. Candide:
Yes, I hate when janitor mobs digest your stuff immediately. You should be
able to get your stuff back. Dekker: Mobs that taunt ya like Eva. McDougan:
Make perhaps, if absolutely necessary, side quest that groups you with a
friendly mob, but VERY hard to find, and swear those that find it to secrecy
in big letters, all too clear.
    "Hmm," Rufus says. "I don't want to give too much information, but without
    getting in to specifics (like saying 'make an item that does this') what
    would motivate you to go in to an area like this?"
McDougan: Plot. Plot and highly defined characters. Weave a mystery, use
satire, create that sense of adventure that is so often lacking RL. And of
course, creativity and character character character. Point: Challenge, for
alot of people, I would think. Shooting agg mobs that could initiate combat
from a room away before you ever found them? Point ponders an ambush by a
group of several archers or the such that all shot at you from the next room
the second you came within range...getting hit 4 or 5 times before you even
get into a fight with them... Cliff: Good atmosphere... Numa: There has to be
some kind of reward.
    "Traps to figure out, mobs that fought intelligently?" Rufus says.
Beam: That hunted too. Group of 3 caps that hunted, maybe they yell there
coming after you. But if you could talk you way out of the fight. That would
be cool I think. Buy him a drink. If you don't listen to his babbling he gets
mad and hunts you. Dekker: Mobs that are hard, reasonable xp rewards, eq
that's worth it, mobs that are _fun_ to fight, not just beat on. Pissed off
high level mobs, like drunkard type people, randomly picking fights with
people who wander in. Like bribe him, or get him to attack someone else, pass
the buck off, good pkill tactic. Brick: Ties to other areas, like the ***
quest. Sabrosa: 'Make it like hell, in that only a certain level could get in.
Maybe like hired mercenary mobs. Kinda like the Chief in Lima. 
    "What do you consider 'fun' to fight?" Rufus says.
Beam: Mobs that get 6 attacks when clumsied. Dekker: Mobs that chase after
you, mobs that use skills like backstab and hide in combo, they fight smarter,
not harder, if you stand there and beat on em, you die, have to think as you
fight. Mobs that almost can _think_ like people, almost like a pkill type
fight with a large variety of attacks.
    "My theory on this new area is ..." Rufus says. "There won't be any mobs
    that kill you in 1 hit. There won't be many specials that players
    themselves can't do...Hit/run will be highly discouraged, and thought and
    problem solving along with sheer firepower..."
Beam: Mobs that slay are poorly designed I think. Sounds good. Hopefully they
wouldn't destroy eq too badly. 
    Rufus saw someone chat the other day 'well if no one wants to group to
    kill, I guess I'll leave. Rufus about fainted, and thought that it was
    cool. Rufus says, "Any other questions or anything? In general, I think
    your ideas are well formed, McDougan... unfortunately, when all the mobs
    are aggressive, you don't get much of a chance to chit chat." Rufus flops
    about helplessly.
McDougan: You do if they are shouting stuff at you as they try to kill you.
Tell the players what they're going to do with them after they're dead. Add a
torture sequence if they drop to too low of hp. The big bad ugly mob says to
you, 'Your spleen will make a nice addition to my collection!' Give the
players something extra. And, let them be able to escape that torture if they
can solve some sort of VERY non-standard mud puzzle. And also add a scaris
sheet, like a whois of shame. Like McDougan opened the door for the vampire,
ignored all the warnings, and died, although reports of his death were later
found to be greatly exaggerated. Point would like to see a mob parading around
with a player's head on a pike after it kills him. Plus it would let everyone
know who it had killed. Point would be intimidated by a mob that had killed
Mandolin or Pol. Dekker: I'll be damned if i would even look at that mob
funny. Point: How about a mob that doesn't kill you when it gets you to 0 hps,
but instead scars you in some way? Like taking an ear to add to it's necklace?
Rufus says to Point, "There are problems in coding that that the system will
often kill you." Beam: What about good eq that has an owner flag? So you have
to do something hard all alone. What about owner flags on eq and gauntlet type
quests. Rufus says, "Right now that can't be done, and don't see it happening
any time soon, too hard to balance." 
    "Thanks for all your input folks..."

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                              PLAYER RELATIONS                      
    
- LECTURE SERIES
    We've had some wonderful speakers. Thanks to all of them and all who have
    attended! Many good things coming up. We have two speakers next week and
    both should be fascinating, so plan plenty of time to attend if you can.
    Both lectures are to be held in the OOC Auditorium.

Tuesday, September 17th at 7:00 Central Mike McShaffry head programmer of
Origin's Ultima IX is giving a lecture titled: "Why Conventional Programming
Techniques don't work in the Gaming Industry." He intends to cover how this
specifically relates to developing games in the Ultima series.

Mike McShaffry is the lead programmer for Origin's Ultima IX project. In
addition to  being a long-time Ultima fan, he's an avid mountain biker. Mr.
Mike, as he's known around the office, is always looking for new creative
ways to get things done and is always looking for ways to express his
creative side. Recently, he was one of the driving forces behind Origin's
entry in the local raft race -- 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. The "raft"
included a submarine, paddlewheel ferry and a giant squid -- taking first
place and best in show.

On Thursday, Sept 19th at 5:30 Eastern Greyscot is giving a lecture entitled
Greek vs Modern Olympics. When asked for a brief bio, Greyscot provided the
following info:

Greyscot has had an interest in ancient Greek culture ever since he took an
introductory course in Greek history during college. He writes and speaks
classical Greek with a fair degree of fluency and has read many of the
literary and historical works of that period in the original language.
During the Olympics, he was amazed at the misunderstanding people had of
exactly how the original Olympics were organized and the attitudes the
Greeks had towards athletic competition in general. Suffice it to say the
original Olympics was far from the perfect peaceful sporting event modern
commentators try to make it out to be. Greyscot will discuss the negative as
well as positive aspects of the original games. as well as how it compares
to the modern games.

Upcoming Lectures include:
  Tues, Sept 24, 8:00 Central, "Comments on Mud Research" Alan Schwartz
  Tues, Oct 1, 7:00 Central, "Not-Quite-Gourmet Cooking" Gail [Resch]
  Tues, Oct 15, 6:00 Central, "Irish Mythology" Richard Marsh
  Tues, Nov 5, 8:00 Central, "Medicine in Ancient Times" Croaker
  Tues, Nov 12, [TBA], "Alchemy" Cecilia Rennie 
*Schedule subject to change without notice, and my apologies in advance. If
anyone has any comments on the series, or any suggestions, please let me know.
I need speakers for Oct 8th, and Oct 22nd, so if you have an idea and could
speak on those dates, talk to me asap :).
- Sabella

- CONTEST - HALLOWEEN SPEAKER
    I'd like to do something within the Lecture series for Halloween. As the
    series normally runs on Tuesdays, October 29th, the Tuesday closest to All
    Hallow's Eve, would be a good date. I'm trolling for ideas :). This needs
    to be something that would fit within the Lecture Series format (games in
    general are good ideas and fun, and we'll consider them, but I'd still
    like something that fits within the format. Someone who speaks on the
    origins of the holiday, or on Lon Chaney movies, or... what do you think
    would be fun?) Some sort of small prize and credit will be given for any
    idea used.

- PLAYER RUN TINY PLOTS
    Ratatouille recently posted an idea for player-run tiny plots on the
    welcome board. Coman posted also regarding player-run tiny plots for
    immorts. The PR staff is very happy to see players take the initiative in
    the role-play arena and happy to offer help (short of providing experience
    point awards, however) in any way we can. Contact Ratatouille or Coman if
    you are interested in participating in these.
    
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                              ADMINISTRATION
                              
- PROMOTION!
    Sandra, who is also hard at work in Building and PR, has recently been
    promoted to full Administration. Everyone make sure to thank her for all
    the hard work she is doing keeping the mud running in many areas!

- PLAYER PURGE: Idle Playerfile Purge: September 21, 1996
    Since the summer is over and we have over 32,000 playerfiles we will
    resume the deletion of playerfiles that have been idle for one month
    starting on Saturday, September 21, 1996.
    
    So log in all those dusty old characters you've got hidden away that you
    want to keep. Otherwise they could be lost. We are hoping to automate this
    process so we will be unable to save out familiar names as we used to when
    we did this all by hand.
    
    So, if you are planning on being away from the mud for an extended period
    of time or don't plan on playing a character for a while, please send mail
    or contact a member of the administration department asking that your
    character(s) be archived. Be sure to write down your password and any
    unique information about your character so that when it comes time to be
    unarchived, we can verify that it is you that is asking and not someone
    who wants to cause trouble for you.

- ROLL OF HONOR
    Cheers and thank yous from the Immort Staff to: Shalindra, Somar, Krynn,
    and Aermid who freely gave up duplicated equipment!

    The Administration Department has recently clarified the rule on
    duplicated eq: 
    Equipment duplication has always been frowned upon here. Lately there has
    been lots of reports of people doing this. It is now illegal to duplicate
    equipment on purpose and if you happen to duplicate something by accident
    then JUNK IT. If we find out you have duplicated something and not junked
    it, you will be guilty of equipment duplication and therefore reported as
    having cheated. Please Don't Make me Have to take equipment from you.
    -Chocorua

    Cheers also to Diet, Daer, and Eucharist who reported major bugs which
    might have been exploited. Thank you!!

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                         OPINIONS ON CURRENT ISSUES
                         
                           The LT Roving Reporter
                             by Leila, LT Staff
                                            
This issue of the Legendary Times we introduce the Roving Reporter, a section
in which players comment on the burning issues which send our happy little mud
into a spin. This week, we respond to the issue of LegendMUD economy. As some
of you already know, the debate on mud economy was sparked by Daer who made
the observation that gold has lost its economic value in favor of the rarer
string coupons. His position sparked a larger debate which was outlined in the
last LT. [See the Welcome Board and "The Legendary Times" vol.3 issue 10 for
details]. A discussion on the mud economy and, the issue that seemed to take
precedence, availability of coupons erupted. The following comments are taken
by our roving reporter who questioned players on mud economy and collated
comments. Now hear what others have to say:
>From Donelan:
    Players could advertise their services and trade gold that way. You don't
    see people advertising amulets, potions, spells, repair, etc. Or even too
    many that obtain eq for a price. ALL gold needs to be regulated. If it's
    valueless to high-levels, then there is no reason for them to sell their
    services to newbies. How about wiping player bank accounts, and forbidding
    shopkeepers from purchasing eq looted from mobs? Services are rendered for
    free because 1) you can't sell them and 2) the gold you get with them
    pales in comparison with the gold you get from killing stuff and 3) the
    gold is worthless anyway.
    [On Coupons as Economy] If you don't have a scarce currency, you CAN'T
    have an economy. Of course if you can't provide an easier means of
    obtaining coupons, they don't make a handy currency either. Coupons are
    rewards for stringing eq, and weren't intended to be currency. Gold should
    be the currency.
>From The High Priestess Petal:
    Maybe the answer to the question of money, is for the immorts to set up a
    shop. Maybe there should be special games run, which have magnificent
    prizes, but which have an entry fee, or certain strung items which would
    be prized but useless... This would take a fair bit of money out of
    circulation, and hence make coins a rarer, and by extension more valuable,
    commodity. The obvious downside to this would be that newbies would be
    disadvantaged by a system where one could buy favors... but if a fee
    system that was scaled in accordance with one's level was introduced, this
    problem would be alleviated.
>From Dogma:
    I think coupons should still be the prize they always were. People
    selling them is the problem. Perhaps if they could ONLY be used by the
    person who earned them?
>From Cinco:
    I find gold pretty darn valuable myself....I spent about 15k on a low
    level who lost their eq today. Gold is very important for me still and I'm
    level 36. You need to make a reason for high levels to spend their
    money...not make it harder on the little guy...lets not try a trickle down
    economy here.
>From Daer:
    Most people i know have been playing on here for about a year and more
    than half have never even had a coupon. I think a policy allowing people
    to unstring items in return for a coupon would be helpful. The gods
    complain that we never use our coupons, but that's because they can't be
    refunded. What if we find out after we get to level 50 that we need to
    switch eq , then we might have to get rid of our precious strung items, so
    most people hold on to them till way late in their character. Most people
    I know that don't use their coupons don't use them because they are scared to.
>From Borgia:
    I think that gold is not completely useless. Of course, if you could get a
    coupon only for money, the value of money would instantly increase. Or
    perhaps coupons should be allowed to trade ONLY for money, no services ...

                     =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
                        A Working Mud Economy, Part I
                        The Basic Necessities of Life
                            by Demon Greenspawn
                                            
    [Demon Greenspawn has studied Public Finance under Cheops and Khufu, Tax
    Theory with King John II, and Contract Law under Daniel Webster. He served
    as Financial Advisor to countless kings, princes, tyrants, despots, and
    corporate executives. He is past Chairman of the SEC (Soul Exchange
    Commission) and is currently Minister of Economics to Mephistopheles.]
    
    One of the hottest topics on Legend right now, outside of the mythical
skilltrees (I wonder if they're deciduous), is a mud economy. It seems
everybody wants one, few know what one is, and nobody has a clue how to make
one work. Well, you could sign a contract with my boss for a nominal fee (a
good example of how the barter system works by the way) or you could implement
some of the suggestions (garnered from thousands of tedious years watching
mortals interact in their complex and ultimately futile way - you really can't
take it with you!) that I shall outline hereafter. To be completely up front,
and to keep my readers from losing interest or becoming confused, let me say
that some of the subjects I shall discuss have been covered extensively before
in other forums, specifically skilltrees (do they have fruit?) but always from
a different perspective.
    First off, let's decide what we mean by an "economy." The concept of
economy in Washington DC seems to be from a completely different branch (seems
like it's awfully hard to avoid talking about trees ) of reality than
that in say, Podunk, Idaho, but in general, what I think everyone is talking
about is that system of trade-related activities which each of us (yes, Demons
too, gotta make your quota don'tcha know) participate in to one extent or
another in order to pay the piper, feed the kitty, or otherwise stave off the
grim reaper (or the IRS). The main problem seems to be that what happens on
the mud bears little if any resemblance to what happens in real life and
something that simulates reality (or at least some computer geek's idea of
reality) would be desirable.
    So that sounds like a good place to start, how is life on the mud
different from day-to-day life? In real life (hereafter referred to as RL),
the majority of people spend the vast majority of their time working to acquire
the basic necessities of life: food, shelter, and clothing. No matter whether
you have to kill your next meal, cut down logs (logs from trees, maybe
skilltrees ) for your house, tan your new loincloth, or spend all day
putting widgets on a whatchamacallit so you can buy food at the Shop'n'Save
and pay the mortgage, you're spending your time accumulating the basic needs of
physical existence. On Legend, however, things are very different: food is not
really a concern, more a minor annoyance that takes very little of your
average income; clothes are inconsequential (you can pretty much run around
nekkid if you like); and shelter, which in this case can be equated to rent,
is FREE (a socialist's dream), and that brings us to the root (root-trees,
get it? Ah I kill myself) of the problem. On Legend, there really are no
necessities that require constant attention to deal with. This is not by any
means an insurmountable problem. Several minor fixes, and a few major ones can
go a long way toward giving us a more RL-like simulation of existence and the
beginnings of a self-sustaining economy. Let's look first at each branch (ooh,
trees again) of the problem independently and ponder some fixes, simplest to
hardest.
    1) Rent: In a nutshell (ha ha ha ha ha ha... ahem), Charge Rent. Of
course nobody wants to have rent the way most Dikus do, it's inherently
unfair, the less you play the more rent it costs, or change our basic rent
system, which seems to work pretty well all in all, but there is a simple
alternative that would be almost painless to implement and even has its own
rationale. What you do is charge a set price, probably based on level and
modified by popularity and convenience of the location, to rent a room at the
Inn. For example, say renting would cost 10 gp per level (this and all other
numbers in these suggestions are merely off-the-wall guesses and a committee
should actually be set up to experiment and see just where numbers should be
set based on actual play, hopefully, for the average, not expert, player).
Thus, it would cost 10 gp at first and 500 gp at 50th each time a player
rented out. In addition, a premium of between 1 and 10 times the base amount
should be charged based on hometowns at 10 times, as they are the most popular
and convenient, thus amounting to 100 gp at first and 5000 gp at 50th (this,
by the way, would as a bonus encourage exploration in order to find a cheaper
place to rent, and possibly alleviate some of the overcrowding at the more
popular Inns. In addition, it might also help alleviate the problem of people
renting off bleeding and spell affects, as this could get quite expensive,
especially in PK fights). Thus we have created a continuing expense that
requires players to spend at least some of their time each time they play
gathering money in order to pay for a room. This idea can be further expanded
upon when player housing goes in providing ever steeper "rents" for better
housing for the more affluent players.
    2) Food: Food is a more complex problem as there are some fairly serious
code changes that should be made and some extensive file rewriting. First off,
you don't eat near often enough, and food doesn't cost near enough of your
total income. Food should be a real concern for the player. Several things can
be done to bring about this situation: Increase the frequency you have to eat
(It would be nice if this was dependent on activity level, ie, moving or
fighting burned more calories and thus you had to eat more often, but isn't
essential); Change food values and/or prices to reflect a more realistic
situation; Decrease the value of food from skill/spell actions such as forage,
fish, and carve corpse to reflect their position as mere subsistence (the
increase in the value and need for food should still keep them from becoming
extraneous, and the value of "cook" as a skill should also be improved by
doing this); INCREASE the consequences of not eating or drinking (merely
regaining mana, move, and hps at a slower rate is not really much of a
problem, especially at high levels.) Hunger and thirst should fairly quickly
begin costing you stats - first CON and STR and later, MIND and DEX, and
should ultimately lead to death, just as bleeding and drowning do. (As an
aside, it might be fun to have hunger and thirst *increase* spirit - after
all, you are fasting - an interesting way of temporarily gaining a skill or
performing a quest that you normally couldn't do); and finally food should
decay much faster than it currently does unless some form of preservation is
used. I may be barking up the wrong tree (... I got a million of 'em),
but I think these changes would put food and water back on the list of
concerns for every character.
    3) Clothing: Now clothing is a bit more of a sticky wicket where necessity
is concerned on the mud. For one thing, clothing crosses into the realm of
equipment, much of which is worn in clothing slots, but is not really clothing
at all but tools, and also infringes on that ever present rent limitation.
Some form of cultural taboo against going naked could be added, but would be
very difficult to code, and an increase in the value of AC would be helpful
and should be done, but is not by itself enough to make clothing a required
item. It may be going out on a limb ( I'm in the wrong business, I
should be in Vegas), but probably nothing can be done to fix the need for
clothing until real weather goes in and concerns for heat, cold, and
precipitation force players to care about clothing as something other than
stat boosters.
    We have now covered the acquisition of the basic necessities of life and
as can be seen, the above discussion has very little to do with economics per
se but instead deals with the motivations that underlie the natural
development of an economy in RL and are, in fact, lacking in the basic
structure of the mud. These must be simulated in some fashion if the mud is to
be capable of having a sustained economy. Look forward to more in Part II, next
issue.
                     =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
                         Board Discussion Summary:
                          Ideas From Other Muds

There seems to be common agreement that we need a Discussion Board on the mud
(me too, me too! :). Discussion about various issues seems to have taken off
in an amazing fashion, and there is no way I can do justice to the complete
conversation in this forum. So please, if you are interested in these issues
and haven't done so, read the Welcome Board, and the Mud Discussion Board. 
The last couple of weeks, the topic seems to have centered primarily around
differences between Legend's system and those on other muds. Gho sparked the
discussion with a post titled: Legend vs ? Mud including several features he
thought would be useful to add to Legend. This summary describes each feature
and various responses to it as briefly as possible.

    1. You can chat and reply to tells while sleeping as well as read and
       write on the boards which are accessible from anywhere (these are all
       kinda OOC things anyway so why not make them available while sleeping?).
Ptah responded that most of the boards are not OOC boards at all and noted
that the chat/tell while sleeping thing has been an ongoing debate for at
least two years. Gho replied that he had intended the comment to indicate that
these are an "unrealistic" feature to the mud as it is, and thus easily
allowable while asleep. Bulk agreed that it would be nice to be able to
participate in trivia while sleeping, at least, or have a sleep-talk channel
for those that are sleeping at that moment. 
    2. Rent is free and instead items are restricted by level plus you can
       store items in the bank without charge.
Ptah claimed the level limits system is poor game design. He said that
Legend's system is generally considered to be the best and most flexible,
however a better alternative yet would be a fully functional mud economy
making the valuable stuff basically next to impossible to obtain due to its
rarity. Ptah also stated banking without charge quickly leads to a Monty Haul
game. Gho commented that losing all equipment due to being over-rent during
quests was at least one drawback to our system, and the lack of ability to
purchase new equipment was very frustrating to players. Coman claimed the rent
system is simply a level limits system under another name, as a level 1 must
go up levels in order to keep greater eq. He further noted a rationale to a
level limit on the ability to use some items, due to complexity. He noted that
the rent system suffers when people deliberately cheat, causing Monty Haul
equipment giveaways, which isn't possible in level-limited systems, although
he prefers it. Beam said he felt that level limits on other muds create
variety in equipment use, and suggested the creation of equipment that would
not appeal to higher-level players. He further asked how level-limits on
skills (present on Legend) differ from those on equipment. Bulk felt the rent
system makes it possible to hinder people from giving/getting too much help
from their friends, and he felt the bank  would just create more spam-mages,
spam- druids, spam-for-level, etc.
    3. You can't flee while not fighting thus avoiding fleeing back into mobs,
       it tells you which way you fled plus you can specify which direction to
       flee.
Ptah noted that flee is often used as a social here, but it could be changed.
He added that fleeing in panic is not orderly retreat and thus we don't give a
direction, and mentioned that the ability to retreat will come with skill
trees. Gho noted that he too uses flee as a social, and suggested that it
should always fail unless there is an attack under way.
    4. Scan is a free skill to all and without lag (I hardly ever use it on
       legend because of the skill lag).
Ptah mentioned current plans to how rooms work, and suggested that the delay
on scan would be looked at. Gho asked that the delay on dash be checked as
well.
    5. An amnesia spell (scroll) to clear all you've learnt and restore your
       practices.
Ptah stated that this would not work well with Legend's classless system and
was, likewise, a poor fit with skilltrees.
Bulk - I think what we have is about as flexible as it can get (with items that
only offer +AC, you'll need an amnesia scroll for your stats too,
if you mess up)
    6. A pray system where if you keep the (np) gods happy you can pray and
       receive a heal, cure poison or balls of light.
Ptah said this is incredibly open to abuse. Gho commented this was not so if
overuse of it displeases the gods Treacle stated the command on other mud's
would only aid you when you are in dire need. He further stated that it works
better in coordination with alignment. Bulk felt having pray work for player
aid would, make Legend too easy, as it is on other muds and that the alignment
system would not work well on the classless mud.
    7. A donation room - why simply junk items when you can donate it to those
       unfortunate enough to DT.
Ptah commented that we have a donation room, and Gho reiterated that he meant
something more like the "sacrifice" command. Ptah said "sacrifice" where you
get to junk a corpse or item and get gold or XP in return is a silly idea!)
Coman commented that the sacrifice issue is not as silly an idea as it may
look, as there is precedent in virtually every religion known to man in which
sacrifices lead to benefits from the gods or other spirits, and, as Legend is
supposed to be the world as they thought it to be, the lack of an ability to
sacrifice is a hole in the design. He suggested some possible uses for the
command, and added that it would require a lot of effort to implement. Coman
feels one of the BIG holes in Legend is the lack of a god system, stating the
belief in real and active Gods and spirits has been of overwhelming importance
in the development of civilization.
    8. A befriend list where only those you've befriended are able to touch
       your corpse.
Ptah said that he is considering this.
    9. Shopkeepers offer custom items, (ie. collect various items, seashells,
       snakeskins etc and they'll make you something nifty)
Ptah mentioned that this is something else which is coming with skilltrees.
Gho further suggested a 'custom' command, which works similarly to 'list' for
custom items.
    10. Sleeping to heal is an option! I timed sleeping to heal on Legend, ...
        increase natural hp regen or put in more healing points like the wells in
        Tara.. (surgeons and other healers are very rarely available)
Ptah restated the rates for sleeping regens vs standing, noted that real time
is not a valid measure as ticks are variable, and commented that if players
are not playing healers, we would prefer to make them more worthwhile to play
than to add other options to fill their role. Manic noted that Gho is a con
fighter, and the rates he mentions would be even worse at less than 100 con.
Bulk wondered if Gho might be changing to con to level, thus leaving his con
low while resting and not getting full regen rates, and reiterated that he
would prefer to leave "root" as a Tara only skill. However, he did suggest a
"sacred area" where healing, and regen rates are improved. Beam mentioned that
there are many players from Tara who aren't healers as 100 spirit augment is
too difficult to obtain. He went on to say that healers need to be able to
fight as they can't always group, and commented on some similar problems with
surgery (self-only, limited first aid, and high failure rate of entrance).
    Other Ideas:
Bulk suggested a new type of money, configurable prompts, maybe a who list
that only displays the names you want to see (i.e., to see if your friends are
there), and a 'general' mudmail which could be accessed by any char you play
(or a function that allows you to have other chars receive your mail as well).
Gho also suggested changing the experience when grouped and upgrading
experience for higher mobs as ways to encourage grouping.
    Ptah issued a general policy statement and reiterated that the immortals
of Legend are very interested in hearing ideas, suggestions, and even
constructive criticism from players. He mentioned that many of the features
described are ones that are always very popular on a mud, but quickly lead to
that mud requiring endless maintenance and having very poor player retention.
Gho commented in return that the other mud actually seemed more difficult to
him in many ways.

This discussion sparked another on system design between Coman and Ptah
which will be summarized next issue.

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
                        ADVICE, QUERIES, AND PROBLEMS

                         "Unsponsored Immort Games"
                                by McDougan

In the past couple weeks I came up with two very good ideas for games, yet
Parrilyn rejected them both. The purpose of this article is either to
show you how wrong she is, or to give everyone proof that I should be in an
insane asylum. Either way, it should be fun for one of us....

                        Game #1: Death Trap Tag

This fun game will allow all those DTs you hit help you win a coupon and,
while it might not replace the fifty you lost, well, it's a start. First of
all, after leaving your equipment in a special container in Parri's room
labeled "Your-Name's-Corpse" and renting in the nearby "Cadaver Inn", you will
be given special, unrentable (but still reasonably good) armor to help you
through the quest. Parri will then give you a list much like the scavenger
hunt list -- only this is a list of DTs from which you have to hit as many as
possible. Parri will be watching info carefully, and you can die, die, die, to
your heart's content, and win a coupon. But hit the one forbidden DT and Parri
will distribute your equipment among the top few players. So enjoy!!!

                      Game #2: Guess that password

A person selected at random (a.k.a., whoever the Imms are angry at) will
have his or her password read, and the players will have to try to guess
whose password it is it from the hints given to them by the immort. The
person who guesses it right first wins a coupon. However, a coupon will
also be added to the inventory of the player whose password was guessed, so
the first person to reconnect can then log on to that character and give
himself another coupon!

I have lots of other games... Hey! Who are those men in white coats who just
entered my house?

                     =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
                                  Census
                       By CLeo of the Circle of Angels
                                      
Hi!  I am doing a census about where people, playing on the mud, come from. As
some already know, we have people from all around the planet, but I am pretty
sure that there are some people, playing from other countries, which we don't
exactly know where they play from.

The result of the census will be in the second LT edition of October, so
please fill in and send to poploco@freenet.grfn.org  before September 26th. 
Please indicate in the subject that your email is about the census (example: 
Subject: Census).

Note: Your names will not be displayed in the results.

Thank you for your cooperation,
-CLeo of the Circle of Angels

1. What country do you live in right now?

2. From where do you access LegendMUD?
    (example:  I play LegendMUD from my house.)

3. Where did you first learned about LegendMUD?

4. Would you recommend LegendMUD to your friends?

    If "yes", why?          If "no", why?

5. Do you have more than one character on LegendMUD?
    (do not give the names of your other characters)

    If "yes", how many?     If "no", will you ever create new characters?

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
                         OVERSEAS CORRESPONDENT
                      Another Letter From Triangleman
  
Greetings, once again Legend, from somewhere in the Adriatic Sea off the coast
of Albania. It is now time for the next installment from the Journal of
SailorBoy TriangleMan.

When I last wrote to you all, I was on my way to the Black Sea, onboard the
USS Austin. What a fun time that was. To get into the Black sea we had to
transit the Bospor Straight, going right through Istanbul, Turkey. What a
beautiful city Istanbul is. As we started through the straights, the old part
of the city was to our left and as you looked out there was a very large
mosque with many minarets around it. It was a beautiful site. There large
mosque with many minarets around it. It was a beautiful site. There were also
2 old castles on the shore midway through the straights and one on the far
end as well.

Once through the Bospor straights we sailed north to Constanta, Romania where
we participated in a joint exercise with the Romanian, German Italian and
Dutch navies for two days before pulling in for four days of liberty. When we
left Constanta, we sailed up to Odesa, Ukraine. As we pulled in, the Ukrainian
Army Band was on the pier playing their national anthem, followed by the US
anthem. It was very impressive, gave me goose-bumps :) The people there were
very friendly, and all wanted to try out their English on us. The opera house
put on a free opera for the ship. I thought it was a good performance.

After four days of Odesa we left the Black Sea and made our way over to
Rhodes, Greece, one of the southern islands near Turkey, where we stayed for
four days.

I'm now back on the USS Siapan off the coast of Albania, we're on an exercise
with their navy. By the 23rd of August, the ship will be in Italy for a few
days then possibly to Sicily for a few weeks. It'll be good to get off the
ship for a little :)

So, that's all that's been going on here. Hope you all enjoy hearing about my
fun and exciting life. I can't wait until I can get home again.

Well, till next time.. Peace!
-TriangleMan

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
             ________________________
            /                        \
        o O | Wonder what folks are   |
  `\|||/    | doing over at LegendMud?|
   (o o)    \________________________/
ooO_(_)_Ooo_____________________________________________________________
_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|
__|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|___
_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____

                          Your Eye On Legend
                                         
    Last issue of the Legendary Times we announced the beginning of a new
segment for players of all types, levels, walks of life to talk about their
experiences, views, and recollections. This issue, the High Priestess Petal
speaks to some issues and developments on LegendMUD.
    Goddess please forgive me for being silent so long... but now I feel
compelled to address a few of the goings on in the world recently. Since you
put me on this world almost a year ago I've noticed changes both big and small
from personnel to attitudes to equipment. I feel now that I should document
some of my thoughts on some of the most recent changes my Goddess.
    As you would know, a silly little boy called Satan recently decided that
the magic wells in Tara belonged to him, and his friends exclusively. That is
so like a man!  He will probably never realize that the goddess, as the mother
of all nature provided those wells for all her children, and it is no-one's
place to try and claim nature for one's very own.
    At any rate, clan Grendel will no doubt soon find out that their silly
little power play will backfire... if the angry citizens of Legend don't get
them, then then mother nature will, for the wild spirit of nature will be
owned by no man.
    Here's to you Mr Satan, it was a gutsy move by you, and I wish you the
best of luck defending your stance.
    Goddess, it has come to my attention that there have been grumblings
throughout the lands as to the monetary system on Legend. This just confirms
all my suspicions... money really is the root of all evil. Those who have
money are grumbling that they have nothing to spend it on, and those who don't
have money grumble because they... don't have money.
    It appears that many Legendites see money as a fairly useless commodity...
most of these people have acquired vast fortunes, and can think of nothing to
spend it on. Of course, if I were an economic rationalist, I would suggest
that the answer to Legend's huge money surplus, would be inflation... but I am
not an economic rationalist, I am a high priestess... Inflation would
disadvantage a lot of the younger people whose pocket money obviously would
not be sufficient to keep them in sourdough breads and lamps.
    Goddess, we have fabulous news, it appears that LegendMUD will once again
celebrate the joining of two souls in the form of a beautiful wedding!
    I would like to congratulate CLeo on his recent proposal. Having heard
some of the wedding plans so far, I am sure that CLeo's and Terror's wedding
will be one of the most interesting, joyous, and beautiful weddings ever seen
on LegendMUD.
    I would like to leave you with a few words from the Great Goddess Daisy.
Her word is final...

_WHAT'S HOT_                             _WHAT'S NOT_
Role Play                       Taking kills personally
Leveling yourself               Making your character a HP monster
Starting in Agrabah             Starting in Klein
Cookie Collecting               Hoarding Strings
Soloing the Phantom             Killing Innkeepers
3rd circle create magic         Sniper
Drowning                        DTs

May the Goddess smile on you always,
-The High Priestess Petal

                                 \|/ \|/ \|/

                        THE LEGENDARY TIMES PERSONALS
                              Leila, LT Staff
                                            
This is a new addition to the Legendary Times which caters to the unlucky at
love, or looking for love, those missing children, or welcoming their return,
announcements of a joyous (or other) nature, births, deaths, loss of loved
ones or any other event. Announcing a birth or wedding? Why not announce it
here first? A newbie looking for others to group, or starting an RP clan?
Spread the word at our expense! Sorry you sniped your best friend? What better
way to say 'I'm sorry' than a personalized message in the LT?  Whatever your
reason, whatever your problem. We're here to help.

    To Crash,
    Being married to you is like a dream come true. I love you and respect you
    with all my heart and want the whole world to know about it.
    Love always,
    Creatch
    
    Just out of curiosity:
    How many people would actually join a huge group that would just go on
    killing everything in sight?  Like organizing such groups every weekend at
    7pm or something.
    Bulk  --just wants to see a massive group. :)

    Valeria, come back. All is forgiven. Coven

    Lonely in San Fran:
    Single male mage [smm] seeks compatible female for romantic trips through
    the forests of California. I enjoy hunting, camping and outdoor life. If
    you share similar interests, mudmail me.
    Diet, the Unseelie Sidhe

    Hi!
    This is Thoregon (The one who got killed by a rascal). As Thoregon's name
    was mistyped in the last issue when mentioned in the Keyzer's Snapped?!?
    section of the last issue ("Thoregan killed by a rascal"), he has now
    vowed war against all rascals.
    Thoregon
    [Editor's Note: We apologize sincerely for the misspelling of Thoregon's
    name and take full responsibility for any rascals who are unduly
    inconvienced due to our error.]

    To my little flying horse-guy. Come back to Legend. We miss you. T.

    Frustration:
    How many licks does it take to get to the center of a lolly pop? About as
    many tries as it takes to get a paralyzing warcry. Then again, at least
    with a lolly pop, you are sure to at least get to the center.
    Bulk.

                                \|/ \|/ \|/

                         Excuses for Gail - Update 
                             
Gail recently provided multiple choice excuses for rescheduling her lecture,
"Not-Quite-Gourmet Cooking" (see notice under PR for the new date and time).
Players kindly added many more. The LT offered to print other ideas, as one
never knows when one will need a good excuse. This one just recently in:

    This is yet another addition to the list of excuses that Gail has made for
    bean postponin' tew da lecture.

        x) She was battlin' the hacker at his (or her) own game.

    Heh.
    Thanks.
    -Xenon

                                \|/ \|/ \|/
                               
                            Description Change: 
Shalindra's long desc was changed from 'A hyperactive five-year-old gnaws on
anything she can find.'
to 'A hyperactive five-year-old runs around shooting flaming arrows at
everyone.'
                                \|/ \|/ \|/
                                
                            Mandolin's Marauders
                               by Kai Androsia

    There they stood, like bastions of power and destruction, upon the hill as
they surveyed their path through the world. A group so powerful and
destructive, the haughtiest of foes stepped to one side with a whispered hush
as they meandered through the town, pillaging all the while. And while you may
think that this is only something that would happen in the fairy tales, you
would be sadly mistaken. Just two Saturdays ago, this powerful assembly tore
apart the very fabric that allows you to sleep safely at night.
    Led by Mandolin, a rather small group of four or so, consisting of Linda,
Morphine, Shalindra and Dekker all waited patiently outside of hell as they
gathered their strength to plunge into the vast quantities of darkness that
awaited them. While they waited, countless individuals strode by, apparently
unaware of the devastation that was about to take place. Not only did this
group rampage through arguably the toughest place in the world, they did so
with ease. However, mass destruction and the recovery of valuable equipment
was not enough for this group. The blood they craved was fresh, and Mandolin's
Marauders quickly decided that Salem was the place to quench their thirst.
    So off to Salem it was for this gathering, but not without a few stops on
the way. Falling victim to their amazing assortment of weapons, such as Faerie
fire and a rusty iron syringe, were foes such as the Vampire, Sayyid Said and
even the Laibon. This is made all the more amazing considering how many others
decided to join them on their journey.
    As they sat, quietly, waiting for the appropriate time to strike again, a
group of some of the most powerful people in the world joined them. At their
peak, they consisted of Mandolin, Shalindra, Dekker, Joker, Thanatos, Karyn,
Croaker, TerrorSpawn and Cyanide. And they were not done. After a short rest
to catch their breath and plan their strategy, Mandolin stood up and beckoned
the rest on.
    Traveling at a breakneck speed, the group ended up in Salem, a town yet
unexplored by the masses and full of fresh meat for their lust for blood.
Quickly dying were Nathaniel Ingersoll and some of the other, respected
members of the town. Their mighty weapons and brains were vastly outperformed
by the ability of the Hackers from Hell. However, as all dynasties must fall,
so did this one. And, with an announcement from the gods of a reboot,
Mandolin's Marauders became only a myth to linger in the night.
           
                                \|/ \|/ \|/
                            
                              The Death Of Agyar 
                           (or The Birth Of Quabble)
                            
Or, Agyar's unexpected legacy: How one man sparked a change in the course of
literary history.

Throughout the day, our correspondent on Legend had overheard the rumblings of
an unhappy crowd. Agyar, often the topic of conversation, had been present in
fine form, issuing challenges to various members of our society, mostly
Dominic. We heard that he promised the aging knight that should he be killed,
he would not return. To our surprise and sorrow, not much later this appeared:

[Info]: Agyar killed by Valis.
[Info]: Agyar is permanently DEAD!

The death of Agyar, with all his many controversies, was received with mixed
reactions. While the terms "get some" and "eat it" rang pure and clear over
info, most of Legend chose to mourn his death and reminisce tenderly in their
unique, touching styles.

Dominic, in his own way " ... just mourned Agyar... I just ate an old-style
cookie..one of the last of the Mud, I'm sure." Juliet, ever the
sentimentalist, decided to look through teary eyes into the bright future
with: "well... tomorrow is another day.... *goes off to mourn for Agyar*". Yet
through the dark cloud of death, a new voice was heard and, somehow fittingly,
a term was coined (many of you will recall the eloquence with which Agyar
spoke his slurs and insults, such articulation unsurpassed by mere
expletives.)

Dominic had mentioned to Juliet that he had not seen "Bans" posted regarding
her engagement. Juliet asked, in her own special way, for a
clarification of the term: "what...a ban on you not talking anymore? ... c'mon
Dom...what kind of BAN are you talking about?" Siachet helpfully commented "a
notice traditionally posted on the door of a village church announcing an
intended wedding?" and Dominic further clarified: "Banns (from middle Europe
area)..banns (banz) noun, plural, a notice of an intended marriage." There was
some discussion as to the proper spelling of the word, vs the spelling
actually used by Dominic. Your correspondent helpfully supplies: "ban: tr.v.
banned, banning, bans. To prohibit, especially by official decree; banns: also
bans (banz) pl.n. An announcement, especially in a church, of an intended
marriage." (American Heritage Dictionary). Bulk apparently tired of this
interminable discussion:

[Chat] Juliet: *hands Dom a clue so he can figure out what point he's
       trying to make*
[Chat] Dominic: chuckle..already did.
[Chat] Dominic: but, the point is moot.. the other half is no more, alas..
[Chat] Juliet: uh...sure you did
[Chat] Dominic: well, Juliet, I can't help you if the discussion has gone
       over your head.
[Chat] Siachet: the origin of the term 'moot' is interesting too :)
[Chat] Dominic: oh, my..what have I started here...*ponder Siachet*
[Chat] Juliet: *tunes out the babble of an incoherent knight*
[Chat] Bulk: sheesh guys..this has been going on FOREVER cant believe you
       guys have the energy to quabble this long.
[Chat] Siachet: quabble? that's a new one on me
[Chat] Dominic: ah..isn't that quibble?
[Chat] Sabella: quibble, so long as we're quibbling :)
[Chat] Dominic: I think he meant squabble..
[Chat] Bulk: I am getting old and tired by the minute... :)
[Chat] Siachet: I think its a cross between quarrel and squabble
[Chat] Dominic: come now..
[Chat] Bulk: quarrel + squabble + quibble = quabble.
[Chat] Dominic: I must memorialize Agyar by living out his favorite
       phrase for me...Old and Tired..:)
[Chat] Sabella: coined a new term :)
[Chat] Bulk: *proud*
[Chat] Dominic: *cheer* Bulk!
[Chat] Siachet: I think the quibble is redundant but no doubt provided the
       intervening cognitive link
[Chat] Bulk: that's exactly what I had in mind.

Thus quabble was born and became old and tired, all in the same five minutes.
After the mourning and term coining was done, a curiously fateful message was
heard...

[Info]: Valis is dead--he was crushed to death in a waterfall.
And lives on Legend began to return to some semblance of normalcy.

                               \|/ \|/ \|/
                               
                        Latia's Bachelorette Party
                                by Myriad
June 5, 300 BC

    Well last night we celebrated the night before Latia's wedding. Given this
I could not resist throwing her a party for just the "girls". I contacted as
many of her friends as I could and we all met at the inn in Tara. Our party
was small at first, just Latia, Blaze and I...but by the time we had found our
way to the Tavern in Orkney, the party had grown with Keymistress, Kenitra and
Karyn. To begin the festivities, i uncorked the champagne that Densiva had
helped me obtain from Paris and passed out the glasses to all present. I made
a toast to the marriage of Ben and Latia, essentially saying that I hoped
their marriage would be a long and passionate one. Latia commented that
passion was not a problem for them and thus the drinking commenced.
    After a short conversation about how nice it would be to live in a town
where females dominated, we realized we were out of alcohol and a small panic
began! To our rescue came Somar who brought us all enough alcohol to keep us
intoxicated for days!  At that point we all decided that we needed to have
some male entertainment and so we sent a message out to the general public
announcing that we were holding a dancing contest for any males who would like
to demonstrate their skill. Grewl was the first to wiggle his bottom for us,
but a number of males demonstrated imagination and creativity with the special
dance we requested. In fact, this "contest" kept us ladies entertained all
night.
    The first two contestants were Yory and Pheasant2. Pheasant2 came in with
what he termed his little red cap dance and made us all roll on the floor with
laughter. It turns out this burly Scotsman is also quite good at the lambda!
Imagine that! Yory was also a gracious dancing partner. For many hours we
danced with Yory and Pheasant2 until all of the females present were quite
blitzed!
    At this point my story becomes quite foggy because i was extremely drunk.
In fact, the last clear thing i recall hearing is Latia telling me she planned
on getting toasted. We sure did! I do remember learning this new dance called
the macarenca, I believe that Keymistress and Yory were the first to light up
the floor with that number. After a short time it appears that we all lost our
ability to coordinate our drinks with out mouths because we all kept missing
them! More and more males from the general public popped in to say hello, and
some even danced. I vaguely remember a Klutzy Scotsman giving Latia a wish of
good luck and a whirl around the dance floor. And I do remember a midnight
skinned man first dropping his leggings and then everything else during his
dance. But by far the most surprising stripper with skill was Cliff, a short
balding smith...he became several of the ladies favorite of the evening. Cliff
surprised us with a slow strip tease during which he shook his booty like a
white boy! It was so much fun!
    The drinking continued on during these dances and I seemed to remember
someone named Morphine showing Latia his needle marks..it was an odd night.
Conan appeared during the dance of Cliff and was disgusted by the fact that we
seemed to delight so much in the short balding smith who had muscles no where
near the size of his. Etherial stopped in just in time to see her brother do a
strip tease..I do believe this she found this less than entertaining cause she
left shortly after that. As the night wore on and Latia and I were falling off
our barstools, and Keymistress and Blaze were wobbling unsteadily. Rufus
appeared bouncing out of nowhere. While we tried our best to get him to dance
for us..it didn't work. Funny though, shortly after Rufus arrived, all of us
began to have hallucinations of giant goldfish, and Pretty Pink Elephants on
parade.
    I think we all knew how drunk we were then. Then the next thing I remember
is being suddenly transported back to the inn in Tara. Given how drunk we all
were, we decided to just move the party to the hayloft in the barn. By that
point in time, the only members left of the original party were Latia,
Keymistress and I..and of course some more stripper candidates. Sin and Vial
were the last two that i can remember. I also recall that they were quite
good...Red silk boxers linger in my mind for some reason and I also recall
that while Latia was passed out for most of the dance, she made up for lost
time when she woke up! The rest of the party is a blur for me (and most likely
all else present)!

                               \|/ \|/ \|/

                             Latia's Wedding
                                by Myriad
                                         
    The weather was glorious the morning of the wedding and this was good too
since Latia and BenKanaan were both nervous about the event. Luckily I was
able to spend a few moments alone with BenKanaan the day before so he could
tell me more about himself.
    BenKanaan told me that before he met Latia he was bitter and suspicious
toward almost all women. It seems his older brother had been let down and
betrayed by a woman that he loved with all his heart. BenKanaan's father died
when he was a young boy and so he was very close to his older brother and
vowed to learn from his mistakes. So for many years BenKanaan did not open his
heart to the possibility of love..that is until he met Latia.
    Latia and BenKanaan became fast friends and then slowly a trust was
built between the two so that love could blossom as well. I have known Latia
since the beginning of her relationship with BenKanaan and I can say that she
has been in love with him since before time began; they were simply made for
each other. However, this love for one another did not entirely alleviate the
nervousness both felt before the impending ceremony.
    Given that both Latia and BenKanaan are from Tara they had chosen to have
their wedding in the small chapel in the druid compound. The Archbishop
Diancecht presided over the ceremony and a crowd had gathered for this
precious event. The best man, Nameless stood with BenKanaan next to the altar
with Diancecht while the guests arrived to view the event. Oonagh, Queen of
the Daoine Sidhe, and Finarra, King of the unseelie sidhe showed up as special
guests of honor. McDougan, Sandra, Daer, Krynn, Tenka, Valis, Somar, Blaze,
Candide, Spencer, Joule, Farnsworth, Conan, Stradivari, and Alisha were all
present to see Latia come down the isle. Kheldar and Arcose2 also arrived
late.
    As Latia's Maid of Honor I led the Processional through the forest path to
the small chapel. The sun was shining down upon us with a slight summer breeze
whispering through the air. It was as if the gods themselves had blessed
BenKanaan and Latia with such a beautiful day. Strewn on the path from Tara to
the chapel were rose petals of red and white. I wore a brocaded gown and
carried a single red rose. The bride was breathtakingly attired. Latia's
flowing blonde tresses curled down her back while her blue eyes twinkled with
happiness. While one could see that she was slightly nervous, happiness also
beamed off her face. Flowers had been woven into her hair and she was wearing
a lavish lace and pearl wedding gown. Upon her head was the Uey-Tlatoani
headress with a white veil cascading down across her face. Latia also carried
a single glowing red rose as she walked down the aisle with her good friend
(and my fiance) Densiva. As Latia and Densiva walked up the aisle, McDougan
played the wedding march on his recorder. The sounds of a silver harmonica
also accompanied with the wedding march.
    Once Latia had reached her place next to BenKanaan's side. Nameless called
the attention of all the guests and Diancecht began the ceremony by saying
"Who has come to be joined by their vows?" Latia smiled at BenKanaan and said
"I have."  Diancecht then said, "We have all come today to witness an event
that is as natural as the passing seasons or the changing of the moon. I
watched as the loving couple stared into each others eyes. Diancecht then said
"Today, Latia and BenKanaan have come to exchange their vows and tokens of
love. In This, their adopted land that they have come to love as much as I
do." Diancecht then asked Latia if she had her vows prepared. Staring deeply
into the eyes of BenKanaan, Latia said these words: "My love, the day we met,
we became fast friends, and every day since then has done nothing but
strengthen that bond. Even though we have had our hard times, at times, our
love bond has never been broken....If anything it has been strengthened by the
bad times as well." Latia continued saying "I love you more today than I have
before and I can only dream of the love that I will have tomorrow. I wish to
give you my love, my heart, and all that is me."  Latia also stated to
BenKanaan, "I love you, I will make no promises I cannot keep but I the one
promise I can make to you is that I will love you with all my heart forever if
you will have me my love."
    BenKanaan then took Latia's hands. and spoke these words of love to her:
"My love, it has been a long engagement...And as you have said, we have had
some bad times as well as good ones. Yet our love has never weakened, on the
contrary, it has only grown stronger. Therefore I have every faith and
confidence in our marriage my love. I will do my very best to make it work.
Like you, I don't want to make any promises I am not sure I can keep, but one
thing is certain...my love for you." BenKanaan continued saying tenderly "I
love you with all my heart, mind, and soul and will for as long as you will
let me my love. Forever, I wish and hope my love. Because to me, you are my
sweetest love and will always be my darling."
    Diancecht then stated "Seeing as Latia and BenKanaan have pledged their
deep love for one another and have promised to commit to each other as best
they can...I will now bless their rings. Once the druid had invoked the
blessing of the wood-spririt upon the rings, the couple exchanged their tokens
of love. In a grand gesture, Diancecht turned to the couple who were staring
deeply into one another eyes and said, "May the sun shine brightly upon your
faces......May the wind be soft and warm on your skin....Take the blessings of
the wood-spririts forth into the world not as two separate people.....but as
one. BenKanaan and Latia kissed passionately to celebrate their union.
    Diancecht then stated that Latia and BenKanaan were now man and wife!  The
cheering commenced and all rushed to give the bride and groom greetings. The
happy couple were surrounded by their friends who wished them well on their
marriage. Unfortunately, on the way to the reception, it was discovered that
some thief named crash had stolen all of Latia's equipment. Thus the reception
became an event where the whole community rallied together to help Latia and
BenKanaan get a happy start on their honeymoon. I can only hope that all
weddings I experience will be as lovely as this one.

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Legendary Times is published by the gods of LegendMUD. Please send all
replies/additions to to our address at lt@mud.aus.sig.net 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 Sabella online or through email
(lcmoll00@nx10.mik.uky.edu and see if she did indeed receive it in the first
place.
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