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...../ Celebrating / /./ /./ /./ /.../ /./ /
..../ our 11th year /_/..\______/./_____/./__/.../__/./_______/ MUD
.../________________/ running on mud.legendmud.org 9999
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VOLUME TWELVE, NUMBER FIFTEEN September 20, 2005
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TABLE OF CONTENTS

LegendMUD Calender of Events

RECENT UPDATES
Area Updates
Code Updates
PR Update

LEGENDITES
Did You Know?

Mutterings from the Imps

A Personal Interview with Terrence Charles
Archibald Chamberlain III

___ ___
\ |-------------------------------------------------------------| /
/__| LegendMUD Calendar of Events |__\
'-------------------------------------------------------------'
September
Su Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa
1 2 3
4 5 6 7 8 9 10
11 12 13 14 15 16 17
18 19 20 21 22 23 24
25 26 27 28 29 30

-=NOTE Q&A day change!=-

Wednesday, September 21th, 7:30 pm Q&A in the OOC Auditorium
Sunday, September 25th, 6:00 pm Complete the Sentence with
Chaykin
Wednesday, September 28th, 7:30 pm Q&A in the OOC Auditorium

October 1 - Deadline for Immort apps!

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

Area Updates
==============

Greece:
All members of a Nemean Lion group now have one-time access to the
reward.

London, Sherwood:
Transmob-killing acts fixed -- be careful!

Tartarus: It's time for a post-install fixathon -- many bugs and typos
fixed and incorporated into the game -- thanks for all your reports!
Pale
coins should be a bit more available. Campe has been tweaked, be
careful.
Also, the manacles have been fixed.

Viking:
Higbald has been tweaked, be careful.

Small fixes were made and typos smashed in:
Black Forest, Abbey, Alhambra, Anasazi, Carnival, Crusades, Pittsburgh,
Sherwood

Rent revisions went in to: Alhambra, Arabian Nights, Aztecs, Beowulf,
Roman Britain, Casablanca, Frisco, Greece, London, Medieval Seas, North
Africa, Nazca, Picts, Romania, Tudor, Lima, Bengal/Seoni, Tortuga, and
Tara. The Tara changes are particularly exciting, over 90% of the items
have been changed substantially.

The following in-progress areas saw commits this week:
Dartmoor, Silkroad

Code Updates
==============

GENERAL

o blindside and sucker punch improved, greater chance to hit, more
damage.
o innate defense improved, higher heal ratio when it occurs.
o Gradual stat update moved to the regen update pulse which should
speed up gradual stats in both directions by about 4x.
o Casting a spell gives an innate 5% chance of improving the cast
level.
The casting level cannot be improved beyond 25, but this will give a
bit more flexibility and not require people to use spellbooks as the
ONLY means by which to gain spell levels on newly added spells.
o Gradual stats will change by 2 all the time instead of 1-3 randomly.
o A ton of mood changes.. ask chaykin!

BUG

o Firestorm and corrosive death will do damage again.
o First letter of a character's name in 'roster' will always show
as upper case.
o Being shot will now display messages to people in your room.
o Balm wearing off will be displayed even if you're asleep.
o Empathy bug where it was possible to go into negative
numbers for the caster effectively healing more than you had to
offer.
o Empathy will no longer display a message that you've been healed
unless said healing has occured.

PR Updates
============

One of this Friday's changes is a revision of the moods. Nearly all
of them were edited in some fashion: some were only tweaked minorly;
many of them were pretty much completely rewritten. In the process I
also added 15 brand new moods based on what I thought we were missing
and
some player suggestions. They are:

adventurous, childlike, dashing, dazzling, diplomatic, festive, grim,
militant, morbid, obedient, resolute, spooky, unloved, unnoticed,
and vengeful

Additionally, a few old ones had their names changed so that they made
more sense, so be aware of that.

The reason? Most of the moods as they exist today suffer from problems,
including mixed meanings, a lot of adverbs that had nothing to do with
the mood being used, grievous grammar and punctuation errors, and other
issues. Also, many of them were more or less copies of other moods.

The revision makes them all unique, gives them some better writing
style,
and makes the adverbs in the "action tags" actually make sense for
physical actions.

Hope you all enjoy them!

by request, the moods which changed their names:

"admiringly" is now "admiring"
"careful" is now "cautious"
"disagreeable" is now "disagreeing"

-Chay (Congratulations go out to Chaykin for doing this project from
start
to finish!)

___ ___
\ |-------------------------------------------------------------| /
/__| LEGENDITES: Information Regarding the People of Our World |__\
'-------------------------------------------------------------'

Mertjai has reached 100 million experience!
Aemilia has reached 100 million experience!
Percy has reached 100 million experience!

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

Intempesta Nox Clan disbanded on Thursday, 8 Sep 2005
due to low membership.

_____ DID YOU KNOW ... CONFIG SHOWREGEN
/ _ \ With all the new regeneration spells and effects
/__/ \ \ out there, did you ever find yourself wondering
/ / whether or not they are actually DOING anything?
/ / Well wonder no more! Just type config showregen
/__/ and the system will generate a message when one
__ of the effects assists your regeneration.
/ \
\__/

___ ___
\ |-------------------------------------------------------------| /
/__| Mutterings from the Imps |__\
'-------------------------------------------------------------'

The last week has been rather exciting behind the scenes.

The first big news, as promised, is that the backend code for the first
part of the PK changes has been completed. This first effort is a
measure
by which we can detect PK damage regardless of how it is generated
(skill, spell, melee, etc) and change how much damage is done.

The way it does this is to reduce the overall damage proportionally for
all incoming damage. If a hit would have normally done 80 points of
damage, it will now do a percentage of that (say, 37). We're still
working out the exact level to set it to, but 45% looks to be about the
proper level. This extends most PK fights to 12-20 rounds instead of
the
3-6 that we were seeing before this change.

Because of the way the new system is set up, it allows us to also
temper
mana costs based on this reduction in damage. If, by PK, you end up
doing
lower damage than a spell normally would, you will be charged less
mana.

There are a few things we're reconsidering as we test this change:

o stoneskin and its affects -- perhaps it has too high of a
resistance
rate
o the 'lasting stun/can't cast anything' code -- this will likely go
away
o the 'backstab frequency' code

We also recognize that healing under this scheme will be overpowered
and
are working on a way to resolve that.

We would like to thank those who have taken the time to take advantage
of
our testmuds and help test this system out. Your feedback has been very
valuable.

This is not the only efforts we are taking to address the PK issues,
but
merely a first step. We do recognize there are problems with risk vs.
reward in PK, and how the current system tends to dissuade people from
taking advantage of it. To that end, some of the things we are
considering:

o Reduced penalty for death
o Laxing the requirement of 'steal' to loot objects from corpses
o Adding other bonuses and perks to being PKE
o Re-evaluating the cost of carryable potions, looking to reduce the
cost and weight of these items
o Re-evaluating the 'affects save over rent' code

We recognize as well that PKOK and accept/reject has its fair share of
problems. Though we don't have any clear ideas on how to resolve this,
it
is one thing we will be tackling as we move forward.

Naturally, any conversations about PK will almost always lead to
discussions of clans, clanhalls, and how both affect the PK
environment.
Again, we have more questions than answers at this point, but we're
going
to be looking at those moving forward as well, trying to make clans and
clanhalls more viable for in-game affects but, especially in the case
of
clanhalls, slide their abilities away from being virtual safe rooms.

We'd also like to make special mention of the installation of Tartarus.
Nestor's done a fine piece of work with this new area, and trooper he
is,
he's already hard at work on the next.

Some other things on the horizon:

o Rewritten moods! Chaykin has been hard at work correcting some of
the
issues with moods and his first commit looks to change a great many
of them for the better. Typos, grammar and spelling fixed, 15 new
moods added and many of them rewritten, this looks to be a massive
and
positive change where moods are concerned.

o Era Experience is still early in its design stages. Some ideas are
currently floating around about rewards and Snapper has begun
coding
some of the backend functions that will be required for
implementation.

o Some changes to groups and grouping are in the works. Again, they
are
early in the design stages, but we're hoping to make groups a bit
more
robust part of the game and also refine the way groups are handled
in the code -- potentially speeding up a number of group-based
things. Lorenzo is heading up this project.

o Some new spell ideas are on the horizon for create mages. I don't
want
to break the surprise yet as these still have not been given
approval,
but we're looking at adding a couple interesting new affects that
are petty ground-breaking where Legend is concerned.

o Spells -- Spellbooks, everyone hates them, but they've been a
necessary evil for new spells added to the game. We will continue
to
provide spellbooks as a means to increase your casting level,
however,
we will be adding an innate chance to increase your casting level
*every* time you cast a spell. This chance is small, but over
repeated use of newer spells, your casting level will improve to a
very usable point. This will work on all spells, so if you forgot
to
chant 'wither' until level 50, you can improve older spells as
well.
Obviously, the easiest way to ensure a low spell level is to cast
spells early, but that will not be the only way any more.

o We now have the ability to swap stats. People have been asking for
this for a long time, and we're not quite sure how we're going to
get
it into the game just yet (will it be a redeem? will it be a quest?
not sure yet), but look for at least a one-time chance ability to
swap
any 2 stats around.

o The builders have been hard at work moving all of the exist areas'
objects to the new sliding rent scale for lower-stat items. This is
a
lot of work, but they're moving pretty quickly. Look for these
lower rent modifications to enter the game over the next few weeks.

o Gradual stats -- Gradual stats will become a little less gradual
(or a little more gradual) depending on how you look at it. We're
bumping the amount of change from 1-3 per tick to 2 points 4 times
per tick. That means that over a minute, any one stat can gain or
lose 8 points rather than the 1-3 currently. We'll be looking at
this closely and try to figure out a good mean between 'spam gear'
and 'alternate gear being completely useless'.

That's all for now. As always, the communication lines are open.

Rufus and Sandra
_______________________
/ \
o O | Wonder what folks are |
`\|||/ | doing over at LegendMUD?|
(o o) \_______________________/
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A Personal Interview with Terrance Charles
Archibald Chamberlain III

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(Compiled over several weeks by a scribe of the Chamberlain household.)

-- If you would please introduce yourself, sir.

I am Terrance Charles Archibald Chamberlain the Third, of Archibald
Castle in Yorkshire. I was educated at Oxford University, where I read
in Philosophy. As a young man I was particularly fond of archery and
dancing, and I was granted numerous opportunities to waltz with some of
the most beautiful young ladies in Yorkshire. Today, some fifteen years
after returning home from Oxford, I have invested heavily in a
fine Portugese vineyard.

-- If you could elaborate on your business, sir.

Certainly, dear boy. You see, at Oxford I met a refined young man whose
family had a knack for investing. His family was invested heavily in
the
interests of the East India Company, but my curiosities lied elsewhere.
Through him, I came to meet some of the more influential wine importers
in London on holiday. By the time my reading was finished, I was well
connected with the more prominent merchants, which acquainted me with a
shrewd Portugese man, whom I would later back financially.

-- How have your investments faired, sir?

Quite well, my boy, quite well indeed. I must add that this Portugese
man's family produces Colheita Port, the finest of all Port wines. It
is
in fact so rare that only one half of one percent of all Port wine made
in the entire world is Colheita. I will not bore you with the
specifics,
but the market price of a bottle of my partner's Colheita would startle
most, and needless to say we are doing quite well.

-- Sir, as your family's loyal servant for many years, I know that you
are as yet unmarried. Surely your successful investments, coupled with
your good name, will compel you to marry soon?

My boy, are you ever bold! Indeed, I am entering into my prime years,
and would like nothing more than to share my good fortune with a
special
lady. I believe that, as a Chamberlain, my future wife would enjoy the
many material benefits of a high marriage, not to mention sublime
contentment.

-- 'Sublime contentment,' sir?

I am first and foremost a gentleman, my boy, a man versed in chivalry
and principle. A lady is to be treated as such without exception, and I
would see to it that my wife live happily and comfortably, free from
worry and anxiety. Stability, my boy, stability. Is that not sublime
contentment?

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

Mertjai: Created page with " =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= .............._______ ............./ / THE LEGENDARY TIMES ............/..."