Volume One Issue Two

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../________________/      WHAT'S GOING ON AROUND HERE
 
 LegendMUD runs at moraff.austin.com port 9999 or (198.3.1118.108 9999)
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ISSUE TWO, VOLUME ONE                                   Sept. 5th, 1994
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NEW UPDATES TO THE MUD:
 
     POST and APPEND: You can now write your message on a note, POST
the note to the board, and also APPEND to already written notes and 
board posts.
 
     RENT LIMIT CHANGES: The rent limit remains the same; however, after 
going 1000 gp over your rent limit, you will not be able to equip any 
items except light sources. You still risk losing all your equipment in 
the event of a crash or linkdeath as you always did if you are over the 
limit. The grace period lets those of you who enjoy pushing it still do 
so but within limits; and it should hopefully reduce the risk of losing 
it all for those who pick up things when near their rent limit.
 
     CLANS: The buggy code with playerkill has been fixed. You may now 
only kill players who are clanned and within 10 levels of your own 
level, unless you are a guildmaster. For punitive reasons GMs may pkill 
anyone in their own clan and likewise are vulnerable to attack from 
anyone in their own clan. XP loss from playerkill death has been set to 
1/4th or 1 million maximum.
 
     AREA UPDATES: Sherwood and the Savannah have both been updated. The 
auction house should no longer be crashing the mud either. Reminder: we 
do have furniture items and they may be used in some of these updates! 
If you find something that used to work and doesn't now, try thinking of 
furniture. :)
 
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RESULTS of the SURVEY:
 
     Well, it's good to know that most people agree on the Mud's 
atmosphere. 'Beautiful. I could live there!! Mobs are cool, and most of 
the players are very friendly. ( even the gods ) :)  But when i was 
stuck in the beginning, I always found someone ready to help me. And it 
has left a very good impression on me.' I guess that means we're 
accomplishing one of our goals, unless you all are just saying that. =)
     Our players range from complete novices to people who have been 
mudding for four years and immorted and imp'ed several muds. They also 
range in LegendMUD seniority from 'back when it was on the MAC' to 'just 
a few days.'
     What people like best:  the atmosphere, the fight messages, 'the 
depth of thought and research which goes into areas', 'the high quality 
standard of writing, and the interesting skill system', 'Killing things 
and imagining that there is a lot of blood, followed closely by talking 
with people', the Wild Boar Tavern and Gift Shop, and the quests.
     What people hated: Lag, inaccurate consider, death penalty, and 
pkill costing xp if killed, inability for groups to race through the mud 
together because they get stuck at time trans quests, the lack of 
roleplaying overall, the imbalance of hack-n-slash vs explore/quest xp, 
the difficulty in finding applicable skills fast, slow mob regen, the 
quests (mostly on how to find them), and moraff's net connection, lack 
of gold generating mobs.
     Things people would like to see at Legend: a roster command for 
clans, a decent way of comparing weapons, role-playing (both quests and 
long-term sessions), more lower level attack spells, more +stat items 
lower level characters can get for themselves and not have to rely on 
upper level characters to get for them, a death toll posting of mobs vs 
players and the ability to take a light out of a bag to use it if you're 
stuck in the dark.
 
Most complete areas:            Areas in need of work:
  IRELAND                        IRELAND
  LIMA                           LIMA
  NAZCA                          NAZCA
  ST DENIS ABBEY                 ST DENIS ABBEY
  ARABIA                         KLEIN
  SHERWOOD                       WWII NORTH AFRICA
  JUNGLE BOOK                    BENGAL (not including JUNGLE BOOK)
                                 MACAO/SOUTH SEAS
                                 PORT OF LONDON
                                 ROMAN BRITAIN
 
Comments on hometowns:
GENERAL:
* 'I wouldn't mind some more gold generating MOBS earlier, I am bankrupt 
and am finding it very difficult to do more. I imagine I will get better
weapons in a few levels when I can kill MOBS with treasure, but it would
be nice to carry something besides a walking stick.'
 
TARA, CELTIC IRELAND:
* 'Eire should be changed, to make it less dangerous for newbies. 
 Considering that it is a hometown, it shouldn't be so frought with 
 major DT's and what I mean is aggressive mobs. More newbies have been 
 killed by black snakes and unseelie sidhe's than any other mobs I can 
 think of.'
* 'It's a bit odd to me that the sheep corral area (druids se of Tara)  
 loops on itself.'
* 'There seem to be huge bits of Ireland that are too difficult for       
 /any/ character to visit much (multiple large aggressive mobs in  
 adjacent rooms is a Bad Thing, in my opinion).'
* 'has Fionn fixed the fith-fath yet???'
* 'TARA is nice but it easily ranks number 1 in newbie death and 
 frustration. Hometowns should be a little friendlier than other places 
 in the mud. At the very least, put the Dun board in or just outside the 
 inn - when on my first day of play, I was killed by the unseelie sidhe, 
 everyone chatted "Gee you should have read the warnings on the board," 
 yet I had never even seen the board. I had dutifully read the board in 
 the inn, but how is one supposed to know there is another board to comb 
 the town for? You'd run into it if you explored long enough, but then 
 again that exploring is what led me into the sidhe. Newbies should be 
 encouraged to explore, and Tara is a terrible place to start 
 exploring.'
 
[    The new acts on Tika telling people about the sheepskin board
[    seem like a good idea. Although I always get turned around in
[    Tara too, I think I've successfully made it from the Dun to the
[    beach with luck only twice. The 'safe path' is very confusing
[    and not very well marked as a path. -Kaige
 
 
KLEINSTADT, MEDIEVAL GERMANY
* 'Klein has some emptiness that's being remedied.'
* 'KLEIN: why is this a hometown? It is safe, but just plain boring. You 
 can't use herbs and you get no magic bonus, as you do with three of the 
 four remaining hometowns. It discourages exploring because it's the 
 only place in the game where you get locked in every night. And rats 
 are the only things killable for several levels; kids and cats should 
 be easier.'
 
[    Klein as a hometown does give the same limited access to magic
[    as does Ireland. The mobs there have been downgraded extensively,
[    but can be looked at again. I'm slowly working on adding more and
[    more interesting things in that town. However, as I did not do the 
[    initial planning of this area, but have taken over its 
[    maintenance, I find it difficult coming up with new ideas that   
[    don't clash with the original feel and premise of the area. -Kaige
 
 
PORT of LONDON, 1841
* 'London's so fun I want to see it triple in size.'
* 'LONDON is a cash-cow for newbies, you can get totally rich in no time 
 flat simply by looting the corpses of the merchants who kill themselves 
 over and over, even more so now that you can sell the monocle too. And 
 it needs to be bigger!'
 
[    How does an expansion from 30 rooms to at least 300 sound? Ptah
[    and I are collaborating on an expansion that we hope will 
[    incorporate the best of both our areas. You'll be able to walk 
[    the streets of London, enter many houses, shops, and major 
[    landmarks. We plan to incorporate both historical personages, 
[    as well as some literary ones. I hope it will be one of those 
[    places where you can keep coming back and still not have found 
[    everything there is to do there. -Kaige
 
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        o O | Wonder what folks are    |
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Hi! and welcome to the social corner!  While the other editors are
bringing you the latest information on new commands, skills, spells, 
ideas and other workings of the mud, I'm here to tell you what's 
happening with the *-people-* of LegendMud. Look here to keep up to date 
on special occasions, clan happenings, and the general goings-on of your 
friends.
 
First, a word from our Sponsor:
 
    Visit Ringo's OOC Flower and Gift Shop for all those special
    events! Our wide variety of unique, hand-made gifts and personalized
    greeting cards makes shopping easy... more choice and more value for
    your gold coin!  At Ringo's you'll receive fast, courteous service,
    and we're open 24 hours. We offer free shipping and delivery of all
    merchandise. Cash only. Come on by!
 
Here's what's happening this month at Legend:
 
Proving that even great gods can get a little under the weather, Ptah's
picked up a nasty flu bug, so be easy on him, and send him a get-well
llama, to let him know you care enough to send the very beast. ;-)
 
BIRTHDAYS! Get those cards and presents in the mudmail.
   Ptah, infamous god of many things - September 7
   Arkady, the ranger lord - September 7
   Rusalka, erudite leader of mages - September 10
   K'Mala, your wondrous social editor ;-) - September 13
 
WEDDING BELLS!
Katya and Hunter_Rose joyfully announce their betrothal, and invite all
LegendMud citizens to their wedding!  The union will take place on
September 10, at 5:00pm eastern daylight time, in the ancient temple in
the northern moors of Eire. Escorts to the service will be provided by
the couple's attendants, Rusalka and Matrix.
 
CLAN NEWS:
Well, I haven't heard of any particularly interesting happenings or 
plans
within the individual clans. A feisty fellow named Mercenary has stirred
things up by challenging many clan members. Several player deaths have
followed, but in general there has been little beyond verbal response to
the threats. The lyric Dusty was rumoured to be in hiding after making a
playful slur on the honour of the Knights of Legend; it is also reported
that things have been smoothed between the Knights and the lady bard. 
And there has been a restructuring of clans, with two major effects; the 
creation of a status of associate clan member, for adventurers with ties 
to more than one clan, and a mechanism for the creation of new clans by 
interested groups.
 
Finally, in a recent announcement, the dashing Aragorn has resigned as 
clan master of the Knights of Legend. The selection of his successor 
will be determined by a vote of his clan members, which has not been 
completed at this time. Join me in wishing the clan well during this 
time of transition.
 
That's it for this edition: be careful out there, and remember to let me
know about special social events in *your* life! I'm available through
mudmail and, preferably, the e-mail address below!
         _  _  _  _  _
        / \/ \/ \/ \/ \    "A social life?
       ( K' M  A  L  A )    Where would I download something like that?"
        \_/\_/\_/\_/\_/     [email protected]
 
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 Legendary Times is put out by the gods of LegendMUD. Please send all
 replies/additions to [email protected] for inclusion in the next  
    edition. Social column items should go to K'Mala by email to 
[email protected]. We, however, reserve the right to moderate this discussion,
and may object to some submissions. If you feel we have wrongly omitted 
 one of your messages, please talk to either Kaige or Ptah online or 
 through EMail and see if we did indeed receive it in the first place.
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