July 22, 2003
Posted: Tue Jul 22, 2003 11:19 am
Welcome to the Barren Realms Newsletter for July 22, 2003! You may have noticed there was no newsletter for the last two weeks. Your imp was in New York, studying for the bar for California, trying very hard not to be distracted. I will be taking the California bar the last three days of July, so please be nice!
--------------------------------------------
News From the Realms:
Quests running NOW:
Naxias: Item Quest
Fri Jul 18 23:19:03 2003
To: all
Hello!
All you have to do is collect 3 items:
1 item as the scariest thing you know of
1 item as the strangest thing you know of
1 item as the happiest thing you know of
all entries must be in to me or Coma by friday the 25th
Thanks to Coma for sponsering!
you also have to do an explanation on all 3 items
thanks
Naxias.
Lairian: Flaming Death!
Sat Jul 19 15:45:48 2003
To: all
July 27th...
5 p.m. system time...
A quest begins.
A division of low (1 to 25) and high (26 to 50) mortals, as well as heros will be competing in the gentleman's game...
Of Death Potion Roulette.
Thank Leiland for sponsoring.
Leiland:
I have been informed that there will be no flaming.
However, there is a chance (though not huge) of death.
Actually, there should be only a small chance of it, but you have been warned.
There will be no automatic CRs, though there may be if you qualify for one normally.
Death Potion Roulette is still on the 27th, 5pm system time.
Any character, any level is allowed, but only one character per person, please.
Quest Results:
Sozz: You MISSED it!
Fri Jul 18 17:15:53 2003
To: all
Hey folks!
You missed three great rounds of 20 questions this afternoon!
Lairian swept the others away the first two rounds, then Daredevil snuck in to win the last item!
Other participants were Spar, Wizzywig, Gauss, and Smeagain.
Congratulate Lairian and Daredevil next time you see them!
Comatose: quest
Fri Jul 18 20:04:21 2003
To: all
I ran a quick quest today. The object of the quest was to retrieve
a mirror, a croquet ball or both. The catch was that one item would
result in a slay at any time that I choose. The other item would
reward you with a restore ticket. The ball was the item that would
get you a restore ticket. The mirror was the slay item.
I had less participation then I expected, but I will try again with
different items.
-----------------------------------------------
Ideas:
Ghaleon: Can it show in the profile what avatar# we are at?
Disaster: profile should list the true sex of the character, not the sex as modified by change sex
Disaster: look 2.item please, please, PLEASE look 2.item *begs*
Disaster: a skill toss that would toss a potion at an enemy, to cause teh spells of the potion to act on the enemy
Disaster: "bless" flags should actually do something, like giving an extra 5 hp mana mv recovery per tick or something like that
Disaster: an option that can be turned off allowing us to not automaticly respond when hit by a spell (so we can watch mortals kill stuff, but not attack when an area spell hits us
Araby: If an item is invisible, it shouldn't glow/hum, just a thought
Oversoul: when you identify pills, it should say what spell they cast
Bedlam: protected mobs shouldn't be thieves
Anguish: if an item has an evil alignment and it is enchanted, the originally alignment should be removed and replaced with the spell caster's alignment
Suicide: personalized items sold to a shop should go "poof"
Exo: i think we should have a base hp thing on our stat screens, like what our hp and mana and movment are without eq or spells on us
Exo: i think that neuter heroes should have a HEROIT on the who list, since female heroes have heroine on thiers
Oversoul: Change the drink command. newbies get confused when it says "You are not thirsty".
Smeagain: If you healed/regained mana which was a percentage of your max instead of a fixed amount per tick the game would be far more playable and socialable as you wouldnt have to spend sooooo much time drunk and asleep when your stats get higher.
DwarfMan: Cancel the yell channel. "Y" is next to "T", and it sometimes turns into Yell instead of Tell. My tells often contain profanity; There's no need for yell channel, we already have shout!
Millions: Vehicles shouldn't melt--could be towed or something but you rarely see a car "melt"
Bedlam: a "BR timeline" on the site, saying important dates and changes, like herolevels, rehero, remort, etc
Ghaleon: "mana shield" spell where a part of the damage falls under mana
Puppetmon: Putting the numerical damange on the screen in parenthesis maybe EX DISCOMBOBULATE (143)
Kharn: dwarves should not be hit by lightning if any non-dwarf character is in the room (coz those are taller)
Squidster: you should be able to use vision while resting. it's just sight!
Glorn: When trying to wear an item, it check and default to remove the item that isn't it, e.g. it should not try to replace itself.
AMystery: we need an exit survey. when someone deletes they should be asked a few questions, at least one asking for a reason. it would be a good way to learn what people dislike
Squiddy: when you look at a demon with a head, it should say "Another head even uglier than his/her/its first one" insead of "...YOUR first one"
Squiddy: Newbies should get a little thing that imms do to send a message to the whole realms that suggests to go to the BR web page and read the new player guide
Kharn: boomerangs -- projectile weapons which come back after thrown but not hit
Puppetmon: Make it so you can make recall to different cities, such as Malathar, Malcandria, Pelendra
Ghaleon: Infravision should also work on the "exit" command and say the room next to it, instead of "Too dark to tell."
Cacophony: an offhand (item) command, since really someone would be able to chose which item to hold in which hand without the need to trick themselves by wearing a rock hammer first
Beakster: explain what exactly a quest is in the help quest
By Rabies:
Been a while since I went on a submitting spree, but I heard on the message
board that this was a good time to submit ideas.
A "speco_evil" for mobs:
Combat:
Casts curse, blind, web, and illusion in combat
If health < 25%, will cast "bamf" on players
Attempts to summon helper monsters in combat (looks for an extra
description in the room, something like "smon [mnum]"
Outside of combat:
Will cast spells to heal itself to at least 50% health before taking active
actions.
Has memory.
Will use "where" to scan for players it hates in its area and teleport to
them to attack.
Remembers its "home" square and teleports back after fights.
Will teleport unworthy opponents (> 5 level difference) to a specified room
number after making a snarky comment. ("Begone, pathetic wretch. I have
no time to waste on the likes of you!") This, like the summoning, would
also be easiest to accomplish with an extra room description. At least
until Slart allows specos to take arguments, anyway...
Submitted another pair of speco ideas via the "idea" command, since they
were short. Plenty more if you want them - some practical, some not.
-N/Rabies
------------------------------------
Kiri's WWW of URLs:
Super Cthulhu!!
http://www.figures.com/databases/action ... article=83
Some really cool photographs by famous photographers
http://www.pdnonline.com/legends/archiv ... _menu.html
From Scavenger - great webgames
http://www.gmlb.com/games.html
-------
I am all out of Responses!
Please feel free to hit reply and give me some
For now, here's some mined from the forum:
By Anakin:
Quote:
Suicide: using teleport/etc should not automaticly turn on the questwatch channel
*shrugs* According to the 'help questwatch' it says that it is just the same way as on how the other channels are written. Never really bothered me...
Quote:
Cataclysm: messages sent via telepathy should show up in tellh
It would be great! But I think it would change the whole thing--changing the spell to a channel-type thing.
Quote:
Ankou: note/description - (number) to delete the (number) line of a description or note/description insert (number) (string) to insert a line after the (number) line of a description or note
Agreed.
Quote:
Cord: a "alts" field for profile, where people can specify their alts if they wish. this field would then automatically be set for all the specified alts. then modify whois tho also show that player's alts.
Cord: probably would need to be a sort of alt + <player name>, alt - <player name> command combo so some checking can be performed. assure that the added alt is a character, and maybe that that char as the same password as the current character...
Cord: ha == has. then maybe modify whois <player> to show that player and/or any of their atls that are currently online... i dunno. could be quite handy
Make character accounts, in other words. *nod self*
Quote:
Kharn: allow damp to be longer than 18 (was it 18?) characters
I don't see why not. I mean the message for a discbobulate is far longer than our current damp message can handle. ^,^
Quote:
Ghaleon: Mental barrier reflects bamf! *hops*
*does the chicken dance*
Quote:
Cord: probably been mentioned before, but it'd be nice if mental barrier was able to reflect twice if both mobs/players are affected by it, thus nullifying it for both.
*imagines an eternity-long fight between two demons with MB head...*
Quote:
Cord: also, when hero, seeing the color of the hero channel in colors would be nice
Try "color hero <youridealcolor>" -- seems to work for me.
Quote:
Disaster: "look item character" to look at the long description of an item being worn by a character
You really hate giving me items just for 10 seconds, don't you?
------
And by Disaster:
Disaster: RC rooms shouldn't show up for mortal hangman, in same way hero rooms don't
-i idea'd this when i still thought that only mortal rooms showed up at hangman. now that i know that isn't the case, just take out the "in the same way hero rooms don't" part
Kharn: when you click on someones pic in the gallerie, it should link to those persons website (if he/she has one)
-that would be a good idea. also, now that i think of it, it should be possible to see the photos of players with a picture on the BR pages from within the forums (we already can get email, webpage, information, etc, why not photos too)
Ghaleon: Have a low level weapon accessible for newbies
-you mean like the dozens of them that there already are? i would say that there should be a newbie dagger on one of hte trainees maybe, in case a newbie loses a corpse, but that VERY rarely happens anyways, and if they're in that desperate need, they can just start a garbage character, rem all, drop all, and be ready to go again with their real character.
[ 184] Kharn: allow damp to be longer than 18 (was it 18?) characters
-allow bigger damps, maybe (eventually, it just gets rediculously spammy) allow more damps, definately.
Ghaleon: Mental barrier reflects bamf! *hops*
-mb shouldn't reflect any type of spell, only physical attacks (and mind thrust, which might not be considered a physical attack, but behaves like one)
Cord: probably been mentioned before, but it'd be nice if mental barrier was able to reflect twice if both mobs/players are affected by it, thus nullifying it for both.
-naw, i think i like it better as it is. if you want it nullified for both, juts don't have either of you use it
Cord: have the color of the 'answer' channel be set-able?
-good idea. i hate how answer and question always have ot be the same colour
Cord: have "quest <string>" go to the quest channel instead of the question channel?
-useless for those who know what they're doing, since @ is so much easier to type, but VERY good for newbies
Cord: also, when hero, seeing the color of the hero channel in colors would be nice
-i'm a fan of seeing many more channels customizible for colour, and i'd say hero not showing up is more of a bug than an idea anyways
Disaster: "look item character" to look at the long description of an item being worn by a character
Rabies: Add a new "blocker" mob specco that could keep you from exiting a room in the specified direction(s). Ex: "N: The black knight blocks your passage!"
-good idea, i'd love to see that. would they just block you, or fight you automaticly? would you still be able to flee that direction, since you're running away and could slip past them?
Rabies: Yet another speco for mobs: speco_regenerate. Heals a percentage of its hps per tick (say, 15%?) rather than a fixed 50.
-lets make it more versatile, speco_regenerate_# for the writer's choice of %. (by the way, what exactly IS the current system?)
--------------------
Cat haiku
You never feed me.
Perhaps I'll sleep on your face.
That will show you.
You must scratch me there!
Yes, above my tail! Behold,
Elevator butt.
I need a new toy.
Tail of black dog keeps good time.
Pounce! good dog! good dog!
The rule for today:
Touch my tail, I shred your hand.
New rule tomorrow.
In deep sleep hear sound.
Cat throws up hairball somewhere.
Will find in morning.
Grace personified,
I leap into the window.
I meant to do that.
Blur of motion, then --
Silence, me, a paper bag.
What is so funny?
The mighty hunter
Returns with gifts of plump birds --
Your foot just squashed one.
You're always typing.
Well, let's see you ignore my
Sitting on your hands.
My small cardboard box.
You cannot see me if I
Can hide my head.
Terrible battle.
I fought for hours. Come and see!
What's a 'term paper'?
Kitty likes plastic.
Confuses for litter box.
Shouldn't leave around.
Small brave carnivores
Kill pine cones and mosquitoes,
Fear vacuum cleaner.
Want to trim my claws?
Don't even think about it!
My cries will wake dead.
I want to be close
To you. Can I fit my head
Inside your armpit?
Wanna go outside.
Oh, no! Help! I got outside!
Let me back inside!
Oh no! Big One
Has been trapped by newspaper!
Cat to the rescue!
Humans are so strange.
Mine lies still in bed, then screams!
My claws aren't that sharp.
Cats meow out of angst,
"Thumbs! If only we had thumbs!
We could break so much!"
Litter box not here.
You must have moved it again.
I'll crap in the sink.
The Big Ones snore now.
Every room is dark and cold.
Time for "Cup Hockey."
We're almost equals.
I purr to show I love you.
Want to smell my butt?
--------------------------------------------
News From the Realms:
Quests running NOW:
Naxias: Item Quest
Fri Jul 18 23:19:03 2003
To: all
Hello!
All you have to do is collect 3 items:
1 item as the scariest thing you know of
1 item as the strangest thing you know of
1 item as the happiest thing you know of
all entries must be in to me or Coma by friday the 25th
Thanks to Coma for sponsering!
you also have to do an explanation on all 3 items
thanks
Naxias.
Lairian: Flaming Death!
Sat Jul 19 15:45:48 2003
To: all
July 27th...
5 p.m. system time...
A quest begins.
A division of low (1 to 25) and high (26 to 50) mortals, as well as heros will be competing in the gentleman's game...
Of Death Potion Roulette.
Thank Leiland for sponsoring.
Leiland:
I have been informed that there will be no flaming.
However, there is a chance (though not huge) of death.
Actually, there should be only a small chance of it, but you have been warned.
There will be no automatic CRs, though there may be if you qualify for one normally.
Death Potion Roulette is still on the 27th, 5pm system time.
Any character, any level is allowed, but only one character per person, please.
Quest Results:
Sozz: You MISSED it!
Fri Jul 18 17:15:53 2003
To: all
Hey folks!
You missed three great rounds of 20 questions this afternoon!
Lairian swept the others away the first two rounds, then Daredevil snuck in to win the last item!
Other participants were Spar, Wizzywig, Gauss, and Smeagain.
Congratulate Lairian and Daredevil next time you see them!
Comatose: quest
Fri Jul 18 20:04:21 2003
To: all
I ran a quick quest today. The object of the quest was to retrieve
a mirror, a croquet ball or both. The catch was that one item would
result in a slay at any time that I choose. The other item would
reward you with a restore ticket. The ball was the item that would
get you a restore ticket. The mirror was the slay item.
I had less participation then I expected, but I will try again with
different items.
-----------------------------------------------
Ideas:
Ghaleon: Can it show in the profile what avatar# we are at?
Disaster: profile should list the true sex of the character, not the sex as modified by change sex
Disaster: look 2.item please, please, PLEASE look 2.item *begs*
Disaster: a skill toss that would toss a potion at an enemy, to cause teh spells of the potion to act on the enemy
Disaster: "bless" flags should actually do something, like giving an extra 5 hp mana mv recovery per tick or something like that
Disaster: an option that can be turned off allowing us to not automaticly respond when hit by a spell (so we can watch mortals kill stuff, but not attack when an area spell hits us
Araby: If an item is invisible, it shouldn't glow/hum, just a thought
Oversoul: when you identify pills, it should say what spell they cast
Bedlam: protected mobs shouldn't be thieves
Anguish: if an item has an evil alignment and it is enchanted, the originally alignment should be removed and replaced with the spell caster's alignment
Suicide: personalized items sold to a shop should go "poof"
Exo: i think we should have a base hp thing on our stat screens, like what our hp and mana and movment are without eq or spells on us
Exo: i think that neuter heroes should have a HEROIT on the who list, since female heroes have heroine on thiers
Oversoul: Change the drink command. newbies get confused when it says "You are not thirsty".
Smeagain: If you healed/regained mana which was a percentage of your max instead of a fixed amount per tick the game would be far more playable and socialable as you wouldnt have to spend sooooo much time drunk and asleep when your stats get higher.
DwarfMan: Cancel the yell channel. "Y" is next to "T", and it sometimes turns into Yell instead of Tell. My tells often contain profanity; There's no need for yell channel, we already have shout!
Millions: Vehicles shouldn't melt--could be towed or something but you rarely see a car "melt"
Bedlam: a "BR timeline" on the site, saying important dates and changes, like herolevels, rehero, remort, etc
Ghaleon: "mana shield" spell where a part of the damage falls under mana
Puppetmon: Putting the numerical damange on the screen in parenthesis maybe EX DISCOMBOBULATE (143)
Kharn: dwarves should not be hit by lightning if any non-dwarf character is in the room (coz those are taller)
Squidster: you should be able to use vision while resting. it's just sight!
Glorn: When trying to wear an item, it check and default to remove the item that isn't it, e.g. it should not try to replace itself.
AMystery: we need an exit survey. when someone deletes they should be asked a few questions, at least one asking for a reason. it would be a good way to learn what people dislike
Squiddy: when you look at a demon with a head, it should say "Another head even uglier than his/her/its first one" insead of "...YOUR first one"
Squiddy: Newbies should get a little thing that imms do to send a message to the whole realms that suggests to go to the BR web page and read the new player guide
Kharn: boomerangs -- projectile weapons which come back after thrown but not hit
Puppetmon: Make it so you can make recall to different cities, such as Malathar, Malcandria, Pelendra
Ghaleon: Infravision should also work on the "exit" command and say the room next to it, instead of "Too dark to tell."
Cacophony: an offhand (item) command, since really someone would be able to chose which item to hold in which hand without the need to trick themselves by wearing a rock hammer first
Beakster: explain what exactly a quest is in the help quest
By Rabies:
Been a while since I went on a submitting spree, but I heard on the message
board that this was a good time to submit ideas.
A "speco_evil" for mobs:
Combat:
Casts curse, blind, web, and illusion in combat
If health < 25%, will cast "bamf" on players
Attempts to summon helper monsters in combat (looks for an extra
description in the room, something like "smon [mnum]"
Outside of combat:
Will cast spells to heal itself to at least 50% health before taking active
actions.
Has memory.
Will use "where" to scan for players it hates in its area and teleport to
them to attack.
Remembers its "home" square and teleports back after fights.
Will teleport unworthy opponents (> 5 level difference) to a specified room
number after making a snarky comment. ("Begone, pathetic wretch. I have
no time to waste on the likes of you!") This, like the summoning, would
also be easiest to accomplish with an extra room description. At least
until Slart allows specos to take arguments, anyway...
Submitted another pair of speco ideas via the "idea" command, since they
were short. Plenty more if you want them - some practical, some not.
-N/Rabies
------------------------------------
Kiri's WWW of URLs:
Super Cthulhu!!
http://www.figures.com/databases/action ... article=83
Some really cool photographs by famous photographers
http://www.pdnonline.com/legends/archiv ... _menu.html
From Scavenger - great webgames
http://www.gmlb.com/games.html
-------
I am all out of Responses!
Please feel free to hit reply and give me some
For now, here's some mined from the forum:
By Anakin:
Quote:
Suicide: using teleport/etc should not automaticly turn on the questwatch channel
*shrugs* According to the 'help questwatch' it says that it is just the same way as on how the other channels are written. Never really bothered me...
Quote:
Cataclysm: messages sent via telepathy should show up in tellh
It would be great! But I think it would change the whole thing--changing the spell to a channel-type thing.
Quote:
Ankou: note/description - (number) to delete the (number) line of a description or note/description insert (number) (string) to insert a line after the (number) line of a description or note
Agreed.
Quote:
Cord: a "alts" field for profile, where people can specify their alts if they wish. this field would then automatically be set for all the specified alts. then modify whois tho also show that player's alts.
Cord: probably would need to be a sort of alt + <player name>, alt - <player name> command combo so some checking can be performed. assure that the added alt is a character, and maybe that that char as the same password as the current character...
Cord: ha == has. then maybe modify whois <player> to show that player and/or any of their atls that are currently online... i dunno. could be quite handy
Make character accounts, in other words. *nod self*
Quote:
Kharn: allow damp to be longer than 18 (was it 18?) characters
I don't see why not. I mean the message for a discbobulate is far longer than our current damp message can handle. ^,^
Quote:
Ghaleon: Mental barrier reflects bamf! *hops*
*does the chicken dance*
Quote:
Cord: probably been mentioned before, but it'd be nice if mental barrier was able to reflect twice if both mobs/players are affected by it, thus nullifying it for both.
*imagines an eternity-long fight between two demons with MB head...*
Quote:
Cord: also, when hero, seeing the color of the hero channel in colors would be nice
Try "color hero <youridealcolor>" -- seems to work for me.
Quote:
Disaster: "look item character" to look at the long description of an item being worn by a character
You really hate giving me items just for 10 seconds, don't you?
------
And by Disaster:
Disaster: RC rooms shouldn't show up for mortal hangman, in same way hero rooms don't
-i idea'd this when i still thought that only mortal rooms showed up at hangman. now that i know that isn't the case, just take out the "in the same way hero rooms don't" part
Kharn: when you click on someones pic in the gallerie, it should link to those persons website (if he/she has one)
-that would be a good idea. also, now that i think of it, it should be possible to see the photos of players with a picture on the BR pages from within the forums (we already can get email, webpage, information, etc, why not photos too)
Ghaleon: Have a low level weapon accessible for newbies
-you mean like the dozens of them that there already are? i would say that there should be a newbie dagger on one of hte trainees maybe, in case a newbie loses a corpse, but that VERY rarely happens anyways, and if they're in that desperate need, they can just start a garbage character, rem all, drop all, and be ready to go again with their real character.
[ 184] Kharn: allow damp to be longer than 18 (was it 18?) characters
-allow bigger damps, maybe (eventually, it just gets rediculously spammy) allow more damps, definately.
Ghaleon: Mental barrier reflects bamf! *hops*
-mb shouldn't reflect any type of spell, only physical attacks (and mind thrust, which might not be considered a physical attack, but behaves like one)
Cord: probably been mentioned before, but it'd be nice if mental barrier was able to reflect twice if both mobs/players are affected by it, thus nullifying it for both.
-naw, i think i like it better as it is. if you want it nullified for both, juts don't have either of you use it
Cord: have the color of the 'answer' channel be set-able?
-good idea. i hate how answer and question always have ot be the same colour
Cord: have "quest <string>" go to the quest channel instead of the question channel?
-useless for those who know what they're doing, since @ is so much easier to type, but VERY good for newbies
Cord: also, when hero, seeing the color of the hero channel in colors would be nice
-i'm a fan of seeing many more channels customizible for colour, and i'd say hero not showing up is more of a bug than an idea anyways
Disaster: "look item character" to look at the long description of an item being worn by a character
Rabies: Add a new "blocker" mob specco that could keep you from exiting a room in the specified direction(s). Ex: "N: The black knight blocks your passage!"
-good idea, i'd love to see that. would they just block you, or fight you automaticly? would you still be able to flee that direction, since you're running away and could slip past them?
Rabies: Yet another speco for mobs: speco_regenerate. Heals a percentage of its hps per tick (say, 15%?) rather than a fixed 50.
-lets make it more versatile, speco_regenerate_# for the writer's choice of %. (by the way, what exactly IS the current system?)
--------------------
Cat haiku
You never feed me.
Perhaps I'll sleep on your face.
That will show you.
You must scratch me there!
Yes, above my tail! Behold,
Elevator butt.
I need a new toy.
Tail of black dog keeps good time.
Pounce! good dog! good dog!
The rule for today:
Touch my tail, I shred your hand.
New rule tomorrow.
In deep sleep hear sound.
Cat throws up hairball somewhere.
Will find in morning.
Grace personified,
I leap into the window.
I meant to do that.
Blur of motion, then --
Silence, me, a paper bag.
What is so funny?
The mighty hunter
Returns with gifts of plump birds --
Your foot just squashed one.
You're always typing.
Well, let's see you ignore my
Sitting on your hands.
My small cardboard box.
You cannot see me if I
Can hide my head.
Terrible battle.
I fought for hours. Come and see!
What's a 'term paper'?
Kitty likes plastic.
Confuses for litter box.
Shouldn't leave around.
Small brave carnivores
Kill pine cones and mosquitoes,
Fear vacuum cleaner.
Want to trim my claws?
Don't even think about it!
My cries will wake dead.
I want to be close
To you. Can I fit my head
Inside your armpit?
Wanna go outside.
Oh, no! Help! I got outside!
Let me back inside!
Oh no! Big One
Has been trapped by newspaper!
Cat to the rescue!
Humans are so strange.
Mine lies still in bed, then screams!
My claws aren't that sharp.
Cats meow out of angst,
"Thumbs! If only we had thumbs!
We could break so much!"
Litter box not here.
You must have moved it again.
I'll crap in the sink.
The Big Ones snore now.
Every room is dark and cold.
Time for "Cup Hockey."
We're almost equals.
I purr to show I love you.
Want to smell my butt?
