Barren Realms MUD

I've been playing BR off and on for quite some time even getting to hero a couple times then getting distracted or something, quitting the MUD until my characters get deleted then starting all over again. Not that I'm complaining about it, I have loads of fun restarting actually. Anyway, to get to the point, I've thought of a couple ideas for areas and I was going to build one at one time, but distractions prevented me from working on it. I think this time around, however, I can successfully build an area or two my problem is my areas tend to be a little on the epic size proportion ^^;

Anyway, here are the two ideas I have for areas and let me get an idea of what you think...

Area #1 (currently no working name, many have come up but nothing is solid yet)

This area has undergone several mutations. Originally it was going to be a twin tower based on the 7 Heavenly Virtues and the 7 Deadly sins. I have rethought the tower setting and even the whole design several times and this is so far what I've come up with:

Level range: Any really, haven't got specifics set in stone. Originally planned for 20-50 or so.

Features:
-- Recall only available from a handful of rooms.
-- 75%+ of the mob population aggressive (probably on a Love_Good/ Hate_Evil + Hate_Neutral, Love_Evil/Hate_Good + Hate_Neutral basis)
-- Based off sins and virtues, thus most of the equipment is good or
evil only with very few neutral items thrown in.
-- Originally was going to have many mob progs and quests, but since I can't use mob progs, I will compensate by adding a progressive story for those who are observant and want to take the time to explore it. The story will be of two warriors, one a virtuous paladin, the other his arch rival. Both of their souls have been sealed upon a sacred mountain (location subject to change if mountain is undesirable) and they have been able to influence some of the mob population to write notes and hints to those who are willing to free them. Since I can't use quests, I will likely make up a lot of miscellaneous junk items and keys for use in accessing areas and using the journal pages/notes as ways for the players to sort through the junk.

Entrance point: Anywhere in BR, really. I also had the idea of perhaps making a small library area in which this zone and the next zone idea could be accessed via entering a book.

Area #2: (The Universe of the Four Gods)

For anyone who is into Japanese Anime, you may have heard of a series called Fushigi Yuugi. This area is loosely based off that series, but more so on the classical asian stories of these 4 gods: Suzaku (the phoenix), Seiryuu (the dragon), Genbu (the tortoise) and Byakko (the Tiger). The only resemblance to the anime series will be that each god will have its own city that heads its religion.

I have not really put much thought into the features for this yet.

Anyway, let me know what you think of these two areas and if you like the first one, help me decide on a name please its my one vice: I suck at naming things. ^^;

SoulDrake

I'll wait for that Fushigi Yuugi area to come in. I'm sure Tasuki will be surprised.

Themes are fine, the levels are a bit iffy though... I'll take almost any hero levels, if you want these for the new continent that would be cool. I'd like to stay out of areas for levels 40-50.

Hmm. The thought never really crossed my mind to make these hero level areas, but I suppose I could do that, if it is a more preferable level range. As I said, the level range is completely flexible

As for new continent or old, wherever its placed, if it is placed, is fine by me. I will replan for about level 60 to 80 or so. If there are problems with that level range, or you have a specific level range you think would be more beneficial to the MUD, let me know. If a mountain-esque theme is acceptable, then I should be able to begin my plans for a map to get an idea of how many rooms there will be.

I'm actually kinda surprised that Fushigi Yuugi was recognized. I may have to more seriously consider that as an area to build now and perhaps watch the anime and read the manga again to come up with some ideas for it. Should I do the area, I will definately have to make it entered via a book though

SD

Why would you not expect us to recognize Fushigi Yuugi? There's plenty of anime people on the realms...

maybe because not everyone's as much an anime person as you are, dearie so who's that... thing?

I was going to ask that same question. Who is it?

Unfortunately, I haven't actually watched any of the series, can only recognize it by name. *toe* And that's the Japanese title... I have no idea if there's a character named anything close to that in there. The literal translation of "fushigi yuugi" is approximately: magical (mysterious, strange) game.

Ah, I see Or at least, I pretend to see....something like that.

Actually, in this case "Yuugi" means "play" (as in a theatrical performance). The reason I didn't expect it to be well known is because I am somewhat of an otaku and collector of anime myself, and I seldomly expect other people to share my interest in Japanese story telling, liturature and language ^^;

Yes, Fushigi Yuugi, the Mysterious Play, is about a normal high school girl (don't most anime series start with one?) who get sucked into a book called "The Universe of the Four Gods." There she becomes Suzaku no Miko (The priestess of Suzaku) and she must find the 7 celestial warriors in ordet to summon Suzaku and save the southern empire that worships Suzaku (I have forgotten the name)

One of those Celestial warriors is Tasuki (and since there is someone named Tasuki I will probably not use the seven celestial warrior concept. Or perhaps I could do it, just not use their names as key words.)

To answer a question above, yes, I was referring to objects without a long description tag. Saying they exist within the room description itself, but just for aestetic appearance preferring to have the blank lines instead of the redundant red object flags. (I dunno, maybe I'm just crazy for thinking they look wierd. ^^;)

Also, I am having problems with the BR builder even after I download the java through the link. Is my computer just stupid or am I still missing something? I'm willing to keep trying, as I will plan my area thoroughly on paper with pen and pencil before typing, but otherwise I'll just use MZF since I'm already somewhat familiar with it.

SD

MZF doesn't work with BR anymore without massive tweaking that you wouldn't know how to do. It is fundamentally flawed. What platform are you using?

Windows XP. Is MS evil enough to prevent Sun Java from working? Probably... ^^;

SD

I have it working on XP.

Make sure you download teh java from the website with the builder on it, install both.

Let me be blunt. That link to download Java sucks. The page has links to the SDK, NetBeans, the J2SE, and more for all different platforms. It's hard to tell which one you need to get. Instead, try this page. The only thing offered for download here is the thing that you need. I recommend downloading the "offline installation" version. That will download everything you need in a single installer file. Once you have it, try installing it. Hopefully it will work better.

Even though you were mean and hurt my feelings

I updated the page to reflect Scavenger's link. This should give him warm fuzzy feelings.