April 1998: ******* ************** *** *** ************** **** ***Barren Realms*** **** *** *** *** *** *** ******* *** *********** ** ** *********** ***************** Hellbender: mana transfer for avians, so we can give our mostly useless mana to those who cann use it. Darknight: I don't know if I suggested this before, I don't think I did, but how about a 'sip' command, so you can sip beer and ale, so you don't have to get too drunk.. I mean come on, some of us can stop drinking. Darknight: I'm full of ideas this month... How about being able to deposit money into others bank accounts. Catherine: Um, not everyone has ZMud (I included), and use Telnet instead. I found out some nifty things about it by screwing around with stuff, and while they all be simple things, some people still don't know. So I figured I'd give you a short list of Telnet stuff for those ZMud-impaired such as I, and if you want, you can slip it in with the next newsletter. :) The following can be accessed by clicking on Terminal, then clicking on Preferences : To be able to see what you are typing : Turn "Local Echo" on. To make the cursor blink (I hate solid cursors) : Turn "Blinking Cursor" on. To make the cursor a huge square (if you like that sort of thing) : Turn "Block Cursor" on. To enable scrolling back : Simply make the buffer size larger. The larger the number, the more you can go back. To make a text record of your Mudding (handy for recording directions) : Click Terminal, then Start Logging. Glad to be of help, Tabby (Jay) /(*) | / | |\--------------------------------------------\ (@)(((((((( | >------------Article------------------------ > | |/--------------------------------------------/ | \ \(*) heh all this is Durwin here.... i have had this thought going through my head for the past few days and wanted to get your guys' opinions....well here goes. i have been thinking of having a BR Bash. hosted here in beautiful calgary alberta canada i was thinking of doing it around stampede time (july 3-12). so far its just a seed of a thought but i wanted to hear what everyone would think of this,who would be interest and any comments or ideas. please note me online or through email. i think it would be a blast to meet and party with some of my most favorite people those that hang at BR....well thats all for now hope to here from you all :) Durwin The Enchanter..... /(*) | / | |\--------------------------------------------\ (@)(((((((( | >---------------Response-------------------- > | |/--------------------------------------------/ | \ \(*) Responses by PHANTASM: >Tom: a way to dispel 1 spell not all of them > I think that dispel is perfect the way it is. Let's say you are affected by sanctuary, and faerie fire. You want to remove the faerie fire... no problem! But... you had just better be prepared to reinvest the 75mana it takes to recast sanctuary. >Rimfiztrick: make it so you MUST sleep occasionly or else you lose >mv for no apperent reason, like your so tired just standing takes away mv > I rather like this idea... but it has a few problems. For one thing... you can't use the tell channel while you are asleep.. and there's nothing like being in the middle of a conversation and having to put it on hold to sleep. Besides... very few of us actually spend 24/7 mudding.. so why not just pretend that your character sleeps whenever you are off facing the ultimate mob... real life. >Java: i really think the who list should be sorted by level > This one I don't like. I have seen muds that do this, and its a real pain, especially when you are waiting for someone. If you really want to see who is on of different levels, try typing 'who 30 35' for example. >Litl: The tan skill should make eq that avians can wear over their >feet, waist etc. Nothing of better quality than tan creates now, but keeps >you from feeling naked :) > I think its rather frivolous, but so long as it has an adverse affect (like not being able to claw when wearing tanned shoes etc) it could be workable. >Litl: Alter the worth command to include ammount of coins in bank > Good call... I like this one plain and simple. (Even though I'm always broke, and haven't seen the inside of the bank for about 8 months) >Aura: How about a bit of code that will make mobs of a particular >align become aggressive to players of a particular align. Hence, evil mobs >attack good players on sight > I like this one too... although how do the mobs know? The only way a player can really know for sure the alignment of a mob now, is by either casting 'know alignment' (very hard to get working well), and for extreme alignments 'aura sight'. I look at it like this... you are walking down the street, and pass by a little old woman. She smiles at you. You think to yourself "what a nice old lady"... she just came from a hardy breakfast of cat limbs. You can never truly tell the alignment of someone else, without the help of magic, or special vision. Assuming all mobs have this unique ability changes the entire aspect of the game. >Nova: everyone should be able to rescue > *buzz* Sorry folks.. thats all for Nova, bring on the next contestant. *smile* Needless to say, I disagree. Elves don't want to rescue (except maybe the superenhanced ones), as a druid, I certainly don't want to rescue! Kenders can rescue (by circling), and even get a nice hard hit in when they do it. Not everyone is suited to rescue.. leave it to those who are. >Forrent: how about an edit command for notes so you can edit a line >in the middle of a note without messing uo the rest of it > Not a bad idea.. but it isn't really necessary. If you are having problems, try writing the note before hand, so you know exactly what you are going to say.. then enter it.. :) (Also would be a major project to code) >Lyndon: i think (to help magic users get exp) you should get exp >for every hit that you do, so that if the poor elves or druids can get exp >just as fast as dwarves/kinders > This one I've been itching to get my hands on. If your elf or druid isn't getting experience as fast, or faster than the dwarves and kenders.. you've learned too many out of guild spells. My regular group consists of an avian, a druid, and a dwarf. We have been trying to keep the same level... and had a lot of success with the avian/dwarf... many of you have likely seen them level together on numerous occasions. The druid has not been so easy. He enhanced regularly, else he would have outlevelled us easily... and most of the time, he's lucky if he hits once or twice per kill. Now... he has finally fallen behind... not by a lot, but he practiced 3 oog spells before he got under control. I'm not positive about elves, as I've never had any success playing them... but I have it on very good authority, that elves can level as fast as druids... :) If my druid got experience for every heal spell he cast.. and every sanctuary.. and every astral.. I could hero within a week. >Thorkill: a command called 'arenawho' or something, that shows who >is currently in the arena, not nescearrily there position, just who's >there. That way you know whether that person who just went to the arena is >staying or it was just an accident. > If this is your reasoning... why not just send them a tell and ask them? >Crimson: Make a text only version of the BR homepage for us >internet-speed impaired :) > *chuckle* We have a beautiful homepage... I can't imagine having to work backwards to create a simpler one. If there is anything of particular interest to you, try asking someone to capture it and email it to you. >Questyn: when one types affect the spells should be listed in order of >time remaining for each spell, not in the order they were cast. > Have you ever wondered why at lower levels, you can't tell how long a spell will last? Its because you are still young, and don't yet have the experience to determine that. If you sort them in that order... its a dead giveaway. >Tom: A way to retrieve a Password by having a Backup one Example Having >it ask a question that you specified when you made char. to authorize it >was you and give ya the password to the Char. you asked for, > Not necessary.... simply keep track, and don't leave your passwords to memory. :) /(*) | / | |\--------------------------------------------\ (@)(((((((( | >------------Helping Hand------------------- > | |/--------------------------------------------/ | \ \(*) Hello Realmers, and welcome to another segment of Hyarne*s Helping Hand. Today I will discuss a problem that one of our own has encountered, and unfortunately a few others of you as well. This character, who I am grateful for being so open, explained his situation to me. Let*s call him Tex the Dwarf. Now Tex has a very close friend in RL who has gotten himself involved with drugs. Apparently he is a light user of marijuana, but has heard a rumor that he (the friend) might have tried some of the harder stuff. The friend has admitted to Tex about his use, and trusted him with his secret, although Tex doesn*t feel he has a burden on his shoulders. His friends does make it uncomfortable to talk about the subject, and Tex would want his friend to promise not to use the hard stuff (or to stop altogether, which Tex admits is not probable at this point). Tex is still a friend to him yet feels very weird about his long time friend and the entire situation. Tex, you seem to have good head on your shoulders, and your concern for your friends is admirable. You have tried to talk to your friend and convince him not to continue with this potentially dangerous habit. This is a very stressful time for you. Any action that you take in order to help your friend might (in the short-term) be considered by him as a loss of trust and confidence in somebody that he feel comfortable with. You are stuck in a situation in whi ch you can lose if you do and lose if you don*t. The options are unlimited. You can be harsh and confront him directly and take action with his/her parents (something that may have serious repercussions in your relationship). Or, you can do nothing and watch as a good personal friend fall into the ja ws of a bad addiction. These are extremes of course. Your problem is to find that *happy middle*. As a friend, you must support him and help him when he is ready to ask for help. But you must also look out for yourself. You are the most important person in your life. You cannot allow this *friend* to drag you down, should the situation get worse. I hope it doesn*t. I hope that this is just a phase that he is going through. I wish I could tell you *hey, do this and your problems will be solved* Unfortunately, I not able to. I hope that the little bit of advice that I have given here can help you through this period. Please get in touch with me if you have anymore questions or if you want to talk. You can note me or email me. Hyarne, Swordsman of the Hills of Iron DISCLAIMER: Hyarne is not a psychologist or a shrink*his advice and opinions are his own and are just that * advice and opinions. But he is a pretty good listener and friend. /(*) | / | |\--------------------------------------------\ (@)(((((((( | >-------------Poetry------------------------ > | |/--------------------------------------------/ | \ \(*) Greetings Realmers, Welcome to another session of my poetry corner. Last week, I held a quest requesting realmers to send in poems about the heroes/immortals of Barren Realms. The responce was quite lukewarm, but here we have the winning entries: >From Amystery -- Mahatma (Great Soul) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Upon the ivory tower I spy your form Basking in the glory Mocking those your elder Come, join us we decry In the eternal fight Optimism against death You sing And all becomes truth As like flows inward All fears are banished Of you we praise Though of you we know not Your physical form If such as you can be real Then hope remains Through patience and laughter Reality becomes imagination You become flesh To hold and cry If you will come down. --- >From Brind -- Illithid's Sonnet ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ In Soveriegn sorrow I awaken, with tendrils clenched about my misty form, The Universe it whispers of reasons why and where, the magick of the Goddess Druidess, pulses in my thoughts, alive and yet reborn... Voices greet me at the rising, taunting melodies of such, a close but alien kin, And all Creation's colors dance, for such a lonely Illithid . . . Mother... Nature, Father... Fire, the dawning Kiss embraced by leather, the ragged tear carressed by steel... Again she whispers pearls of truth, held lofty from her spire, imparting solace in my soul, while imposing truth upon my Will... I feel Her joy in warmth abound, from the fiery star I cannot dim, The knowledge of it all is clear, tis' Her's alone to whim . . . Metaphoric Tribute to, Kiri, Goddess-Druidess For my beloved Barren Realms *BRIND* Congratulations to the winners and thank you for participating in my Poetry Quest. Thank you also for Reykjavik for helping me to judge and award the prizes. Next Week: Watch out for the other entries to the Poetry Quest. @>----------------------[Story]----------------------------------------- Raze froze, not expecting the answer she had just gotten. "The City of Heros? Valence really does exist? I thought it was just one of those myths to make us all kill as many evil monsters as possible. How can Sylvid and I go there? We're mere mortals. . . they won't let us in. And how are we supposed to get there? Sylvid just told me that elves can only move themselves, and that would mean I'll be stuck here!" "Does she ever stop asking questions?" The frosty haired Deity inquired of Sylvid. "Okay, yes, Valence does exist, and you are going to it, because by this last little adventure of yours, you've been raised up to herodom. Bards will compose ballads about the intrepid Raze the kender and Sylvid her elven companion. And you won't be stuck here, Raze. I'm a God, remember? I can get you both there." Still a bit shaken, Raze tried to relax and stop talking so much. In an effort to distract herself, she studied the Elven God standing before her. Jett was tall for an elf, and at least twice as tall as Raze herself, and his jet-black eyes seemed to contain knowledge of all the secrets of the universe. Jett's clothing was the color of midnight, and half seen constellations seemed to sparkle and shift as she looked at them. The famous shock of white hair that was part of the Starfire legend was not as long as all the stories said. It was actually rather short, and looked as if the haircut was probably fairly recent. Noticing Raze's puzzled frown, Jett said, "Like the new hair? Looks great, doesn't it? Cherye loves it. Okay, you two ready to go? I don't feel like hanging around this ghost town any longer." There was a sort of falling sensation, and then Raze's surroundings shifted into a blur of color that resolved itself half an instant later into a comfortable Alpine village. Before Raze was a fountain in which splashed an odd colored liquid that did not appear to be water, and a formidable looking woman was standing nearby, surveying everything around her. Jett stepped out of a shimmering portal, and then a moment after, Sylvid also appeared. "Welcome to Valence, Raze and Sylvid. This will henceforth be your home. I'll show you to your quarters and let you get washed up, and then you can tell us how to find that Tower so that we can rid the Realms of its evil forever." __________________________ So ended the first adventure of Raze and Sylvid. But do not despair of further tales, for their escapades are sure to continue even now that they have entered the realm of the heros. /(*) | / | |\--------------------------------------------\ (@)(((((((( | >-------------Silly------------------------- > | |/--------------------------------------------/ | \ \(*) 50 FUN THINGS TO DO AT WAL-MART 1. Take shopping carts for the express purpose of filling them and stranding them at strategic locations. 2. Ride those little electronic cars at the front of the store. 3. Set all the alarm clocks to go off at ten minute intervals throughout the day. 4. Start playing Calvinball; see how many people you can get to join in. 5. Contaminate the entire auto department by sampling all the spray air fresheners. 6. Challenge other customers to duels with tubes of gift wrap. 7. Leave cryptic messages on the typewriters. 8. Re-dress the mannequins as you see fit. 9. When there are people behind you, walk REALLY SLOW, especially in thin narrow aisles. 10. Walk up to an employee and tell him in an official tone, "I think we've got a Code 3 in Housewares," and see what happens. 11. Tune all the radios to a polka station; then turn them all off and turn the volumes to "10". 12. Play with the automatic doors. 13. Walk up to complete strangers and say, "Hi! I haven't seen you in so long!..." etc. See if they play along to avoid embarrassment. 14. While walking through the clothing department, ask yourself loud enough for all to hear, "Who BUYS this crap, anyway?" 15. Repeat Number 14 in the jewelry department. 16. Ride a display bicycle through the store; claim you're taking it for a "test drive." 17. Follow people through the aisles, always staying about five feet away. Continue to do this until they leave the department. 18. Play soccer with a group of friends, using the entire store as your playing field. 19. As the cashier runs your purchases over the scanner, look mesmerized and say, "Wow. Magic!" 20. Put M&M's on layaway. 21. Move "Caution: Wet Floor" signs to carpeted areas. 22. Set up a tent in the camping department; tell others you'll only invite them in if they bring pillows from Bed and Bath. 23. Test the fishing rods and see what you can "catch" from the other aisles. 24. Ask other customers if they have any Grey Poupon. 25. Drape a blanket around your shoulders and run around saying, "...I'm Batman. Come, Robin--to the Batcave!" 26. TP as much of the store as possible. 27. Randomly throw things over into neighboring aisles. 28. Play with the calculators so that they all spell "hello" upside down. 29. When someone asks if you need help, begin to cry and ask, "Why won't you people just leave me alone?" 30. When two or three people are walking ahead of you, run between them, yelling, "Red Rover!" _____________________________________________________________________ | _____ __ ___ ___ ____ ___ ___ ____ __ _ _ _ _____ | | | | |__| |__/ |__/ |_ | | |__/ |_ |__| | | | | | | | |_____\ | | | \ | \ |___ | | | \ |___ | | |___ | | | \_____ | | | | ___ ____ ____ _ ____ _____ _____ ____ ___ | | | ______/ | | |_ | | | \__ | |_ | | |_ |__/ _____/ | | ________| | |___ \_|_/ ___/ |___ |___ | | |___ | \________ | |_____________________________________________________________________| | | | No such thing as a failure who keeps trying...coasting to the bottom| | Is the only disgrace...-Blues Traveller | |_____________________________________________________________________| | | | Be sure to check out the Official Barren Realms Homepage | | http://nightfall.simplenet.com/Kiri | |_____________________________________________________________________| | | | -> Barren Realms: barren.coredcs.com:8000 <- | |_____________________________________________________________________| | | | You can contact me at Kiri@li.net for any of the following: | | | | Ideas for Barren Realms | | | | Questions/Complaints | | | | Your scrapbook memories of BR | | | | Your poetry, stories, questions, comments, and bios for the | | mort/hero/imm bio section of the newsletter and BR Magazine. | | | | Getting on the mail list for: | | | | Players file: How to play the game, helps, and the BR story. | | Great information for ALL players, no matter what | | level. | | | | Builders guide: An all new guide on how to build areas for BR. | | Full of new information on bits, liquids, and a | | step by step instruction on building areas. | | | | Builders forum: A place to ask email questions about the area you | | are building | | | | Area list: A list of areas and descriptions of each, in depth | | and helpful | | | \_____________________________________________________________________/ Ascii by Cutlass-Mark Sherlock-msherlo@ibm.net Subject: Newsletter Apr 8, 1998 -If you are a HERO, please respond to this mail with your hero's name so I can update the mailing list. Thanks!- This is a rather short newsletter.. I'm out of articles and bios, so if anyone wants to send them in be my guest. You can also write a blurb about any webpage you might want to plug (that is your own) - and remember you can send all poetry and prose to Jasserande (contact her on BR). The Story section is taking a small break this week after finishing up their last installment. Remember you can always mail me ideas, use the idea command on BR, or reply to ideas with responses. -Kiri ******* ************** *** *** ************** **** ***Barren Realms*** **** *** *** *** *** *** ******* *** *********** ** ** *********** ***************** Tom: a fast way to get all, except certain objects like maybe, Get all -icicle's or something :) that way you don't have to get one object at a time Sylvester: Have you ever thought of seperating the socials into groups? Love things, hate things, goofball things, that kinda stuff Hellbender: for druids, since they are closer to nature, allow theto shape change into other things, have the available types as type of animal, reptile, mammal, bird, fish... then as levels progress, different animals per type, with varying strengths. while changed they can't cast, or use skills, but the forms themselves can have some skills, like an elephant can bash or trample, horses flee two rooms, and while changed, people can't speak. Hellbender: News flash, Avian's the only race without a healing spell... great idea, give us a healing spell, even if it's cure light... it's ridiculous having to pay clericus for healing, or having to wait for groups to fight. Jigoku: how bout makin torn out hearts be healing stuff....after all, they R the "life" of the mob...because of this, u can make them more rare or sumpin:) Jigoku: how bout makin sacrificing add to wut ever your current alignment is...if good, makes u gooder...neutral=more neutral...etc...:) AMystery: earthquake should not cause flying mobs to land. how many birds do you see crashing and burning during an earthquake? AMystery: just why can't you dive into a fighting person? it would seem they would be least expecting it then. like circle... Jigoku: er...we need different damage thingies......i'm gettin kinda tired of discombob......things like eviscerates.......massacres....etc.... Tom: code to save c4 games so when a flood of newbies come in you can save the game, and play later Turin: why not allow ppl to stay hidden if they're sneaking when they move Tom: A map that gave you maybe a five square block around you readout, when you moved the map changes and so forth, would be alot of work...But would be a nice feature Kai: New Spell: 'decipher drunk' allows the person to decipher ANY drunk messages on their terminal. Sylvester: We need two more status flags besides busy and AFK. One, IAW, for when we're here, but in another Window. Two, Lagged, for when we're desperately trying to be here, but aren't succeeding Beej: a fountain of youth, makes you younger of course. Holly: A command..something like drag to drag a linkdead person away from danger..like if the person goes linkdead in a highly aggro area.. Dimon: What about dreams? If you sleep, you're supposed to see some dreams. Could be interesting, huh? Thanx?, Dimon Some newsletter suggestions : Perhaps change the INVIS spell, so that if cast onto an item, that item thus becomes invisible. Sure, it may not have any significant purpose, but it would be rather neat. Perhaps an Illithid skill called 'MANIPULATE LIQUID.' Takes a container of any drink, and randomly changes the contents. For example, Kenny has a bottle of mineral water. He casts 'MANIPULATE LIQUID' on the bottle. The, let's say three, drinks of water in the bottle are now three drinks of blood. Of course, being Kenny, we must give this scenario a happy ending; he drinks the blood, it's poison, he dies. :) With this spell, you are able to change poisonous drinks to harmless contents, and even have a slight chance of literally changing water into wine. An elf skill, 'ELECTRIFY WEAPON.' The elf sends a magical charge through an opponent's weapon, who, howling in pain, drops the weapon, thus an elven disarm. Of course, sending electricity through a weapon is not a course of action taken in the best interest of the weapon, so there is a small chance that the weapon itself is shattered. Must suck if you were killing for the sole purpose of obtaining, say, an iron-barbed flail. :) Thanks, Tabellia /(*) | / | |\--------------------------------------------\ (@)(((((((( | >-------------------------------------------- > | |/--------------------------------------------/ | \ \(*) Greetings Realmers, welcome to another edition of poetry section, which I have decided to renamed as "Whispers in the Wind". How I got the name, will be said another time. This week, we have the other poems, all the poems submitted are equally good and here they are: >>From Kai: She Walks Among Us ------------------ Gather 'round my fellow mortals I bring this to you from the five dark portals. It's a tale of quests and glory But don't fret it a short story. Bravery, courage, she had them all And in the mighty arena, she did not fall. A heart of gold, and nerves of steel She felt the things that no one else could feel. She is here, and will be with us forever And when shes gone here spirit will go, never. Some refer to her like she was the mighty Ghandi But I like to call her the Lorekeeper, Jasserande. (I must say I rather like this one,*Wink* although I Know its difficult to find words to rhyme with Jasserande.) >>From Durwin: Thanks to an Angel ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I want to thank my Angel, the one who saved me from my self and my life of misery. My Angel showed me what love and life could be like and all I had to was give up my life and devote it to a higher purpose so that my love may grow, and she could see the real me. She pulled me from my trap and gave me a chance to see there is no more a need for pot as security for me. There is no need to steal for what I want and do not need. I know what I need will be provided for me. Thanks be to God for sending this Angel to me, and if it wasn't for that Angel I wouldn't be me. (Makes you wish that you are the angel, doesn't it? This came in a close fight with Brind's poem. Reykjavik and me cracked heads over this one and I must say that BOTH are equally good, must me wish I had 2 prizes to give out at that time.) Next Week: We will be featuring a special poem by our dear Guardian of Time...yes, you've guess it! Aura! Watch out for it. =) /(*) | / | |\--------------------------------------------\ (@)(((((((( | >-------------------------------------------- > | |/--------------------------------------------/ | \ \(*) Responses by BALTAR: > Tyme: Since you see a trail of glowing footprints when you track, > You should see them even without a light! This makes sense, but then of course you ought to be able to see other glowing things without a light...including auras when you have detect spells running...I wonder... > Tom: Make fake report, Random instead of a stable set...makes it more fun Second! > Tom: Each race should speak there own language, and to communicate > correctly you should have to go enhancer and learn the other languages Even on all the channels? We get enough complaints about spam as it is; imagine what will happen when CHAT turns into gibberish. If anyone cares to implement this, I vote for at least some sort of Universal Tongue that everyone knows, so that race languages can be used for those who want to feel elite but aren't mandatory for anyone who just wants to group 'n bash. Baltar Responses by YNNEL: > Elric: could score be modified to mention solid align in evil, > neutral or godo terms, not things like angelic Heh...why? > > Tom: code a game you can play to get restored Why? Although, with the new level system i am sure you didnt take into consideration possibility of hp for chars getting really really really high. You will have to modify the healing process for them. > > WAsaBe: A spell...dream...cost some mana...but would give a message > to someone sleeping...no changes...no drunken slurr... Just allow tells to go to sleepers....may as well since you can see chats anyway > > Forrent: i believe that there should be a maximum heal time when > you are sleeping. this time should be the same for whatever level you are. > your mana and hp should regenerate at a speed equal to your level and > amount of points See above. > > Tyme: monitor command, you monitor someone in your group, and their > hitpionts show up on your prompt try typing group to monitor...watch battle messages to see how someone is doing.. i coded on anon so that you have the "tank" option in your prompt. If its there..whenever your group is fighting, the tanks hp shows up..easy to add. > > Avon: be able to rescue incapacitated people Should be able to now...dunno why you couldnt > > Bluewing: perhaps at -450 ac you could be indestructable, because a lot > of illithids don't need all their spells to reach a -300 ac class Fix the ac code so that a. its impossible to reach -450 ac, and b. so ac matters again..there is an error in the formula from when merc went to a -100 ac system... > > Unclearthur: a butcher command for Avians, Birds eat corpses, so an Avian > could cut up a corpse into meat Blah blah...code is availble on ftp.games.net or wherever snippets are. > > Login: a bad mood flag....for those bad days we all have :-) I hope that was a joke. 8) > > BowStone: How about code it so that lvl 5 and below recall back to the > newbie wing? Lot's die and find themselves in the city where they die > over and over and also get confused. Once at lvl 5 they should at least > know something. I did this anon. It is a good thing for them. Make sure there is a note telling them that after level 5 they will go to the town. this change only requires like 4 lines of code. if( ch->level <= 5 ) etc etc > > BowStone: Can you code it so that the prac list comes up alphabetized? > Also a neat idea would be that spells for your current level have a diff > color than the rest. Yes. look at social code..it has the alpha code allready in it. > > BowStone: Automate the auction. I've seen this on other muds.. make life > easier when the shelves are full. Or when you want to auction something. Code is available from ftp.game.org or wherever for automated auctions > > BowStone: Have the store keepers give you a bag with a purchase of 2 or > more items. Then add the command Empty. Like 'EMPTY' bag holding. > Give the bag a short time limit so that it breaks after a little while... > spilling the contents on the ground. Wasted memory.Seems like a waste anyway. > > Mordlock: skunk essence to use as a cover scent(block your scent from > others) gotta kill a skunk first to get skunk essence.Best use by races > that have woodcraft/hunting skills unless track is done with the nose..i dont see how this would be applicable > > Sorsa: top expmakers of day/week/month/etc.. :) Anon code has a stat board for that..its cool..grab it from the release when i put it out > > Bluewing: There could be one of those post board things at a recall to > inform folks about upcoming things and classifieds Yeah..and call it "note" > > Quiver: Fix for dwarves...requires they have a hammer of some sort, fixes > > armor, but might destroy based on practice percentage, requires 18+ int. > > Armor repair skill. Sounds nice :) Just copy the armour repair guy code into a skill..REAL easy > > > Forrent: have a separate list for skills so you wont see them on the > > spells list and you wont think they cost mana to cast > > And what would you put on that list? Skills on one, spells on the other..thats a good idea. > > > Whystler: how about making an area list sorted on level range? > > Kiri - try typing areas 10 20 or whatever level range sometime. It gives > > you all the areas in that range. > > It's also a bit difficult, since all the areas aren't really nicely > spaced. You knowthose ones which > are 1 50 or 10 30. What do you suggest then? Area list is best way you can do it unless you edit all the area headers specifially > > > Quiver: Mobs that will say stuff to you after you flee...like next time! > > Maybe more like yelling. :) COuld be interesting to all the other > players in the same area. Anon has this too...BR has memory..make it part of the memory routine > > Blackwulf: Cause I'm a elf I think that it would be veery helpful when > > your enchanting things for people and you are doing it for more the 1 > > charector you should be able to type Isen't that nice? > > Too much coding involved, because now the server would have to keep > track of owner's of items Theres not alot of code involved...but there is no point to it -Ynnel /(*) | / | |\--------------------------------------------\ (@)(((((((( | >---------------Silly----------------------- > | |/--------------------------------------------/ | \ \(*) > Subject: Quiz > You are in a desert. You have with you the following five animals: A > lion, a cow, a horse, a sheep, and a monkey. > To escape the desert you are going to have to get rid of one of your > animals. Which one do you drop? (You can use whatever logic you like > BUT keep track of which animal is discarded when!) > You have 4 animals left. The desert is burning up! It goes on for > miles. Sand is everywhere. You realize, to get out, you are going to > have drop another animal. Which do you drop? > Walk, walk, walk. > Hot, hot, hot. > Disaster! The Oasis that you were looking for is dried up! You have > no choice but to drop another animal. > You have 3 animals left. As you keep walking over the miles of desert > heat, you realize that you have to drop another animal. Which one do > you leave behind? > You have only 2 animals left. OK, it's a long hot walk. You can see > the edge of the desert a long way away on the horizon. Unfortunately, > you > can only leave the desert with ONE animal. Which one do you drop and > which one do you keep? > > > *****Before looking at the answers, make sure you know which animal > you > dropped in what order. ***** > > +++++++++++++++++++++++++++ANSWER+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ > (scroll down) > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > These answers are based on Japanese Archetypes. The desert represents > a > hardship. The animals represent . . . > Lion = Pride > Monkey = Your Children > Sheep = Friendship > Cow = Basic Needs > Horse = Your Passion. > So, in the face of hardship, you will sacrifice each of these > things in turn. Your last animal represents that thing which you > cling > to at the expense of all others. > _____________________________________________________________________ | _____ __ ___ ___ ____ ___ ___ ____ __ _ _ _ _____ | | | | |__| |__/ |__/ |_ | | |__/ |_ |__| | | | | | | | |_____\ | | | \ | \ |___ | | | \ |___ | | |___ | | | \_____ | | | | ___ ____ ____ _ ____ _____ _____ ____ ___ | | | ______/ | | |_ | | | \__ | |_ | | |_ |__/ _____/ | | ________| | |___ \_|_/ ___/ |___ |___ | | |___ | \________ | |_____________________________________________________________________| | | | No such thing as a failure who keeps trying...coasting to the bottom| | Is the only disgrace...-Blues Traveller | |_____________________________________________________________________| | | | Be sure to check out the Official Barren Realms Homepage | | http://nightfall.simplenet.com/Kiri | |_____________________________________________________________________| | | | -> Barren Realms: barren.coredcs.com:8000 <- | |_____________________________________________________________________| | | | You can contact me at Kiri@li.net for any of the following: | | | | Ideas for Barren Realms | | | | Questions/Complaints | | | | Your scrapbook memories of BR | | | | Your poetry, stories, questions, comments, and bios for the | | mort/hero/imm bio section of the newsletter and BR Magazine. | | | | Getting on the mail list for: | | | | Players file: How to play the game, helps, and the BR story. | | Great information for ALL players, no matter what | | level. | | | | Builders guide: An all new guide on how to build areas for BR. | | Full of new information on bits, liquids, and a | | step by step instruction on building areas. | | | | Builders forum: A place to ask email questions about the area you | | are building | | | | Area list: A list of areas and descriptions of each, in depth | | and helpful | | | \_____________________________________________________________________/ Ascii by Cutlass-Mark Sherlock-msherlo@ibm.net Subject: Newsletter April 15, 1998 Happy Tax day!! :) You may notice less and less people on during the summer - rest assured that is normal. Many people go home for the summer, and to those who have, have a good one, we'll be waiting when you come back :)=20 | | _______ (=3D=3D=3D|=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D= =3D=3D- -=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D|=3D= =3D=3D) \ __ \ | | | |__| | __ _ _ __ _ __ ___ _ ___ | ___ \ / __ \| | | |/ ___\ | |/ ___\ / ___ \ | |/ __ \ | | | | | | \ | | / | / | _____| | / | | | |___| | | |__ / | | | | | | |_____ | | | | /________/ \____/|_| |_| |_| \_____/ |_| |_| _______ _ \ __ \ | | | |__| | ___ __ _ | | _ __________ ____ | ___ \ / ___ \ / __ \| | | | | |/ __ ____ \ / ____\ | | | | | _____| | | \ | | | | / | | | | | |__ | | | | | |_____ | |__ / | | | | | | | | | \___ \ /__| |__| \_____/ \____/|_| |_| |_| |_| |_| \ \ ___________________________________________________________ / / <____________________________________________________________/ -Govinda Romen: add shield block skill so ppl actually get a use out of shields. I'm sure the code can prolly be found at ftp.game.org or some other place like that :) -It's called bash :) Kai: put all.coins allows a play to put all the coins on him to the container. Beej: let us set our real age, gender, home city in our profiles. Kai: new command: sayto Allows the player to 'say' a message to a particular person. -what about tell? Jigoku: how 'bout making tail swept mobs not able to flee........7:> AMystery: how about an autotrack skill or command. only works for avians, butit would still be nice:) Ark: give some way to put comma insertion in your prompt on items like gold or expnext Tyme: Why can't Avians eat corpses? They were supposed to be spawned from eagles, they eat their kills... Blaurock: Have some way to change the color of the actions. White kills my eyes! Romen: give clericus the ability to cast fly on us (so it won't matter much when the magic shop runs out of potions) Jigoku: we REALLY need new damage description thingies......discombob is getting a little to boring..... Sereneth: i think we should have some type of "heroh" command for seeing the last ten hero remarks. Jigoku: er....if we aren't thirsty how can we quaff a potion.....leading too if we are full we can't eat a pill wich has NO effect on our fullness Thepower: we should be able to cast 'healing' spells while we're sleeping to quicken the healing process Why not have a skill called grapple, where the person grapples the enemy in which it cannot attack you at all until the opponent breaks lose...since th= e person is trying hard to grapple his opponent, he would have to take alot l= ess swings at the mob. But its worth it if the mob doesn't swing at you. /(*) | / | |\--------------------------------------------\ (@)(((((((( | >----------Response------------------------- > | |/--------------------------------------------/ | \ \(*) Responses by BALTAR: > BowStone: How about code it so that lvl 5 and below recall back to the > newbie wing? Lot's die and find themselves in the city where they die > over and over and also get confused. Once at lvl 5 they should at least > know something. Hmm. Well, first of all, in theory there ought to be plenty of help for su= ch new characters, so that if they do get killed they know how to get back to their corpse. Failing that, it does say right at recall that going Up will take you back to the Academy... Personally, I think the mob that kills the most newbies is probably that practice dummy. Somehow it just hits too hard, and I've seen lots of truly= - new-to-mudding folks get killed before they can type FLEE. Is there any wa= y to set the dummy so that it hits very lightly, but remains such a high leve= l and/or with so many hit points that any level 1 cannot kill it? > Sorsa: top expmakers of day/week/month/etc.. :) Well, since you get more xp for killing mobs of higher level, wouldn't this pretty much always be some hero-type? :) > Responses by Daehder: >=20 > > Forrent: have a separate list for skills so you wont see them on the > > spells list and you wont think they cost mana to cast >=20 > And what would you put on that list? Oh, stuff like DODGE, PARRY, KICK, WINDZONE, HEADBUTT, TRIP, PICK LOCK... I can think of lots of skills that don't cost mana. > > ThePower: we should be able to pick up our group members corpse >=20 > I would like to see you pick up an extra 1000 pounds Well, there's a difference between "too heavy" and just plain not allowed to pick up another player's corpse. If you can handle the weight (which would probably be just about impossible, unless it's a 25-str dwarf trying to carry any other race), then I think being able to pick up the corpse of an unfortunate group member would be most useful. If nothing else, one could always grab it and recall... -Baltar From=20JASSERANDE: >Elric: could score be modified to mention solid align in evil, >neutral or godo terms, not things like angelic What would be the purpose of this? ;) >Tom: code a game you can play to get restored I can see the potential for abuse for this and I believe that restores should be given by imms only, and should not be used as a game when you win and you get restored. Then restore will stop being a privilege and instead something to be played for. >WAsaBe: A spell...dream...cost some mana...but would give a message >to someone sleeping...no changes...no drunken slurr... Okay you want to send a dream or a spell to someone who is sleeping, better still, why don't you just beep the person and then when then send the message to the person. =3D) >Forrent: i believe that there should be a maximum heal time when >you are sleeping. this time should be the same for whatever level you are. >your mana and hp should regenerate at a speed equal to your level and >amount of points In other sense, that you want the rate that the mana and hp to regenerate to increase as your level goes up? I like this idea as I think that as your level goes up, your hitpoints and mana will increase and if it goes at the same rate as you were level 1, it will take a long time to regain your hp and mana. Of course the other alternative would be to get drunk. =3DP >Tyme: monitor command, you monitor someone in your group, and their >hitpionts show up on your prompt There is already a group command to show the hp of your groupmates. >Avon: be able to rescue incapacitated people This idea is interesting, that means the person is already incapacitated and could die at the next blow and then you want to perform the rescue. But if you had monitor the person using the group command, you should be able to rescue the person sufficiently before the person gets incapacitated. =3D= ) >Bluewing: perhaps at -450 ac you could be indestructable, because a lot >of illithids don't need all their spells to reach a -300 ac class I can envision a lot of indestructable people attempting to kill mobs much higher level than themselves without getting hurt. =3D) >Unclearthur: a butcher command for Avians, Birds eat corpses, so an Avian >could cut up a corpse into meat Hey I like this idea, butchering the corpse for pieces of meat. >Login: a bad mood flag....for those bad days we all have :-) Well, you can also use the busy flag or the AFK flag..to state that you do not want to be disturb. However, the idea of this flag sounds fun. =3D) >BowStone: How about code it so that lvl 5 and below recall back to the >newbie wing? Lot's die and find themselves in the city where they die >over and over and also get confused. Once at lvl 5 they should at least >know something. The newbie wing is just one up from recall, I'm not sure if coding a recall just for level 5 and below to recall at the newbie school would be a good idea since its so near.=20 >BowStone: Can you code it so that the prac list comes up alphabetized? >Also a neat idea would be that spells for your current level have a diff >color than the rest. The practice list is alphabetized. >BowStone: Automate the auction. I've seen this on other muds.. make life >easier when the shelves are full. Or when you want to auction something. I like this idea =3D) Automatic auction.=20 >BowStone: Have the store keepers give you a bag with a purchase of 2 or >more items. Then add the command Empty. Like 'EMPTY' bag holding. >Give the bag a short time limit so that it breaks after a little while... >spilling the contents on the ground. I think the leather backpack or the ogrek's backpack is big enough to hold your items. I don't think that most people even manage to fill up those two backpacks. >Mordlock: skunk essence to use as a cover scent(block your scent from >others) gotta kill a skunk first to get skunk essence.Best use by races >that have woodcraft/hunting skills I don't think we really need this. >Sorsa: top expmakers of day/week/month/etc.. :) I don't see any point in this. >Bluewing: There could be one of those post board things at a recall to >inform folks about upcoming things and classifieds=20 Most quests usually have a board at the beginning for these. To inform people of an upcoming quest or event. But its a good suggestion and we do have notes though for upcoming things and classifieds, just have to get people to read notes. =3D) - Jasserande /(*) | / | |\--------------------------------------------\ (@)(((((((( | >--------- Whispers In The Wind ------------- > | |/--------------------------------------------/ | \ \(*) Greetings Realmers, welcome back again to another session of poetry. Well, its time to come up with an explanation of the new title for my poetry section. It just came clicked into my mind when I was working on a mundane assignment, the wind was howling outside, and when it actually simmers down to the kinda of cool breeze that we enjoy, there is actually a 'washa washa' sound in the wind, almost like whispers. Poetry are also like whispers in the wind, sometimes you can hear and understand it, but sometimes you don't. I guess most of the time people do. The next poem I'm going to feature is Aura's poem. Maybe when you read it, you might be able to hear the whispers. The Height of My Hill ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I should have known the moon would have shadows, That placid lakes would always ripple, That some winds would shun meadows, That love could so cripple, I should have known. I should have known that castles could fall, That incense was very sweet, That birds had the same yearly call, That hearts should never meet, I should have known. I should have known, But I wouldn=92t have grown, I now play in the shade of her silver dress, I now embrace stormy waves, I now sing for meadows spiritless, I yearn for love so brave, I will never know. I now destroy futile walls, I now breathe the air of sanctimony, I now hope the birds never fall, I wish for hearts to dance harmony, If I ever knew. Yet I cry at the height of my hill, For Fate laughs at me still. ******* ************** *** *** ************** **** ***Barren Realms*** **** *** *** *** *** *** ******* *** *********** ** ** *********** ***************** Webpages: (snip) >You can also write a blurb about >any webpage you might want to plug (that is your own) - and remember you >can send all poetry and prose to Jasserande (contact her on BR).=20 Hi! Ok, here's a plug for www.westportal.com, which is my company's web site. My company, in the literal sense -- I started it. We now have links to some *images of cancerous skin lesions*, which were used in a "medical study application" we developed. If those don't convince you to stay out of the sun, well... We also did www.hubblepix.com, which has some *nice Hubble space telescope pics*. Actually, I like this site a lot better than my own (something to do with being more motivated when I get paid). Go directly to http://www.hubblepix.com/image_table.htm to skip the commercial blurbs. Finally, if you spend say, $25 or more on long distance (interstate) phone calls, you might find "Web Pricer" at www.trac.org a useful app to help you choose the cheapest phone calling plan. Maybe it can help save you a few bucks. I wrote the app, and there are about thirty full-time analysts at my client's company who read Federal Communications Commission tariff filings to gather data for the database. The database is over 150 MB total; only th= e interstate rate portion is available at the site. Lately I've been building a database of skin lesion images, and their characteristics, which will be incorporated into a "decision support" app t= o assist primary care physicians in diagnosing cancerous skin lesions. It's not anywhere near as cool as it sounds -- some of the images are extremely shocking and disturbing. See you soon in the Realms -- and go kill one for me, Ok? -- Fossil=20 /(*) | / | |\--------------------------------------------\ (@)(((((((( | >--------------Silly------------------------ > | |/--------------------------------------------/ | \ \(*) ----------------------------------------------------------------- THINGS YOU WOULD NEVER KNOW WITHOUT THE MOVIES ------------------------------------------------------------------ During all police investigations it will be necessary to visit a=20 strip club at least once. All beds have special L-shaped cover sheets which reach up to the=20 armpit level on a woman but only to waist level on the man lying=20 beside her. All grocery shopping bags contain at least one stick of French Bread. It's easy for anyone to land a plane providing there is someone in=20 the control tower to talk you down.=20 The ventilation system of any building is the perfect hiding place. No-one will ever think of looking for you in there and you can travel=20 to any other part of the building you want without difficulty. If you need to reload your gun, you will always have more ammunition - even if you haven't been carrying any before now. You're very likely to survive any battle in any war unless you make=20 the mistake of showing someone a picture of your sweetheart back=20 home.=20 Should you wish to pass yourself off as a German officer, it will not be necessary to speak the language. A German accent will do. If your town is threatened by an imminent natural disaster or killer beast, the mayor's first concern will be the tourist trade or his=20 forthcoming art exhibition.=20 The Eiffel Tower can be seen from any window in Paris. Similarly, Big=20 Ben is visible from any part of London. A man will show no pain while taking the most ferocious beating but=20 will wince when a woman tries to clean his wounds.=20 If being chased through town, you can usually take cover in a passing St. Patrick's Day parade - at any time of the year. When paying for a taxi, don't look at your wallet as you take but a=20 bill - just grab one at random and hand it over. It will always be=20 the exact fare. Kitchens don't have light switches. When entering a kitchen at night, you should open the fridge door and use that light instead. If staying in a haunted house, women should investigate any strange=20 noises in their most revealing underwear. Word processors never display a cursor on screen but will always say:=20 Enter Password Now.=20 Mothers routinely cook eggs, bacon and waffles for their family=20 every morning even though their husband and children never have time=20 to eat it. Cars that crash will almost always burst into flames. The Chief of Police will always suspend his star detective - or give=20 him 48 hours to finish the job.=20 A single match will be sufficient to light up a room the size of=20 Wembley Stadium.=20 Although in the 20th century it is possible to fire weapons at an=20 object out of our visual range, people of the 23rd century will have=20 lost this technology.=20 Any person waking from a nightmare will sit bolt upright and pant. It is not necessary to say hello or goodbye when beginning or ending=20 phone conversations.=20 All bombs are fitted with electronic timing devices with large red readouts so you know exactly when they're going to go off. It is always possible to park directly outside the building you are =20 visiting.=20 A detective can only solve a case once he has been suspended from=20 duty.=20 It does not matter if you are heavily outnumbered in a fight=20 involving martial arts - your enemies will wait patiently to attack=20 you one by one by dancing around in a threatening manner until you have knocked out their predecessors. Women always wake up with full make-up. No-one involved in a car chase, hijacking, explosion, volcanic=20 eruption or alien invasion will ever go into shock. Police Departments give their officers personality tests to make sure=20 they are deliberately assigned a partner who is their total opposite. Any lock can be picked by a credit card or a paper clip in seconds -=20 unless it's the door to a burning building with a child trapped=20 inside. An electric fence, powerful enough to kill a dinosaur will cause no=20 lasting damage to an eight year old child. Television news bulletins usually contain a story that affects you=20 personally at that precise moment. _____________________________________________________________________ | _____ __ ___ ___ ____ ___ ___ ____ __ _ _ _ _____ | | | | |__| |__/ |__/ |_ | | |__/ |_ |__| | | | | | | | |_____\ | | | \ | \ |___ | | | \ |___ | | |___ | | | \_____ | | | | ___ ____ ____ _ ____ _____ _____ ____ ___ | | | ______/ | | |_ | | | \__ | |_ | | |_ |__/ _____/ | | ________| | |___ \_|_/ ___/ |___ |___ | | |___ | \________ | |_____________________________________________________________________| | | | No such thing as a failure who keeps trying...coasting to the bottom| | Is the only disgrace...-Blues Traveller | |_____________________________________________________________________| | | | Be sure to check out the Official Barren Realms Homepage | | http://nightfall.simplenet.com/Kiri | |_____________________________________________________________________| | | | -> Barren Realms: barren.coredcs.com:8000 <- | |_____________________________________________________________________| | | | You can contact me at Kiri@li.net for any of the following: | | | | Ideas for Barren Realms | | | | Questions/Complaints | | | | Your scrapbook memories of BR | | | | Your poetry, stories, questions, comments, and bios for the | | mort/hero/imm bio section of the newsletter and BR Magazine. | | | | Getting on the mail list for: | | | | Players file: How to play the game, helps, and the BR story. | | Great information for ALL players, no matter what | | level. | | | | Builders guide: An all new guide on how to build areas for BR. | | Full of new information on bits, liquids, and a | | step by step instruction on building areas. | | | | Builders forum: A place to ask email questions about the area you | | are building | | | | Area list: A list of areas and descriptions of each, in depth | | and helpful | | | \_____________________________________________________________________/ Ascii by Cutlass-Mark Sherlock-msherlo@ibm.net Subject: Newsletter April 21, 1998 \ __ \ | | | |__| | __ _ _ __ _ __ ___ _ ___ | ___ \ / __ \| | | |/ ___\ | |/ ___\ / ___ \ | |/ __ \ | | | | | | \ | | / | / | _____| | / | | | |___| | | |__ / | | | | | | |_____ | | | | /________/ \____/|_| |_| |_| \_____/ |_| |_| _______ _ \ __ \ | | | |__| | ___ __ _ | | _ __________ ____ | ___ \ / ___ \ / __ \| | | | | |/ __ ____ \ / ____\ | | | | | _____| | | \ | | | | / | | | | | |__ | | | | | |_____ | |__ / | | | | | | | | | \___ \ /__| |__| \_____/ \____/|_| |_| |_| |_| |_| \ \ ___________________________________________________________ / / <____________________________________________________________/ -Govinda Rathguard: Why not have a skill called grapple, where the person grapples the enemy in which it cannot attack you at all until the opponent breaks lose...since th= e person is trying hard to grapple his opponent, he would have to take alot l= ess swings at the mob. But its worth it if the mob doesn't swing at you. Jigoku: avians have 2 claws so they should be able to carry 2 ppl but as penalty, they can't use claw in battle when a mob gets tripped/tailswept it should get a hit/dam/dex penalty for bein on the ground and all Atonia: Trade exessive amounts of practices for maybe enhancements... or something to that affect... I personally have 146.... Tom: have the 4 Trainee's repop in different places more random like I mean why would a Trainee stand in one place all day? Bluewing: why not let disintegrate kill a target and damage everything else in the room :) Pagedude: have counter for how many real life hours that you have played Hellbender: stoop.... 25% chance of destroying a weapon, and or 1 armor piece, 1.5 times damage of dive, 60% chance of instant kill, blind/trips target on impact. Jigoku: how bout having ac get higher as we gain lvls? kinda like getting battle hardened Kai: How about a modification to flaming weapons so when they hit a mob it does 'flame' damage, along with the regular attack. New Illithid, Druid, or Elf skill: alter metabolism, allows you to speed up your regeneration rate. put all.coins puts the coins your carrying into the container. Druid spell, 'blood to water': allows a Druid to tap the elemental forces of the earth and can transfer hp to mana. Druid spells, 'conjure air/water/earth/fire' allows the users to summon an elemental which acts like a pet. Elf spell, flame wall, a rolling waves of flames topples upon all the mobs in the room, damaging them all. Tyme: pluck should hurt less if you have it praced high Scrubs: when your drunk your dex should go down (the amount depending on how drunk of course) AMystery: it would seem that someone with an alignment of 1000 would be so favored by the gods that they would perpetually have sanctuary. doesn't this seem logical? Ogopogo: AC penalty for blindness as well as the hit penalty Bluewing: maybe more of the illithid spells should be playable on other players ******* ************** *** *** ************** **** ***Barren Realms*** **** *** *** *** *** *** ******* *** *********** ** ** *********** ***************** Article (commentary?) By Sknt This is almost an editorial comment. As an area designer i like to leisurely wander through an area, killing mobs when necessary not dashing as quickly as i can from place to place killing as many mobs as possible. That's not my idea of fun or why i play muds in the first place. If that is your idea of how to advance fast as fa= st as possible, don't group with me, because i don't enjoy it.=20 Stopping and smelling the roses, Sknt Tom's Corner Adventure, how much do we all cherish it? How would life be without it? MUD's are very much like reading an ever changing, choose your own adventure book, every area has a different feel, a different writer, and always holds true most of the time to their expectations. However, how can we as players enjoy the time the writer of the area took making it? How can we pull the most adventure and fun out of the area? Believe it or not the room descriptions are most wonderfully designed to bring interest to the area, and give you hints and side points. Take for example the "Clock Tower, by Aura" reading the room descriptions show there's more to the area and progressively become more and more interesting as you travel thru the area, Until you reach the top of the tower (Which in my point of view, is wonderfully made and brings out Aura's true writing talent) Or explore into the "Barren Realms Museum, by Fossil" this area also is wonderfully written to pull you into the area and grow interest. With how everyone who has made areas can tell you, designing an area is painful and very tedious but the reward comes when its put in and everyone comments about it. I've only chosen those two area because of length and time you all have to read this. The signs and room descriptions are there for our enjoyment, think of how hard it would be to navigate thru an area where each room was the same, or nothing was written. So see folks, by exploring rooms and reading things, you open yourselves up to a totally "new world" and only bring more enjoyment to yourself as you level. In the eyes of the Hobbit "Adventures are nasty things, that make you late for supper" however to us Adventure is only the beginning. Thanks for sticking along with this article and I hope to write many more as Time allows Tom Xomgromit /(*) | / | |\--------------------------------------------\ (@)(((((((( | >--------------Responses-------------------- > | |/--------------------------------------------/ | \ \(*) RESPONSES BY GOVINDA: > Nova: everyone should be able to rescue Yeah, and to teleport and to backstab and to roundhouse and to heal... If all races had the same abilities would grouping be half as fun as it is now= ? > Forrent: how about an edit command for notes so you can edit a line > in the middle of a note without messing uo the rest of it How many times I had to delete half my note because one of the first line had a typo! It could be like "note -4" would delete the 4th line and "note +4 " would insert a new one. > Lyndon: i think (to help magic users get exp) you should get exp > for every hit that you do, so that if the poor elves or druids can get ex= p > just as fast as dwarves/kinders Why do they need to get xp as fast as dwarves and kenders if those poor fighters need much more xp than elves and druids to level? > Thorkill: a command called 'arenawho' or something, that shows who > is currently in the arena, not nescearrily there position, just who's > there. That way you know whether that person who just went to the arena i= s > staying or it was just an accident. Nice idea, also if there's a lot of people in the arena and you're not sure if there's still someone of your level there > Questyn: when one types affect the spells should be listed in order of > time remaining for each spell, not in the order they were cast. One of those ideas that would make life just a little easier without taking away anything of the chalenge of the game :) Responses by Govinda, who's having lots of fun with the new hero-leveling-system :) > Tom: Make fake report, Random instead of a stable set...makes it more fun Cool! then it could also make you seem almost dead or just very weak, and people would think: What?? Tom has a maximum of 100 hitpoints?? > Tom: Each race should speak there own language, and to communicate > correctly you should have to go enhancer and learn the other languages I don't think that's a good idea. You can't even group at low level then, since low-level newbies do not know eachother's languages /(*) | / | |\--------------------------------------------\ (@)(((((((( | >--------- Whispers In The Wind ------------- > | |/--------------------------------------------/ | \ \(*) Greetings Realmers to another edition of Whispers in the Wind. Today we have an two entries. One is from the druid with the rubber-face and the great stand-up comedian Sgetsuo, and the other by Hemlock. >>>From Sgetsuo, Elastic Band ~~~~~~~~~~~~ My fingers are straining in protest at the effort=20 of using such long-forgotten muscles,=20 and my joints are snapping like sparks=20 flying from a burning log fire.=20 Thought processes for so long dormant and unaware=20 now stir themselves once again,=20 following musty channels and dank passageways=20 from the random hive called brain=20 to the ordered plastic slide of the computer circuitry. The awareness of self loses itself once more=20 in the flow of pictures made words=20 and the screen flashes back it's compliance in an unknowing blink. Soft-tone sterile highlight, the machine tears the mind from the multi-colour clutter and human intensity and focuses on the artificial humdrum, same as the other. I pick up the elastic band and finish it. (Hmm..finish what? =3DP) >>>From Hemlock, =A0 Cruel Fate=20 ~~~~~~~~~~ Resting was he on the sand. Taken by the vicious hand. Thrown into a metal tank. Water heating at his flank. When the body's finished cookin', His body is cracked and broken. Served then with drawn butter sauce. Your gain is the lobster's loss.... (Actually, I've never tasted lobster before , not even lobster crackers, anyone want to tell me what do they taste like?) NEXT WEEK: A 6-pack's sauce dedication to the Realms /(*) | / | |\--------------------------------------------\ (@)(((((((( | >---------------Silly----------------------- > | |/--------------------------------------------/ | \ \(*) > > The Top 20 Movie Sequels Nobody Wants to See > >=20 > > >> 20."Commandments 11-20: Moses Strikes Back" > > >> 19."Three Men and a Sheep" > > >> 18."Rocky 10: Rocky Fights Irregularity" > > >> 17."Police Academy IX: Beating A Dead Horse" > > >> 16."Babe II: Side of Bacon" > > >> 15."Showgirls 2001: A Silicone Odyssey" > > >> 14."Dumbo: First Blood" > > >> 13."Waterworld 2: The Red Ink Sea" > > >> 12."Eliminating Raoul" > > >> 11."Home Alone 4: Under House Arrest" > > >> 10."Dead Man Rotting" > > >> 9."Driving Miss Daisy's Hearse" > > >> 8."Pee Wee's Felonious Adventure" > > >> 7."Lawrence of Bolivia" > > >> 6."Kickboxer 3: Right in the Groin!" > > >> 5."Weekend At Bernie's 3: Starting to Reek" > > >> 4."To Kung Fu, Thanks For Everything, David > > >> Carridine" > > >> 3."CoDependence Day" > > >> 2."The Englishman Who Drove Into L.A. a Hugh > > >> and Came Out a John" > > >> and the Number 1 Movie Sequel Nobody Wants > > >> to See... > > >> 1."Il Postino Disgruntilo" _____________________________________________________________________ | _____ __ ___ ___ ____ ___ ___ ____ __ _ _ _ _____ | | | | |__| |__/ |__/ |_ | | |__/ |_ |__| | | | | | | | |_____\ | | | \ | \ |___ | | | \ |___ | | |___ | | | \_____ | | | | ___ ____ ____ _ ____ _____ _____ ____ ___ | | | ______/ | | |_ | | | \__ | |_ | | |_ |__/ _____/ | | ________| | |___ \_|_/ ___/ |___ |___ | | |___ | \________ | |_____________________________________________________________________| | | | No such thing as a failure who keeps trying...coasting to the bottom| | Is the only disgrace...-Blues Traveller | |_____________________________________________________________________| | | | Be sure to check out the Official Barren Realms Homepage | | http://nightfall.simplenet.com/Kiri | |_____________________________________________________________________| | | | -> Barren Realms: barren.coredcs.com:8000 <- | |_____________________________________________________________________| | | | You can contact me at Kiri@li.net for any of the following: | | | | Ideas for Barren Realms | | | | Questions/Complaints | | | | Your scrapbook memories of BR | | | | Your poetry, stories, questions, comments, and bios for the | | mort/hero/imm bio section of the newsletter and BR Magazine. | | | | Getting on the mail list for: | | | | Players file: How to play the game, helps, and the BR story. | | Great information for ALL players, no matter what | | level. | | | | Builders guide: An all new guide on how to build areas for BR. | | Full of new information on bits, liquids, and a | | step by step instruction on building areas. | | | | Builders forum: A place to ask email questions about the area you | | are building | | | | Area list: A list of areas and descriptions of each, in depth | | and helpful | | | \_____________________________________________________________________/ Ascii by Cutlass-Mark Sherlock-msherlo@ibm.net Subject: Newsletter April 28, '98 As you can see, I'm low on content this week. I know it's summer, but I could use some bios, responses, articles, etc. -Kiri | | _______ (===|====================- -====================|===) \ __ \ | | | |__| | __ _ _ __ _ __ ___ _ ___ | ___ \ / __ \| | | |/ ___\ | |/ ___\ / ___ \ | |/ __ \ | | | | | | \ | | / | / | _____| | / | | | |___| | | |__ / | | | | | | |_____ | | | | /________/ \____/|_| |_| |_| \_____/ |_| |_| _______ _ \ __ \ | | | |__| | ___ __ _ | | _ __________ ____ | ___ \ / ___ \ / __ \| | | | | |/ __ ____ \ / ____\ | | | | | _____| | | \ | | | | / | | | | | |__ | | | | | |_____ | |__ / | | | | | | | | | \___ \ /__| |__| \_____/ \____/|_| |_| |_| |_| |_| \ \ ___________________________________________________________ / / <____________________________________________________________/ -Govinda Malloc: hero level kender skill: slit throat... either kills them outright or gets them really mad at you Malloc: hero level elf skills: how about some necromancy spells? raise dead, peel skin etc.? AMystery: we need a plus con spell. like giant strength is +str. this would be a great spell for leveling. and probably for whatever else con is good for Malloc: if a person is blind how come you can't circle around them in a fight? how about being able to save 1 enhance / level? Jigoku: pose should get better as you gain levels.......to literally show you off:) Malloc: for dwarves Lower level requirement on weapons/armor... it can be dropped only 2 and it's a higher level spell... Malloc: a command that'll let you quaff something that's in a container... ie, quaff fly bag Bluewing: Since illithids have 4 tentacles why not use all of them to wield weapons Malloc: for hero kenders... dual backstab Malloc: i think dual should be in guild for kenders... cause their dexterotous enough... Jigoku: all shop owners should have a white aura, makes them look cooler:) Jigoku: feathers need to last longer as we get higher in level Deed: I have a suggestion to make. This might sound stupid, but I thought it was really hard to find what I can use in the donation room. There are so many things in the donation room and I still havn't got a slightest idea about what things I am able to use. I thought maybe you can put things the players can use in different color, so when a player comes to the donation room, he/she will automatically know what he/she can use. Or you could put the number of level he/she needs to be in order to use a certain equipment in front of the equipment. Thanks for your time. Bye. ******* ************** *** *** ************** **** ***Barren Realms*** **** *** *** *** *** *** ******* *** *********** ** ** *********** ***************** Articles by SKNT: I would like to see accurate maps of routes or a list of routes. Too many low level characters are wandering into higher level areas exploring and getting promptly killed by higher level aggros. perhaps a note on some of the signs what levels the area is for. An alternate idea is to put it on the signs to the areas. [Still trying to find the arabian nights] Article: Smelling the Roses Recently I was wandering the back alleys of Malathar and Stumblined across the Theatre with 'Les Miserables' being performed. At first ia was slightly disappointed if only finding the actors on stage.... This quickly vanishes as i stumbled back stage and found myself IN the play, moving from scene to scene. Those familier with the story will be enchanted as they move from place to place looking at the characters and reading the locations descriptions so richly captured. Bravo!! nicely done!! Sknt /(*) | / | |\--------------------------------------------\ (@)(((((((( | >-----------------Response------------------ > | |/--------------------------------------------/ | \ \(*) Responses by DAEHDER: > Tom: add website to profile info that way people don't need to > put plan and webpage on same > This could actually be a pretty neat idea. I've always wondered about this myself. > Tom: a spell that reverses ac of a mob > This sounds unfair. It only has so much AC in any case. > Omnipotus: to clarify from misinterpretation of my 'silence' spell idea, > only mobs were supposed to be able to cast it on players > Sound nice enough. > Tuppy: autojunk- a config option to automatically sac anything you create > by spell misfires > You could make a trigger :) And besides, you want to sac ambrosia? > Tom: a group flee command > The group must just check you and besides, who gets this command, the backender which check when someone gets in trouble and then type flee furiously, because he/she doesn't have commands sitting in the queue already? > Kai: Have the consider feature give you more details about the mob > Come on. What more could you want? What it had for breakfast this morning? What it's hit/dam is? HP, maybe? If I were to fight an enemy would it tell me all it's information? No, I don't think so. > Tom: a re-enchant spell for heroes > Re-enchant? > Kai: The ability to pay for things in Calathar by them subtracting the > total from your bank account balance > Credit card here we come. Look, we have a middle ages system. Be glad we have a bank. > Kai: Dwarven skill, repair - repairs damaged armor similar to Beich, high > dex, wis, and/or str required > I see some one has been reading old newsletters :) > Nemulus: have the One Ring held by the keeper of the ring make the person > invis (like seashell) and maybe get rid of the bad effect on AC > The one ring is fine just as it is :) The builder of the area had a purpose with using the stats on it as it is. Maybe there is something else in the area that counters the bad ac. > Forrent: how about a new skill called scare. you use it to scare a mob > out of a room so you only have to fight one instead of two or more > Scare, push, shove.. all the same. Could work, but failure could mean all the mobs in the room attacks you at the same time. :) > Derw: there should be like a pill or potion that when you eat/quaff it > you become instantly sober... for heroes only of course... > Heroes aren't supposed to drink in the first place. Healing should be a trivial thing for heroes with pockets full of money. > Darknight: I dunno how you'd be able to go about coding it, but what if > body parts would be poisoned if the previous owner of the limb was evil, > like a head of a hobgoblin.. come on, how tasty is that? > Say.. So what if I'm evil, does evil body parts affect me or good body parts and how do I know whenther an insect is good or bad and why would you want to make food like that poison. I can see the piles of rotten meat lying around in donation, stinking up the whole of Calathar. > Here's an idea Fields and I have been tossing around that might be cool for > BR. Add a "ghost" class you can choose to act as a guest or use to just > chat. It doesn't ask for a password when you log on or save your character > when you log off. You can't go up levels or get any equipment. It's just > a class to socialize and have fun looking around. The only skill it has is > astral. What do you think? > Hehehe. Could be fun.. Do we use these ghosts to help newbies too ? Daehder responses by JASSERANDE: >Tom: when you come off afk, a little message with your tells,who beeped >you and other misc. needed stuff :) You can always use tellh for the messages, and the person who beep would have generated some sound. =) >Sylvester: Ever thought of making the Web spell have the failing >possibility of webbing the casters feet, making flee impossible Oh, and if you're fighting an extremely tough mob who flees a lot and at that moment doesn't flee? BANG! You dead. =P >Who: CHATH and GTELLH are available while sleeping, shouldn't TELLH be >available as well? I realize you cannot TELL while sleeping and you can >chat/gtell but simply using TELLH shouldn't hurt... It wouldn't hurt to wake up and type tellh, after all, you can't reply to the person who telled you. =) >Kai: the command put all.coins to have you put all your coins >into the container. I like that idea, =) Instead of having to type the exact amount of the of coins, you can put all the coins on your body in the container. >Kai: an 'AUTO' option that has you recall automatically when you go >(Linkdead), Off by default??? You do recall automatically if you go linkdead when you are fighting. >Kai: A 'food' donation room, EVERYONE whose everyone donates foodstuffs >:-) Help the needy in the process You can donate food, it will appear in the donation rooms. >Morgoth: I think a 'last connect' date in each players profile would be a >useful thing to have. I like this idea too, that way we can check when we last connected. >Salieri : Druid skill, HOLY STRENGTH. The Druid's faith makes them >stronger. Also, perhaps rather then having the Druids utter words like >Elves, perhaps make ritualistic movements. Such as for sanctuary, 'Salieri >traces a crescent moon in the air as she prays,' rather than, 'utters the >words.' Well druid do have giant strength as for the description, might give the coder a headache. =)Can you imagine having to code every single spell just unique to druids? =P /(*) | / | |\--------------------------------------------\ (@)(((((((( | >-----------------Silly--------------------- > | |/--------------------------------------------/ | \ \(*) Bumper Stickers Out of my mind. Back in five minutes. Horn broken. Watch for finger. Your kid may be an honors student, but you're still an idiot. All generalizations are false. Cover me. I'm changing lanes. Learn from your parents' mistakes - use birth control. I'm not as think as you drunk I am. Forget about World Peace...Visualize using your turn signal. He who laughs last thinks slowest. Lottery: A tax on people who are bad at math. It IS as bad as you think, and they ARE out to get you. Auntie Em, Hate you, hate Kansas, taking the dog. Dorothy. Change is inevitable, except from a vending machine. Time is what keeps everything from happening at once. I love cats...they taste just like chicken. Forget the Joneses, I keep us up with the Simpsons. Born free...Taxed to death. The more people I meet, the more I like my dog. Laugh alone and the world thinks you're an idiot. Rehab is for quitters. I get enough exercise just pushing my luck. Sometimes I wake up grumpy; Other times I let him sleep. All men are idiots, and I married their King. Jack Kevorkian for White House Physician. Work is for people who don't know how to fish. Montana-At least our cows are sane! I didn't fight my way to the top of the food chain to be a vegetarian. Women who seek to be equal to men lack ambition. If you don't like the news, go out and make some. When you do a good deed, get a receipt-in case heaven is like the IRS. Sorry, I don't date outside my species. No radio - Already stolen. Real women don't have hot flashes, they have power surges. I took an IQ test and the results were negative. Where there's a will, I want to be in it. OK, who stopped payment on my reality check? Few women admit their age; Fewer men act it. I don't suffer from insanity, I enjoy every minute of it. Hard work has a future payoff. Laziness pays off NOW. Tell me to 'stuff it' - I'm a taxidermist. IRS: We've got what it takes to take what you've got. Time is the best teacher; Unfortunately it kills all its students. It's lonely at the top, but you eat better. According to my calculations, the problem doesn't exist. Some people are only alive because it is illegal to kill. Pride is what we have. Vanity is what others have. A bartender is just a pharmacist with a limited inventory. Reality? Is that where the pizza delivery guy comes from? How can I miss you if you won't go away? Warning: Dates in Calendar are closer than they appear. Give me ambiguity or give me something else. We are born naked, wet, and hungry. Then things get worse. Make it idiot-proof and someone will make a better idiot. Always remember you're unique, just like everyone else. Friends help you move. Real friends help you move bodies. Very funny Scotty, now beam down my clothes. Puritanism: The haunting fear that someone, somewhere may be happy. Consciousness: That annoying time between naps. I souport publik edekashun. Be nice to your kids. They'll choose your nursing home. Beauty is in the eye of the beer holder... There are 3 kinds of people: those who can count & those who can't. Why is 'abbreviation' such a long word? Ever stop to think and forget to start again? Keep honking...I'm reloading. Caution: I drive like you do I want to die in my sleep like my grandfather, not kicking and screaming like the passengers in his car I have the heart of a child, the brain of a genius, and the hands of surgeon...and I keep them in a jar under my bed _____________________________________________________________________ | _____ __ ___ ___ ____ ___ ___ ____ __ _ _ _ _____ | | | | |__| |__/ |__/ |_ | | |__/ |_ |__| | | | | | | | |_____\ | | | \ | \ |___ | | | \ |___ | | |___ | | | \_____ | | | | ___ ____ ____ _ ____ _____ _____ ____ ___ | | | ______/ | | |_ | | | \__ | |_ | | |_ |__/ _____/ | | ________| | |___ \_|_/ ___/ |___ |___ | | |___ | \________ | |_____________________________________________________________________| | | | No such thing as a failure who keeps trying...coasting to the bottom| | Is the only disgrace...-Blues Traveller | |_____________________________________________________________________| | | | Be sure to check out the Official Barren Realms Homepage | | http://nightfall.simplenet.com/Kiri | |_____________________________________________________________________| | | | -> Barren Realms: barren.coredcs.com:8000 <- | |_____________________________________________________________________| | | | You can contact me at Kiri@li.net for any of the following: | | | | Ideas for Barren Realms | | | | Questions/Complaints | | | | Your scrapbook memories of BR | | | | Your poetry, stories, questions, comments, and bios for the | | mort/hero/imm bio section of the newsletter and BR Magazine. | | | | Getting on the mail list for: | | | | Players file: How to play the game, helps, and the BR story. | | Great information for ALL players, no matter what | | level. | | | | Builders guide: An all new guide on how to build areas for BR. | | Full of new information on bits, liquids, and a | | step by step instruction on building areas. | | | | Builders forum: A place to ask email questions about the area you | | are building | | | | Area list: A list of areas and descriptions of each, in depth | | and helpful | | | \_____________________________________________________________________/ Ascii by Cutlass-Mark Sherlock-msherlo@ibm.net