Subject: Newsletter Nov 1, 1996 @>----------------------------(ideas)--------------------------------- Zebulac: hot/cold room flags, when you are damaged, every few seconds you take damage from the heat/coldness Cutlass: have food consumption vary by activity. ie. fighting - 5x normal walking - 2x normal standing - normal resting - 1/2 normal sleeping - none Deuces: A free or release command that will allow us to free our pets and mercs rather than turn upon them. Deuces: a glance command so we can just see someone's equipment without paging through the description Deuces: How about a random title generator machine in town? For those days your not feeling creative, you can use the machine, and it will do Sandra: Let me design a new room/area. Kiri: Ok, you can write an area. Talk to me online about it. Deuces: to keep from filling up the stores with junk, have the shoppies buy duplicates for less and less, until they won't take them Kiri: this already happens. Tasselhoff: I had a thought: I am working on an area(Ghandi is rather) a nd there have been a few small questions i have been wondering.. I thought maybe we could get a builkders channel on BR. What do you think? Kiri: there's no need for a channel, we have a builders forum which I don't think any of you have used yet. If you have questions, mail them to barren@coredcs.com and we'll see if we can help you. @>------------------------------(Becca's name quest)-------------------- I've used my name already in lots of games including muds. Two years ago I was working on my exam maths. Each hour I spent three quarters of an hour on Maths and one on playing an adventure called 'castle of the Winds' In order to not forget my maths while playing I took a= name reminding me of it. I took the two variables of Differential Equations,= X and Y, and because I was a giant I made XYganthos. Now that I'm a dwarf in= most muds I thought it was funny to keep this giant name. I don't have to=20 think about maths anymore though, so the Y is changed into a small y. That's= why I'm a dwarf with the Gigantic name Xyganthos It's a little greek-like=20 because I had exam Greek the same day... Now you know why my name's so=20 strange. can all name-explanations be put in the News-letter? would be=20 interestin g. There are lots of even stranger names :) Xyganthos Goldeneyes Goldeneyes is from the books of Robert Jordan: The Wheel of Time) My name is that of a character in an anime. Deedlit was a 200 or so year old elf who was tall and a bit silly, after all in elven year she was only about 17. I chose her because I wanted a mysterious character who could be completely daft now and again! She was also very powerful magically and talked to the trees which I do all the time in real-life anyway, so there you go! P.S. I don't recall her ever killing anything with a coffee cup though... Well, my friends say I'm Corny... Corn Well... I'm not a very musically talented, so my name doesn't have anything= to do with music, etc... Does a short, fat, stubby penguin with a big nose ring a bell? Well, there ya go. Opus the Penguin @>---------------------------(suggestions))------------------------ IDEAS! Well, here's some ideas for BR... 1) More interactive mobs, especially in the academy. Example: Where people enter the realms, there could be a Hall Monitor: The hall monitor says: Hi and welcome to the Barren Realms! ;The hall monitor says: If you've played muds before, and feel comfortable, then I suggest that you head north and enhance your stats. If you haven't played, or don't feel comfortable, please head south to our private academy to learn the basic commands. ;The hall monitor says: You can abbreviate commands, so to go south, you can simply type s. Note: If these messages could be incorporated into a tell, that'd be better, but would need to change the wording since they could be out of the room. Also, every level 1 character would get this greeting. Another Example: The trainer tells characters: Make sure you enhance before level 2!!! ; The trainer tells characters what their primary stat is, and reminds them to enhance that first! Note: Only tells characters if: Character level=1 and character isn't in the newbie wing of the academy and the character hasn't enhanced. How about letting mobprogs go back in? I know they're buggy, but with some work, maybe some could go in? Such as having animated shopkeepers,something like as you walk in, they say welcome to , can I help you? (Makes it much more realistic) 2) How about Colored titles? Maybe allow embedding of ANSI colors into the titles to make for a much more colorful who. Example: title ^BKiri^R! would show a title with Kiri in blue, followed by a red !. 3) REDO THE IDEA COMMAND!!! Allow the current syntax, but have an alternate syntax which would be something like Idea subject , Idea + Line1 Idea + Line2 Idea - Idea Post 4) Allow people's titles to actually be displayed when you see them in a room... 5) Make casting invis on a mob be a sign that you're attacking them... I hate it when Clericus is invis... (NOTE: Players wouldn't see this as a sign of aggression, including in the arena.) 6) Configurable entrances & exits while walking...kinda like BAMFIN and BAMFOUT, only it displays every time you walk into or out of a room. Maybe heros & imms only? 7) BAMFIN & BAMFOUT: Allow ANSI colors to be embedded...see above. 8) Possibly restrict shout to be heard in only the current area of the shouter? (makes sense). 9) Quest Arena!!! No pkilling, summon allowed (level 51+), don't lose or gain exp, can't enter unless summoned or transfered here, unless you are a hero or imm. This arena would "Mirror" an area, which would allow heros or imms to supply it without interference, and Quest players to play in relative safety. The arena would be "set" to an area by using a command such as QSET AREA_NAME LOW_LEVEL HIGH_ LEVEL. This would set up the arena to mirror the area denoted by AREA_NAME, and adjust the levels to be in LOW_LEVEL to HIGH_LEVEL accordingly (Of course, equip would need to disappear or something, to make sure a level 1 farslayer doesn't get out :)) Of course, this would be a LOT of coding, but would be really cool, and as far as I know, no other muds have this. Well, tell me what you think...Quiver i don't know if this has been been talked about yet or not... so many ideas in the newsletters now i can't keep them all straight ;P but anyways.. how about a bow and arrow weapon or crossbow ? it'd work sorta like the avian's fling by going across to the next room but in order for you to use it you have to have both hands open (well, 1 holding the bow) and the other so you can nock (sp?) an arrow and to pull the string. to hit something in the next room you type: nock arrow (or bolt) shoot the shopkeepers could sell arrows individually or in quivers (12 arrows). plus there'd be different types of arrows.. normal arrow: 1d6 damage, hit target in the next room flight arrow: 1d8 damage, hit target up to 2 rooms away (this would mean the scan code would have to be changed) silver arrow: 1d8 damage (+1 if mob is evil) magical arrow: ?d? damage.. random according to level normal bolt: 1d8 damage silver bolt: 1d8 +2 damage (+1 (additional) if mob is evil) magical bolt: ?d? damage.. random according to level more? pricing of course would have to follow the quality of the arrows/bolts. there'd also be several types of bows/crossbow: short bow: light weight normal arrows low level (can be used around level 5 or so) min str to use is 14 long bow: medium weight normal arrows and flight arrows mid level (level 20+) min str to use is 16 compound bow: heavy weight normal arrows, flight arrows, and silver arrows mid-higher level (level 35+) min str to use is 18 magical bow: heavy weight any arrows upper levels (level 45+) min str to use is 18 standard crossbow: medium weight normal bolts mid-higher level (level 30+) min str to use is 18 heavy crossbow: heavy weight normal bolts and silver bolts higher level (level 40+) min str to use is 20 magical crossbow: heavy weight any bolts upper level (level 45+) min str to use is 20 of course these numbers can be changed to comply with game balance. if you want some more detail to this i'm pretty sure i can come up with some more. ;) as usual, the magical items would need to be rare. another concept that could be added to this is the poisoning of the arrows. which would also work sorta like tainting. you have to buy a vial of poison and then 'dip' each arrow into it to poison it with the chance of it not even working. the disadvantages of this is that the only way to carry your arrows/bolt is to have a quiver. which leads to another idea. a shoulder location on the PCs. you have to wear the quiver on the shoulder location in order to be able to nock an arrow/bolt. also, another disadvantage of this is that avian's wouldn't be able to use it, but they have fling so it'd pretty much compensate for it. ;P this prolly needs a little more investigation and thought.. but i thought i'd go ahead and send it in as it is so far... what do you think? Crymson Help... I am new to MUD's and am using zMUD 4.2 how can I configure the auto mapper to work with your MUD! Thanks for any help Gareth Kiri: anyone able to help this poor guy? @>--------------------------(bios)--------------------------------- I am known on BR as ALeXei. My real name is Daniel Stein and I live in Queens New York. I am good friends with the person who plays Matai, and I sort of know Gorzak. I live right near St. Johns University, so if you are every going there, or if you do go there just tell me and we will say hi. I was born on July 14 1982 which makes my 14 years old. I am a die-hard New York Ranger fan, (you can tell by my equiptment) and I love hockey. I am also a Yankee fan, a Knick fan, and a Giant fan. So far 2 of 3 doing well is not bad =) I go to Hunter College High School in Manhatten which means I have to take a bus to a couple of trains everyday. To school and coming home. Lets see......what music do I like? hmmmmmmmmmmmm I really like Dave Matthews Band. I also like stuff with violins and cellos, like most unplugged stuff. I also like Live and Pearl Jam, and even a little 10000 Maniacs.....Even though it is now just Natile Merchant Ok now to the tough question........I prefer Letterman over Leno!!!! aLeXei ------------ Dan Stein P.S. I would like to thank DRaKaR for making me put my name like his. Hero Bio Mud Name:Corn/Stranger/Beowulf Real Name:Dennis Chou Well, I'm 17 and am 5ft 11 inches or about 1.80m, currently live in Taiwan but am an ABC from Colorado. I was introduced to Barren Realms by my old friend Bullet. After becoming addicted, I began to show my friends, Mash, Blackbird, Viewtop, Zinnia, Remorse, Hardaway, Orpheous, Xcom, Kidd, etc the mud and they also got addicted. Besides mudding, I am a workaholic and like to play Basketball. I have met many nice people on Barren such as Simple, Hellknight, Kiri, Opus, and many many more. As a Senior in High School, I don't have as much time to mud anymore cause of the school system in Taiwan which sucks. Our Bilingual Department considers the mud a second home and many times more than 50% of the people mudding are playing from Taiwan. As Mash once said, Barren Realms has a great sense of Community. Anyways, I'm curious as to how many people out there consider Taiwan to be an Independent Country or a part of China. Please note Corn with your answer and why you think so. Thanx Alot Email me your scrapbook memories of BR! You may receive any of these if you request them: Players file: How to play the game, helps, and the story behind BR. 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. Please email me with your poetry, stories, questions, comments, and bios for the mort/hero/imm bio section of the newsletter. All submissions will be rewarded (if effort is shown). Subject: Newsletter, november 11 @>-----------------------(ideas)---------------------------------- Cutlass: create mobprograms for the mobs in gangland so that rival gangs fight with each other ... ;) *Kiri- we don't use mob prio programs, they are too buggy. But specs could do this. Cutlass: Key cutter: buy/sell/COPY keys! *kiri- don't you think that'd make this too simple? Corn: Why not let all races see what skills every race can have? Something like slist Druid, slist dwarf, etc. Arion: How about a spell for avians that increases their ac. Could call it Phoenix Aura or something like that the reason I mentioned the Phoenix Aura idea is my avian is not very good at defense and avians have mana that they never use. I could be a zen of avians kind of thing. Mandwe: Vampires... *kiri- we already tried these, they don't quite fit with BR. Mandwe: make specific fields, like thief ot vampires, sorcerers, others that specialize in specific fields... Mandwe: make socials classes, mobs look on yu upon your class in sociaty, being a low, low person, shopkeepers might make prices higher because they dislike you, the class is decided randomly :) *kiri- first of all, we have classes recided by race. Secondly, dont you think people would start over until they got the best low or high person? Abby: I think we should be able to keep our pets in a kennel... Gorzak: maybe an item type bow and perhaps it lets you shoot projectile arrows... might be pretty cool... perhaps avian skill (good eyes, good aim) Mandwe: MAke a channel called war... *kiri- for what? Plasos: Just a thought, if spamming is a problem, make learning your skills a bit easier. That way we can get to more playing and less racticing. Make a failure count as a +1, and a success a +2. Even failures contribute to your learning, doesn't it? Plasos: IF you want the game to be more fun, give players more time to recover... IN D&D standards, 0 to -9 is stunned and dying, -10 is dead. Up to -9, they can be aided, and CAN heal from -9 if they are not being attacked. Most mobs don't attack when you are stunned unless agressive. that way, you won't hit 0, and 2 seconds later, die...and, if you are hungry or thirsty, you loose hp one per round instead of gain them one per round. And, corpses could last a bit longer. Say 30 minutes instead of 30 seconds. So players won't get frustrated with the game and quit if they die at a high level. Playing is the fun part, not dieing. There is no challenge as it is, only frustration Plasos: Instead of taking yoru movement, why don't you sell recall scrolls or another item that recalls, only once??? That way characters will have to be prepared..And it is harder to escape a difficult situation. Plasos: I have an idea for auction. Make it automated. Make it where you acution an item you have, auction and the game takes it and puts it on auction for you. Then, the players bid on the item, auction bid the computer takes the ammont from you, and you have going once, going twice, to bid higher. iF someone bids higher, it gives you your money back and takes the new ammount from the bidder. When the bids are complete, it gives the person taht auctin the item the $$$, - a bid fee, and the winner of the bid the item. *kiri- don't you think this would be too much spam? Criterion: how about a social called "cool" that does something weird and cool, and just a little bit funky... *kiri- wanna write it? Vercertorix: A skill called "Fold" and it allows a avian to fold his wings into a compact packet behind his back allowing him to wear body armor at the cost of the loss of dive, hover and anything else that requires the wings. *kiri- when are you gonna realize avians aren't supposed ot have armor, no matter what they give up? :) Quiver: um, take invis of the chariots? :) *kiri- yes, the code isn't working quite right right now, give it some time. Criterion: I have a neat idea. How about a spell called jinx? It'll make the person unable to accurately cast spells on a ratio of 8/10. And to become clumsy enough to stumble into rooms, etc. Ahkran: What about a poet channel? *kiri- just use music :) Mandwe: make the bank mgive interest on invested money, depending on the amount you put in, the less you put in, the more interest or less interest you get :) *kiri- only if we have bank robberies! Mandwe: make pips and smokeable herbs, smoking different herbs does different things *kiri- hehe drug use on br? well I suppose an area writer could do this. Mandwe: MAKE GRAFFITI available- I.E. writing on the ground, floor, walls, items- goes away after a certian amount of time Mandwe: make it so corpses decompose *kiri- they don't? Cutlass: spell: chance - random effect :) Mandwe: make blood drinkable *kiri- it is, just not the tracks on the ground. (that'd be gross!) @>-----------------(becca's name quest)--------------------------- Okay, my name came from junior year high school wrestling season. I was entering in weekend tournaments all year and for some reason, the=20 announcers could only get my last name right Soooo, they only got my first= initial, cuz on the entry form, you that was the format , for example: Name: J.Windeler so inturn all year i was being called john, joe, and every= "j" name you could think, almost. and the strangest by far was johann, i=20 mean if you had to guess somones name at a tourney, would you yell out=20 johann over the speaker so i got my title by cooking for the team, watching= the muppets, and also cuz i am a druid and i love the create food spell, i= hope that was amusing enuff for ya johann Ok.. how did I come up with my name. Defiant is a character made up in my mind. Kinda like a little person that Ive always wanted to be. Nothing Special :) My name is taken from my favorite hockey player. If you look at me you can see that I got renames to show that. I was not sure which Alexei of the NHL was my favorite. I could not decide= between Kovalev (Rangers) Yashin (Senators) Zhamnov (Sharks) Zhitnik=20 (Kings), I could go on and on like this. So I just made it Alexei. I like=20 the way the all skate so I made myself an avian that "flies down the ice". I= like hockey the hockey player Alexei Dove: 'Well, a friend was showing me what a mud was and we decided to start a character for me so I could learn first hand'. 'I tried a couple that were taken or rejected, so I asked him what I should pick and he thought of Dove'. @>-----------------(suggestions)------------------------------------- How about an astral/teleport/summon block to prevent the same maybe a bit bothersome people from being able to astral/teleport to you or even summon you. A new spell available for higher level Druids that's is a bit like berzerk but with a +10 hit and +10 dam without adding the 74 points to your armor class, Let's call it (Barbarian)...Last for 24 hrs catch is it takes 75 mana points. Some spell to help with dexeratiy would be nice. Like (Quickness) adds an additional +2 to dex lasts for 24 hrs takes 50 mana points....Allow the poison spell to be cast upon the caster's weapon (like a taint but not as powerful)... Embedded ansi in names or titles..(I know it's been suggested already..:)..).....Thanks for the area to put this in hopefully they will make sense...Lady Wolfgang > IDEAS! >Well, here's some ideas for BR... >1) More interactive mobs, especially in the academy. Example: Where Sounds to me like heroes are getting part of their job taken away.... >How about letting mobprogs go back in? I know they're buggy, but with >some work, maybe some could go in? Such as having animated >shopkeepers,something like as you walk in, they say welcome to >, can I help you? (Makes it much more realistic) Interesting thought...but let's not mess with buggy stuff... >2) How about Colored titles? Maybe allow embedding of ANSI colors into >the titles to make for a much more colorful who. Example: title >^BKiri^R! would show a title with Kiri in blue, followed by a red !. NOW THIS I LIKE!! We could do this for the prompt too, allowing = certain parts to be highlighted. >3) REDO THE IDEA COMMAND!!! Allow the current syntax, but have an >alternate syntax which would be something like Idea subject , >Idea + Line1 >Idea + Line2 >Idea - >Idea Post Kinda like a note post.....could be a lot less confusing then what = we have now. >4) Allow people's titles to actually be displayed when you see them > in a room... I thought they were next to their name? >5) Make casting invis on a mob be a sign that you're attacking them... > I hate it when Clericus is invis... (NOTE: Players wouldn't see > this as a sign of aggression, including in the arena.) Isn't making Clericus invis illegal? Besides....WHY? >6) Configurable entrances & exits while walking...kinda like BAMFIN = and BAMFOUT, only it displays every time you walk into or out of a = room. Maybe heros & imms only? *grin* I can see this one coming from me....=3D) >7) BAMFIN & BAMFOUT: Allow ANSI colors to be embedded...see above. And see above for my view. >8) Possibly restrict shout to be heard in only the current area of the > shouter? (makes sense). What's the area of shout now? The whole mud? >9) Quest Arena!!! No pkilling, summon allowed (level 51+), don't lose > or gain exp, can't enter unless summoned or transfered here, unless > you are a hero or imm. This arena would "Mirror" an area, which > would allow heros or imms to supply it without interference, and > Quest players to play in relative safety. The arena would be "set" > to an area by using a command such as QSET AREA_NAME LOW_LEVEL = Yeah, it WOULD be a headache to code...but I'm trying to learn c++ = as we speak!! HEY OAK! Will you need a coder...say within the next year = or so? SERIOUSLY!! >Well, tell me what you think...Quiver Hey folks, don't forget, I'm also putting BR news on my homepage, if you = have some...EMAIL ME OR NOTE ME!!! For the curious, my homepage is at = http://www.dragonfire.net/~WFire/barren.html The system has been upgraded, so it should run smoothly now. Anything = you wanna see on the homepage, PLEASE!! Email me or note me. THANX!! -Wildfire: Master of Insanity -------------------------------------------------------------------------= > Deuces: to keep from filling up the stores with junk, have the shoppies > buy duplicates for less and less, until they won't take them > Kiri: this already happens. is there a way to set a limit on the amount of items that a shopkeeper can have? or have the items group up like they do in our inventory.. ie, if the shopkeeper has 5 swords that are the same.. have it say: [312 8] (6) a well-made sword [2022 25] (3) an adamantite shield instead of listing all six swords and three of the sheilds. or have it group them all together anyways regardless of what the repop level is.. you take the risk of buying a shield.. sword.. etc with the risk of not knowing what level it is... the level listed would be the average of the levels within the inventory... > 1) More interactive mobs, especially in the academy. Example: Where > people enter the realms, there could be a Hall Monitor: The hall monitor > says: Hi and welcome to the Barren Realms! ;The hall monitor says: If [snip... section cut] > How about letting mobprogs go back in? I know they're buggy, but with > some work, maybe some could go in? Such as having animated > shopkeepers,something like as you walk in, they say welcome to > , can I help you? (Makes it much more realistic) that's what heroes do.. help the newbies through that need help and allow the others to go on there own... i like mob progs as well, to a point.. they get pretty annoying when you have to consistantly return to the same room or pass through it saying the same thing you've already heard the last time you were through. mob actions i don't mind tho.. like a guard looking at you funny if you have an evil alignment or a cat hiss at you.. etc.. i just find the talking mobprogs annoying (IMO)... > 3) REDO THE IDEA COMMAND!!! Allow the current syntax, but have an > alternate syntax which would be something like Idea subject , > Idea + Line1 > Idea + Line2 > Idea - > Idea Post i like this idea.. work like a note system but writes to an idea file instead.. > 8) Possibly restrict shout to be heard in only the current area of the > shouter? (makes sense). 'yell' already does this > Help... > > I am new to MUD's and am using zMUD 4.2 how can I configure the auto > mapper to work with your MUD! > > > Thanks for any help > > Gareth > > Kiri: anyone able to help this poor guy? best way to do it is to stand in the center of calathar (2 south of recall) and then startup your automapper, walk around calathar making sure you've reached everyroom (use 'help map' for the entire layout) and then save it.. you'll more than likely will have to go back into the map editor and fix a few of the exits.. practice with calathar a few times til you get a hold of it (mainly cuz there is a printed map of calathar that you can use as a reference)... then you can start trying to map the outer areas connected to calathar and so forth... Crymson Do not download pkzip300.zip from anywhere on the net It contains a trojan horse virus and will wipe out everything!!! Kzonon @>-----------------------(bios)------------------------------------- My name is Tim Kung. I play on BR as BULLET. I was born December 21, 1978. (The first day of winter) 12:04 am in Stillwater Oklahoma. If anyone plays from there, please tell me. Then my family moved to Belmont Massachussets when I was 5. After fifth grade, my dad got a job here in Purdueland, W Lafayette Indiana. Of course, then came the bad times, and my dad ended up with a job teaching in Taiwan. Thats where I met Dennis aka CORN. Weve been friends for almost 4 years now. I didnt like it there, so my mom and my brother and I moved back here to Indiana. Corn and his buddies seem to like BR and I knew it would help take some stress off of their studying time. Now, Im a senior in high school wondering where to go to college. any suggestions? Bullet the Believer Ok, here goes..my name is Erwin Djaja, and I am Indonesian. Well, I consider myself as pure Indonesian, eventhough I also have Dutch and Chinese blood in me. Lets see, I finally left Indonesia (home sweet home) for high school in Hawaii, US. There I met Opus, and Criterion. After graduating, I moved to Boston for college, Tufts U. (dont ask me why I left Hawaii). I'm more like a mellow guy, well except for the occasional clubbing scene in a big city, and of course JUDO!!!!!!!!! and a wee bit of wrestling. I'm about 5'10", with black hair, and *ahem* of course, single..8). I paint, and collect japanese animated cartoons (dont know why, but i think they rock!), and of course, I am a big fan of Jackie Chan. I listen to the 80's music a whole lot lately, with couple NINs now and then. I started mudding last year, BR is my first, I like it here, I've met lots of nice people, and I still am. Well, that's about it folks, I guess I'll see you all in Realms.... Bushwhacker Email me your scrapbook memories of BR! You may receive any of these if you request them: Players file: How to play the game, helps, and the story behind BR. 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. Please email me with your poetry, stories, questions, comments, and bios for the mort/hero/imm bio section of the newsletter. All submissions will be rewarded (if effort is shown). Subject: Newsletter Nov 19 Note to people of BR: Don't forget that I am looking for stuff for the first ever Barren Realms Magazine. Send me your stories, poetry, anything, and no it doesn't have to do with BR. See you stuff in HTML form and email form. Get your work seen! -Kiri @>----------------------------(ideas)------------------------------------------ Zaraq: make snare trap purpose to set up in the room your in just incase a mob comes by and desides to attack it will walk right into a trap hopefully killing it but it sure will wake you up before the mobs attacks... Zaraq: haste for elf's or illithids doubles their speed for a short ammount of time making them maybe harder to hit or maybe make them better able to get more hits in , kinda like second attack.. but its maybe only a small chance that they get in that secp Zaraq: why not make a version of plague that will effect an entire room IE Mass Plague Xyganthos: it would be handy to be able to reconnect when you're not yet linkdead kiri- We are working on getting this in, Zyg :) Ahkran: what about taking away the second spell from the molasses potion. It never workd anyway Mandwe: about the automatic auction, I have seen it affective on MUDs, including muds with around 200 poeople on at once. Just have a option to turn auction off. :) kiri- lots of people have suggested this, if you want to send in code for it, go ahead. ZombyWoof: How about some way of storing items without having to cary them around? A safe deposit box at the bank would be really cool, I'm even willing to pay a small fee. kiri- Again, this has been brought up many times. Wow, you're even willing to pay a small fee? How nice ;) No, this makes the game a little too easy. We're not ever going to consider these. :) Odie: make it harder for avians, make track misfire and track some random mob Daali: I know this would be a pain... but since writing notes can be a big pain, how about maybe an email address you could send to and have it convert to an in-MUD note kiri- I'm afriad that would be a big pain ;) Mandwe: in gangland, when wearing rival gang members jacket, have rival gang attack kiri- specs? sure, If someone wants to write this spec contact me. Mandwe: make the who list be split by who is mortal and who is not mortal kiri- you can already do this, type who imm and who hero and who 0 50 Eion: the question/answer channel should be drunk free talkable... lots of times I can offer advice or an answer but can't because I am a drunk druid :( kiri- well if you were drunk, wouldn't you use the question/answer all the time if you knew people could understand you on that channel? not quite fair. Ruins the point of drunkeness. Forent: if drug use becomes part of an area, make it realistic by subtracting hp or con from attributes perminantly kiri-interesting ideas for area builders Forent: why not have bank robery but also have man hunts for the robbers or a posse on your tail kiri- we've thought about this. If anyone has full ideas of how this could be done, email me here about it. Ahkran: What about when a mob is stolen from and the player is caught red-handed by that mob, when he shouts or yells that that particular player is a thief, that the nearest other mob comes and assist that mob. (not shopkeppers or other mobs like that). I Mandwe: make a bus system where you can pay to go places0 like 1000 gold to go somewhere kiri- no way. Its already easy to play BR, how much easier could it be? we have signs all over the place (that people ignore) that you can look at and find your way around. Forent: have the weather controled randomly by season instead of by idiots (*^*&)) kiri- weather and seasons are soon being redone. Strata: a way to match the blood type of a bloodtrail *rofl* Strata: bonus to backstab when sneaking and or hiding Corn: A submarine for going under water... Like a vehicle kiri- decent idea :) Gorzak: a "send" command, comparable to CircleMUD send command... allows an echo type message to be sent to one person only... (ie... "send knighthawk A chill runs down your spine") kiri- i've thought about this idea myself... still thinking about it ;) Mandwe: beavis and butthead social :) Jane: Has anyone ever suggested being able to store items in a bank vault as well as money? kiri- have they? millions of times ;) Deuces: how about a command that let's you see who's ignoring you so you can try t o apologize to them somehow? Deuces: How about an alarm clock command or item? You could set the cloak to what ever time (when shops open), go to sleep, and it'd wake ya. kiri- we have one. Type help alarm on BR Corn: Why is there no Help Oakley and Help Kiri? Sometimes newbies don't know... kiri- dunno, wanna write some? Mandwe: make a rejoice social :) kiri- type help writesocial and help socialex on br for a list of how to write socials Mandwe: make assist a command kiri- it is, type autoassist on br Deuces: How about a cartography shop where players can buy maps of the general locations of areas in the realms? More exploring that way. kiri- like I said... a little too easy Mandwe: new note sending program- make in word processing format0] kiri- I dunno, I like our format, this way you can stop what you are doing in the middle of note writing, while you use Wp on other muds, it shells you out of the mud and you can't go back and fix errors. Mandwe: make iot so eating adds to your weight/hitpoints, but if you eat to much slows down your movement and your hitroll Daali: since many quests are done by team, how about team chat channels... or some special group mode that works when you're questing, without the level restricts Mandwe: be able to wield arms and legs... Mandwe: make a 'self' command wen you wish to refer to yourself- i.e. profile self kiri- a lot of times self works, but if not, use "mandwe" or your name Mandwe: make a sparring arena wear you duel till someone bleads, and people can place bets on the winner, fighter have to be within 5 levels kiri- well we have the arena, and you can always bet amongst yourselves Mandwe: multi-person tents.. good for gtoup Punisher: hi imms...i have an idea...what about to make a guy what sharp the weapons??..like an enhance..with gold and exp..and you can get your weapons with a bit more of average..okie thats all..c-ya kiri- decent idea :) @>-------------------(becca's name quest)----------------------------- My name is from Kiri te kanawa, the opera singer. She's a coloratura soprano (like me) - and she's got a voice like an angel and she's a strong, talented, motivated woman. She's pretty much my heroine :) Kiri Well, my sister(Cherye) had some hermit crabs. She was bringing them home=20 from college, and my other sister(Mesaana) was with her.. The following discussion took place: "Cherye, are the Hamstercrabs okay?" "The What??" "The Hamstercrabs. Are they okay? Are you sure you have them wedged in=20 between somethingso they won't fall?" "Do you realize what you're saying?" "What?" "The hamstercrabs??" "oops..." -Hamstercrab how did I come up with Mikos=7F? hey I'm open to reason's because I have no= Idea at all. one of those spur of the moment things I guess sounded good at the time Mikos hmm...why the name... I like the sounds of it, for one thing. i wanted=20 something somewhat dark and mysterious.. yet with a punch.. some flare. Shadow...and...Fire. contrasting images.. A cloaked man comes forth from the= shadows...casting spells of destruction on his foes..and Aiding his= allies...Hey... at least the name isnt berry..or something like that. ;) -Shadow @>--------------------(suggestions)----------------------------------- > Corn: Why not let all races see what skills every race can have? > Something like slist Druid, slist dwarf, etc. > Crymson: get the players guide and read it there.... > Mandwe: make socials classes, mobs look on yu upon your class in sociaty, > being a low, low person, shopkeepers might make prices higher because > they dislike you, the class is decided randomly :) > > *kiri- first of all, we have classes recided by race. Secondly, dont you > think people would start over until they got the best low or high person? crymson: i think what mandwe is trying to say is what's like in envy/rom/mythran and several other code bases, but it's not available in merc 2.2 which BR follows. what he's trying to say.. correct me if i'm wrong mandwe is that have "racial descrimination" in a way. for example, as mandwe was saying... say you're playing an elf, and the shopkeeper didn't like elves he [the shopkeeper] could either raise his prices, shove you out of the store, or just blattently refuse to sell you anything. or even the total opposite..if he like elves, he'd strike up a special deal. all this would incur mobprograms (in a sort of fashion) tho.. which are previously stated as buggy.. also, since there are only a few different races on BR itself i don't see it working... plus many, if not all of the areas would have to be redone to compensated for the racial organization... > Plasos: IF you want the game to be more fun, give players more time to recover... > IN D&D standards, 0 to -9 is stunned and dying, -10 is dead. Up to -9, > they can be aided, and CAN heal from -9 if they are not being attacked. > Most mobs don't attack when you are stunned unless agressive. > that way, you won't hit 0, and 2 seconds later, die...and, if you > are hungry or thirsty, you loose hp one per round instead of gain them one per round. crymson: in D&D, once your hitpoints reach 0 or below you are unconscious. you cannot do anything for yourself.. if you reach 0 and don't go below 0, after a certian period of rest [MUD: a tick D&D: a night's rest] you can regain some hitpoints.. 1 per day in D&D, but if you are struck hard enough to be sent below 0, then you lose a hitpoint _per round_ and a round could be seen as a tick in the MUD... others can help aid you which will help, but you cannot help yourself... plus a round in D&D is equal to about 1 minute real time.. and a tick is equal to around 30 - 45 seconds real time, maybe longer.. or even shorter.. but considering 30 seconds real time is equal to about an hour of mud time you're getting off lucky becuase if you follow your D&D premise, that 1 minute per hit point loss is gone in a few milliseconds. if you want to contest this.. pull out your DMG and read up on the combat section.... > And, corpses could last a bit longer. Say 30 minutes instead of > 30 seconds. So players won't get frustrated with the game and quit if > they die at a high level. Playing is the fun part, not dieing. There is > no challenge as it is, only frustration crymson: pc corpses last about 15 minutes > Plasos: Instead of taking yoru movement, why don't you sell recall > scrolls or another item that recalls, only once??? That way characters > will have to be prepared..And it is harder to escape a difficult situation. crymson: not a bad idea... make them expensive tho since they are saving you from movement expenditures... btw - does 'word of recall' actually reduce your movement when you cast it? > Plasos: I have an idea for auction. Make it automated. Make it where > you acution an item you have, auction and the game takes it and > puts it on auction for you. Then, the players bid on the item, auction bid > the computer takes the ammont from you, and you have going > once, going twice, to bid higher. iF someone bids higher, it gives you > your money back and takes the new ammount from the bidder. When the bids > are complete, it gives the person taht auctin the item the $$$, - a bid > fee, and the winner of the bid the item. > > *kiri- don't you think this would be too much spam? crymson: i don't think it'd cause anymore spam then what's already across this channel.. also there won't be any arguments over who said what price at what time... the system takes care of all of it for you... > Mandwe: make blood drinkable > *kiri- it is, just not the tracks on the ground. (that'd be gross!) crymson: well, personally i don't think it's gross, but that's just me :Panyways.. i like this... if the executioner and the imps can do it.. why can't we? it doesn't give but prolly 1/4th of what a normal sip from a water skin would do, but it could be done... i can also see where this would be abused as to where ppl would continuously walk back and forth betwixt 2 adjacent rooms to make enough blood to fill them up.... Crymson >Do not download pkzip300.zip from anywhere on the net >It contains a trojan horse virus and will wipe out everything!!! > > >Kzonon > Better yet, don't download any compression/decompression utilities (even if it's a compressed package) if it doesn't end with the extension .EXE Zarlof Okay, here are a couple ideas i have for Barren.. People have been talking about a new race..Why not dragons? Dragons would have a low natural ac( or high, I can never remember which is better) and breath that would be different depending on the color. For example, a red dragon would breathe fire, and a blue dragon would breathe lighting. Obviously, as they would be a very powerful race, there would have to be drawbacks. One drawback could be like the avian drawback- can't wear armor... Also, to go along with the idea for the idea command being made similar to the note command, what if description and even alias worked the same way? for example- alias = normal alias command alias - = would take away the last command alias + = would add a command desc = normal description command desc - = would take away last line of description Just a couple thoughts...May be too hard, or annoying to do, but I just thought they might be useful... -Ghandi A dragon race would also allow some new spells..One such could be dragon orb, which would incapicitate a dragon for 2-3 rounds. Another would be(for dragons) the ability to change into human form, losing all the dragon powers and instead taking on human ones... Also, to go along with this, there could be a spell that would allow people to detect dragons in human form, as well as a spell to lock a dragon into dragon form... -Ghandi Hi, ho! This is Pork Boy the Breakfast Monkey (Brisket) with a suggestion for added Illithid spells. In particular, I've noticed the lack in the Illithid repetoire of two spells that no spell-caster should be without: Blindness and Identify. These spells are available even to non-spellcasters, so why not mind-flayers? Below are some 'helps' for possible Illithid in-guild versions of those spells. Of course, the levels given are only tentative. CONFUSION syntax: cast 'confusion' Before or during battle Similar to performing brain surgery with a mallet, this discipline allows the Illithid to 'remap' a target's sensory input channels, with no respect to possible outcomes. The victim may be able to smell color, or touch sound-- which has the effect of causing the brain to ignore ALL input. The target will ignore any activity going on around it, unless directly involved in combat, in which case it will simply flail blindly at its opponent, with its capabilities severely reduced. Special inherent attacks, like spell-use and poison bites, will not be affected. Confusion is available in guild to Illithid at level 13. DIVINATION syntax: cast 'divination' Outside of battle This discipline allows the Illithid to perform a 'mind-meld' with others of its race, and thereby draw upon a great storehouse of racial lore. By using this skill upon an item in the Illithid's inventory, knowledge is fed to the Illithid concerning the item, and its possible uses. Since the Illithid are an ancient race, there is no item or artifact whose purpose they cannot divine using this discipline (they've seen EVERYTHING). Divination is available in guild to Illithid at level 17. A few other ideas: How about 'enhanced damage' attacks for Humans, so long as they're not wielding a weapon? Or an enhanced damage kick when unshod? How about multiple race remorting? So that when you remort, you are considered to be both a member of your original race, plus the new one, and can practice from both guilds. If you remort again, you keep those two plus gain a new one, etc. And how about using 'word of recall' to set recall points? This would prolly require adding a line to pfiles. Every time the spell is cast, you would be transported to the last place you cast the spell from, allowing you to take breaks in your adventuring, and then pick up where you left off. of course, the 'recall' command should still function normally. Since this might make adventuring a bit too easy, you could give the spell a permanent cost of 75 or 100 mp. One spell/skill I'd really like to see: 'track object'. Could use the same code as Avian 'track', but lead to items rather than mobs/players. Might be a hero only spell, like dragon breath. Just some loose thoughts I've swept up. Stay healthy, and don't let the bed-mobs bite. Brisket Another idea I've been thinking about: Thanks to our offhand weapon code, it seems that no one ever uses shields in the Realms. A majority of players won't use two-handed weapons, either, since you can get better effects by wielding two weapons. But two handed weapons can be quite useful, and here's the math: If you have three primary attacks and one dual attack (Like Humans and Dwarves), you end up doing 4x damage. With a two-handed weapon (1.5x damage) you'll do 6x damage (if you include dual--Even without dual, you get 4.5x). However, most players would rather keep the stat bonuses they gain from holding the second weapon. So...how about if you are allowed to hold an armor-type item (shield) in your offhand while wielding a two-handed weapon? You would basically be wearing it slung over your wrist in buckler fashion, while leaving both hands free for the weapon. Since there are plenty of shields in the Realms, some with adequate stat bonuses, this could be a viable alternative for some players, and increase the use of both types of items. The one downside I can see for having a shield in the offhand is that it might negate the dual attack, but you would still end up doing more damage. Just a thought. That will be two cents, please. Brisket Two ideas for Illithids: 1 - "scry" - an Ill would use his/her psychic powers to see where a specific mob is, and the room he is in. It would give the same result as an Avian's birdseye, but the Ill can "scry " from anywhere. 2 - "doorway" - an Ill would use his/her psychic powers to open a doorway to who/whatever is within their level range. Like elven teleport, except it's not a spell, but a skill. Mahamne @>----------------------(bios)---------------------------------------- Okay, here goes nothing. My name is Tom Toth. You guys know me as Aldarion. I live in the fair city of Guelph, which is located in Southern Ontario, about 100km north of Toronto. I'm 18, and I'm a senior in high school. I'm into astronomy and airplanes. I was born in what used to be Yugoslavia, and I immigrated to Canada about 3.141592654...:) years ago. I really like it here (even the cold and the snow). Music-wise I listen to Joe Satriani and Metallica mostly, with some Ozzy and Megadeth thrown in ocasionally. Hmm, what else? Oh yes, I like soccer and basketball and I just don't see the point of baseball... Can someone explain it to me? See ya, Aldarion candyman: OK here is my awesome life story.My real name is Jason Rall. I was born in Mesa Arizona i have lived in alot of different states, but i always end back up here in good ole HOT!!!Arizona. I like to play sprots . My favorite sport is baseball. I also collect sports cards mostly baseball. I am a 6 foot sophamore at Coronado High School. I have a 4.5 GPA. I bought my own computer after i got a job last summer doing telemarketing. My computer is a 586 133 with 12 ram. I am on my computer all the time. Mostly on BR.My webpage is "http://inficad.com/~jasonrall" it has a BR link and a pic of me but thats about it. My grandpa raises greyhounds and races them all over the world on derby's and stuff so i do that alot too. And that is my whole life not leaving out a single detail. Cya laters, Jason Rall Email me your scrapbook memories of BR! You may receive any of these if you request them: Players file: How to play the game, helps, and the story behind BR. 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. Please email me with your poetry, stories, questions, comments, and bios for the mort/hero/imm bio section of the newsletter. All submissions will be rewarded (if effort is shown). Subject: Thanksgiving Day Newsletter Happy Thanksgiving everyone! Hope you all stuffed up on turkey and such, and had a great Holiday. Don't forget to send in your poetry, art, short stories and the like for the first ever BR magazine! There is no required theme, you can do it on anything. I'd love to see your work! @>-------------------------(Ideas)------------------------------------ Berry: how about an alarm that operates on game time too Berry: how about a replay command where you can see any tells you got while you were afk (i saw this on another mud) Kiri- well, right now we have that in, but its still being worked on, so have patience. :) Forent: when a mob is tripped they should be on the ground and the game should tell you when they get up no? Burfoot: Make the stuff anyhting that is donated get a value of 0 so it cant be sold and stays donated Kiri- Thats a decent idea. Forent: how about werewolf as an idea for another race no eq but weapons and some light armor ac would go up with level and few spells but awlsome fighting abilities Jun: how about help to get to all the areas of this mud Kiri- there are signs around and also Jenny's bus to show you how to get places. Proximus: like weather affects what happens to you - for example: hail: you could get hit by hail, and take damage. Ice: You could slip to another room, or into walls. Just a thought. :) -{ProX]- Kiri-and a good thought. Gorzak is working on this now for us. Dorkus: I think that glasses should be worn on the face...not the head. Kiri- we've thought about other armor spots as well. Not sure as to the verdict. Ahkran: Maybe we must have a special Welcome channel Kiri- Oh I don't really see the need :) Doomhammer: Players could run stores in a trading center and make profits off of selling goods and services... Zargo: I think they should have 2-5 man tent's please! me and cutlass and renata can't all fit in one! :> Corn: Why not make kick and headbutt do more damage at higher levels? Olf: How 'bout creating a 'Track' type ability for dwarves? It could be called the "eye of Kilrog"? Just my humble opinion? :> Kiri- Track is already too powerful for avians. Foxy: how about having a group channel for pp looking to group? Brisket: Give Academy graduate mobs war banners for newbies to replenish their lights ZombyWoof: why not have 'stat' show the gold you have in the bank? Foxy: could you write a subroutine that would automatically recall you to the healer when you went linkdead? kiri- it sends you to the void, not the healer. Mondo: what about a monitor command that lets you monitor your group persons hitpoints while you are in a fight....it would appear on your own status bar(hp,m,mv, then their hp,m,mv Kiri- you can type group for something similar Xyganthos: what about a "run" command: run e= go east until stopped by an aggro or a wall or something else blocking your wayOf course run will cost more mv as usual but it is good when you're lagged and walking to e.g. Olympus takes LOTS of time, also when you have to get your corpse. Just something seen in another mud,... :) Brand: be able to type unread and see how many notes you haven't read yet and of what type Olf: How 'bout creating a'Orc' race/ Kiri- you can always send me something with your ideas for races. @>--------------------(Becca's Name quest)------------------------ I was hungry. Seriously, I had been surfing MUDs all day, trying to find one that fit me. I went through every cool name I could think of. Finally, I ran out of cool names, and just started picking the first thing that came to mind. That's it. Brisket P.S. If I had stopped at the MUD I visited before this one, I'd be known as 'Kneecap' now...=7F=7F um... well i had a few chars before this and one of them was called curly...= weell i really hated him coz of his crappy name so i deleted him... well while thinking for a name for my new char i decided i wanted something pretentious and the first thing that came to mind was thoran... so voila here i am Dryden Seems I've entered a quest like this before, anyway, it was fun, so... Contrary to poular belief (among insane heroes at least), my name has Nothing to do with Dry dens, wet kitchens or damp dining rooms. Likewise, it has nothing to do with percipitation or lack thereof... nothing whatsoever. I've used the name Dryden online for about 3= years now, so it seemed like a natural choice when I logged on to BR. I originally took the name from the demo at the beginning of TSR's Death Knights of Krynn... but later I discovered an interesting background to the= name (which I looked into, cuz I thought it was cool). John Dryden was an=20 englis poet of the 16th century, particularly known for his political and=20 humorous satire, plays and risque poems. ZHe also had a reputation as a wise= guy, and got into royal trouble because of it, literally. As it turns out,= this seems to fit my character PRETTY well. Coincidence? You be the judge. -Dry P.S. Englis =3D English; ZHe =3D He My first character was Mashburn, so I decided to name my second character Mash. Now it's sort of like Mash potato instead of "Monster Mash", the NBA basketball player. pretty boring name @>----------------------------(comments on past newsletters)------------- > Mandwe: make assist a command > kiri- it is, type autoassist on br Finality: I think what he means is an assist command (to assist manually if you want to have autoassist off.) > crymson: > not a bad idea... make them expensive tho since they are saving you from > movement expenditures... btw - does 'word of recall' actually reduce your > movement when you cast it? Yep. So does a scroll with 'word of recall' on it. Bye-Bye, 1/2 mv. > Brisket: > > How about multiple race remorting? So that when you remort, you are considered > to be both a member of your original race, plus the new one, and can practice > from both guilds. If you remort again, you keep those two plus gain a new one, > etc. Finality: oh boy, I can just see the experience calculations on that... is that out of guild? only for one race? more than one race? Not to mention the small discrepancy of how someone can be multiple races simultaneously... @>------------------------------(suggestions)--------------------------- 2 - If you're looking for a new race, how about a Dragon? No spells, but can breathe (fire, ice, whatever), tail lash, scare, claw, bite... fly even... cannot wear armor, but naturally thickens skin as they age (not level) Or, if that's just a little too wacky, how about a race which can control the elements (can be lame and call them Elementals, if you wish) Such spells as summon fire/wind/earth/water elemental wouuld get them their own pets, a sort of tp through vegetation (underground transport could be another name for it), could change stone skin from elf guild to elemental guild, polymorph spell would be nice too, where the caster could morph a mob into a worm, or snake, which has the possibility of bouncing off the target and changing the caster into a worm. Heh, I'm just bored while BR lags on my end, big time... Mahamne @>-----------------------------------(bios)------------------------------ In case there's a real shortage of bios, here's one for the shy and boring person who plays Renata, Julianna, and Jane on BR.... I cringe to be called by my real name, so I won't give it. I was born June 21, 1978 in Brooklyn, New York, and have lived there my whole life. I dropped out of my senior year of high school in 1994 because of "depression," and after getting my GED in 1996 proceeded to enroll in and drop out of a secretarial school. So I have been doing nothing for about a month, and feel a bit guilty about that but otherwise am happyish and trying to figure out what to do next. Barren Realms was the first MUD I was able to level at all in, after several months of occasionally trying to find one to get into. It took six months (137 years of playing time) to hero Renata. I really don't like to bother people, but am probably overly talkative once comfortable with someone. My dog, Mookie, is probably the only person (oops) I'm ever sure isn't sick and tired of me. When not online or asleep, I am usually engaged in the unoriginal pastime of daydreaming to music. My record collection is pitifully small but I am currently in love with Sonic Youth and the Velvet Underground, and obsessions spanning the past few years include the Clash, the Ramones, the Beatles and some others. That's it, sorry if it was too long... Well first up, how I got my name... When i first discovered Barren Realms I decided to create an Avian..I couldn't think of a single bird name is wanted...but...David Edding's had 2 series of books I just love. In all of them is one of the main characters.. Polgara daughter of Begarath, mighty sorcerers. Her favorite form in shapechanging is the snow owl. So I am Polgara the Snow Owl. okay, my bio... My real name is Sonja Stuart, and I live in Portland, Oregon. My age is my own business, but i will say i'm either 21 or over:) I work as a Supervisor at a public opinion research company...ok..ok..I supervise pollsters. And may i say that i'm ohhhhh sooo glad elections are over. College was fun. I want to go back for a Masters. I like to write, play volleyball and raquetball, love to read, watch Star Trek (not the old one thankyouverymuch:) )and I love to play Barren Realms because it has lots of people on it and there is no playerkilling...and the people for the most part...are great. Well thats all!! Yours with a *raspberry*, Polgara the Lagging *** Lopping *** Snow Owl! :P Email me your scrapbook memories of BR! You may receive any of these if you request them: Players file: How to play the game, helps, and the story behind BR. 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. Please email me with your poetry, stories, questions, comments, and bios for the mort/hero/imm bio section of the newsletter. All submissions will be rewarded (if effort is shown).