October 2001 NEWS FROM THE REALMS: Skern: my quest Wed Sep 26, 2001 Oldguy and blashyrk have won my quest so ask vain whenever you see him to recieve your prize have fun and good job to all everyone else who had joined skern Amystery: The Semi-Finals are now over. -- results Thu Sep 27, 2001 These 3 people will be advancing to the finals: Iggypop, Cynic and Cord with 14, 10 and 6 points respectively. The final has not been scheduled yet but you can rest assured it will insanely hard. Leiland: Quest Mon Oct 1, 2001 Attention all Knights and Lords of the court of King Simba: A thief has stolen the treasure of our honored King, Simba of Cormyr! His royal guard are already fast on the trail, but alas! It is not enough... The thief has overpowerd the guards on duty and is even now making his escape! This announcement is a plea to all those loyal to King Simba. Sign up for the guard, and help us track down that scoundrel! Your efforts will be greatly rewarded! All those who are able to return a portion of the King's treasure will find themselves amply compensated for their risks, and to the man who finds the thief, well... The King will be eternally grateful! And so this plea goes out to all men up to the challenge: Sign up for the guard, and find that rotten thief! (Bounty hunters and treasure seekers reluctantly welcomed...) Basically, if you want to play in this quest, send me a note within 6 days, and I'll get your name down as a participant. The thief will leave clues along his escape route, and since his pack must be extremely weighty, treasures may be found... But the thief would not leave treasures just sitting in his trail, would he? They'll take a bit of finding... This quest will take place over five days. Each day, the theif will leave more clues (and treasures?). It is your mission, should you choose to accept it, to track down that thief, and return the treasures to the king. OK, first of all, I hope to have a big turnout... Second, it's not completely necessary that you note me with your character's name... It just makes my job easier. I'd be much more happy that you change your mind and decide to play the day it starts, than think that since you didnt decide earlier, you can't play... So if you're not sure, send me a note telling me that, or just decide the day it starts. Thanks, Leiland Vain: Belle quest:) Mon Oct 1 , 2001 Sorry for the delay, but with so many great entries into the Belle quest... it was very tough to pick a winner. But a winner there must be! So *drum roll* Cobalt! She submitted the following: a love letter, a silk gown and a golden thong bikini. The reasons she gave were the most creative. However, while Cobalt first prize, I'm looking into creating a little something for all participants as every entry was fantastic. Will let each of you know! Thanks everyone! And for anyone interested, some MUD player pics are up at: http://www.coredcs.com/~barren/newpics/Thumbs1.htm IDEAS: Emerson: Since breast plates only Cover the front of a person, Sholdnt Avians be allowed to wear them? See: have a spell they lets you detect sneak Dimmesdale: A new skill for kender, or all races. Caution, when used you can't be backstabbed..um, I know there is more to it that I thought of, but now that I'm at my computer that's all I remember Glenfiddich: instead of letting emtpy container vanish, enable us to "sell" them to any barkeeper for 1 gold (bottle deposit) ;) helps keeping the enviroment clean BIO BY RACHEL: 1) What's your BR name? rachel and Dawnfire 2) What race/level are you? 65/elf and 60/avian 3) How did you pick your Br name? Rachel is my name, and good luck, Dawnfire from mercedes lackies Heralds of Valdemaar series. 4) What's your favorite area? Lagland if it still exists. The mean lag rules :) 5) Where do you live (state or province/country)? Dallas Texas, usa 6) What do you do for a living? Internet tech support 7) If you're a college/grad student, whats your major? N/A Dropped out of college after one to many times failing calc2, and my first programming class, which i hated.. Both in the same semester. 8) What do you want to be when you grow up? Not sure.. A princess maybe.. but i am already sorta. I think ill die before i grow up though, in which case i really wanna be a dryad.. or a ghost and haunt a house. 9) Are you single? Sorta depends on what Chrystal ever decides. 10) What are your hobbies? reading, talking to friends, starcraft 11) What's the hardest thing you've ever had to do? Hasnt been done yet.. It takes so long and has so many small steps it might never be finished. Otherwise.. a single thing.. im not sure.. 12) Who do you most admire? Wiccans for their respect of nature and people. Police, fire, medical and Military for the sacrafices they make. Dreams whos dreams made reality help us all, and my Grandfathers cousin Stuart Roosa who took the family to the moon with Apollo 14. 13) Which celebrity would you like to hook up with? Not sure really. 14) What's the last book you read (including for school)? Too many.. Semi current is colonization second contact and aftershocks by not sure who, harry someone. I like it. good alternate history series where everything changes during ww2 where noone wins, not even the invading aliens :). 15) What's the last movie you watched? Did you like it? Well, in 1 hour it will be red dawn. Its one of my favorites. Almost every one of the main chars dies, and those that dont, flee themselves. Sad movie, but very good. Not for those overly affected by the 11th of the month i think. Pre-soviet collapse WW3 taking place on American soil. 16) If you could be anywhere in the world for a week, where would you go? Someone toss a dart at a spread out global map please? I dont know.. anywhere! Long as the location is friendly to americans though.. RESPONSES BY PACKOR TO NEWSLETTER JUNE 15, 2001: Rhyme: Install a hot tub at recall ;-) so recall bums can just sit around in it and talk story Packor: Definitly sauna room. Hot tub means in the open and people can hear what you say :> Babe: A mob shouldn't be able to dodge your attacks when it is blinded Packor: Bias! you shouldn't be allowed to dodge neither :> Anyway, as fighters are skilled, they use other senses besides sight to detect enemy movement. Big hint: sound. Christine: To have color available in description... *drool*.. Packor:Color..... color.... Christine *drool* Christine.. Seeing christine in color, OooOOooOOooo > Blackwing: a remember command.. so you can remember an item > if you had it and need it again, should show what mob it is on, or where > you had gotten it before >Baltar: What? And put the paper and pencil manufacturers completely out of business? Packor: What? I don't see any pencils in the realms. :> In BR if you want to keep track of something you memorize it :p *grin* Responses by Packor to Newsletter June 23, 2001: Thrasher: It would be nice if we could set friends and we would get a message when they log on. Packor: Muds are not instant messengers. You are also not supposed to just 'know' when a person gets on. Also, if you arn't affected by spells like detect invis and your friend's invis, how are you supposed to see him/her? > Lacuna: let hangman accept more money, maybe 10k instead of only 2k? >>Baltar:I suggested this once, as I recall...time to revisit the issue? Packor: Hangman is not a way to earn enhancing money, which some people seem to want to turn to now that Horror Hills is gone. 2k isn't that bad anyway. Responses by Packor to Newsletter June 30 2001 Shuluk: A notepad that you write down the current amount of gold you have in your bank account on after each transaction Packor: Yes, I think it's a good idea to include bank account in score. Sledgefist: spell cast grace improves dex as giant str improves str Packor: Grace....??? sounds like a skill :> Illithids already has a dex and con improvement spell. What race do you think should get this dex spell.. druid perhaps, or self only for kenders? Joysinger: it'd be nice if identify told you the spells on pills - after all, id'ing potions does it, too (or wands, staffs, etc.) Packor: Oh, definitily. Joy's so cute, I'll say yes to anything anyway :> Liquid: Maybe the hangman shouldn't count guesses that you have already made to be wrong. Packor: He's just making a fool of people that do that. *muhahaha* Thordain: Restrict morals from the newbie area from level 5 (maybe 10? Maybe something else) and up, until hero. Newbies tend to get overwhelmed with so many mortals tromping through the area. Plus, it would keep mortals who don't know enough about the game(not to sound unappriciative of their efforts, though). And, of course, add another enhancer to Calathar. East and north of recall, maybe? (idea got cut off) Packor: what's.... the newbie area? The academy, you mean. Keep in mind it's called the Barren Realms academy, all players should be free to go into it. I also think that adding another trainer mob is a waste. I also believe that no matter how unknowledged someone might be about the game, they should be given the chance to help someone, because they themselves can learn from it. Also, most heroes won't help a newbie, and imms have other things to do besides helping new arrivals all day :> Thordain: Modify the newbie area slightly to allow newbies to be self-taught if there are no heroes or immortals on-line to help them. Basically make it a little easier by shoving the required information down their throats. I'd be willing to do this if you Packor: I believe that most newbies unfamiliar with muds can't learn any how. They don't follow directions. We do have a section for new mudders, and the basic section for people who have mudded or gone through the newbie section. I believe it is sufficient, or however it's spelled. Thordain: Make recall a command gained at level two or three, to avoid people who know the command but do not know the mud from getting lost in Calathar. They don't really need to be there anyway. Packor: From your ideas, I gather that you forget we have people with other characters that want to begin with another one. The current set up is designed to give comfort to our own as well as welcome the new. Wasabe: Why can't I id something I'm wearing? Similar to looking at your tag on your shirt... a little challenging, but quite doable. Packor: On the other hand, all you have to do is take it off. Kind of hard waving your hands in front of and pointing back at yourself on spellcast. Gruff: travel games. connect 4 that you can play anywhere Packor: Buy some from your local store :> Kiri's WWW of URLs: Atari Classic Gaming carts: http://www.classicgaming.com/vault/2600roms-AD.shtml FrogMagic, send gifts only using an email address: http://www.frogmagic.com/ EHealthInsurance. This is actually pretty useful. https://www.ehealthinsurance.com/ehi/IFPCompareChoose.fs Drew Carey quotes: "Look, this is an odd question, but you're kind of cute and you're pretty nice to me. Are you drunk? It's okay if you are." "If frogs could fly ... well we'd still be in this mess, but wouldn't it be neat?" "Up your butt called, he wants your head back." "A lot of people forget that on 'The Drew Carey Show,' Ryan and I have been totally naked." Ryan: "Of course, some of us needed a wide-angle lens." "And some of us needed a zoom." (from "Celebrity Millionaire") Regis: What is it called if you've been set up to go to dinner with someone you don't know? Drew: "Show business." (As Itchy Man, when there's a asteroid full of jam about to crash into the planet) "Oh, my god! Let's have a toast!" Drew: "You're born naked, you die naked, end of story." Councilman: But you don't die naked. Drew: "You do if you plan it right ..." "I am a toilet of sadness." "Boy, you forge one birth certificate, one fake credit history, scratch your own back with your fingernails just once, and suddenly you're the guy with the fake girlfriends!" [Upon seeing Drew's look-alike] Mimi: So much crap they had to start a second pile. Mimi: You're late. Drew: I had a hard time getting out of bed this morning. Mimi: Remember, lift with the knees. Drew: You know, I had such a great time with my band last night that even seeing you couldn't affect it. OK, that's not true. Drew: I have a position of indirect respect and oblique power. Drew: Is that the most terrible sound you've ever heard? Lewis: Have you ever tried to start your car with a cat sleeping on the intake manifold? Drew: No. Lewis: Then yes, that's the worst sound you ever heard. Mimi: Ah, spring. When a young man's fancy turns my stomach. Drew: When was the last time you saw a young man's fancy? Mimi : When was the last time you saw *your* fancy? News from the Realms! Be sure that if you feel like it, you hit reply and comment on any part of this newsletter. Please also submit bios and ideas :) Happy Birthday Elric! Leiland: Our great King Simba has been robbed!! The thief is at this very moment making his escape out of Cormyr with the dear King's treasure! Please track him down and bring back any jewels or treasures you may find along the way! The King will be eternally grateful! OK, just to clear things up, the clues lead you to where the thief "hides" til the next day. You wont actually find him til the last day, though. The treasures are hidden off his path, most likely you wont just stumble over them Locate object is NOT allowed, astraling/teleporting/tracking other players will be considered trying to mooch off their progress New clues and treasures will go in today at 3pm Central Standard Time note me with any treasures you find, and on the last day, note me with the location of the thief if you find him That's how it goes! Okies, tomorrow is the last day of the quest. I just want to make sure that everything is clear. The quest will start at about 4pm PST, or 6pm CST (depending on what comes up tomorrow...), but definately after 4pm, and probably not more than 15 minutes late... unless something really bad happens... Anywayses, you do not need to note me about clues that you find. You may ask me any questions, I will answer most, so don't be afraid to ask (unless you're wanting to know where the theif is... that's kinda futile...) You MUST note me with any treasures that you found. Please inclued a little description, for example don't just say "a ring", say "a silver ring with rubies" or something (just so you know, there is no such treasure) And if you happen to find the thief, please note me with his location and a little description of him IMMEDIATELY. I will go by the time the note got to me, not the time you say you found him. If you have any questions before the quest starts tomorrow, feel free to send me a note about it. Happy Hunting!! PLEASE CHECK OUT THE REDESIGNED WEBPAGE AT http://www.barrenrealmsmud.com And thanks Smeagol for the awesome graphic! And Oakley for the design :) IDEAS: Zadira: a wink that is cute not suggestive Darkcrad: this may sound dumb but uh......a brb flag sounds handy lol hahahah -- Kiri -- why not just use the busy or afk flag? Brak: Make the weapon zapping in all caps, When my alignment goes too far I don't notice the weapon zapping me, but when I'm disarmed I do..Make the zap all caps to catch attention Bonebreaker: Why don't we implant an auto quest machine? So when u don't have anything to do u can quest yourself some qp -- Kiri -- I'll be honest. I prefer hero-run quests. BIO BY LIQUID: 1) What's your BR name? * Liquid/Solid/Reject/Outlaw 2) What race/level are you? * 67/Avian, 44/Druid, 8/Elf, 10/Kender 3) How did you pick your Br name? * Well first came Solid, after playing "Metal Gear: Solid" and then when I created a new char, I thought of Solid's opposite (Liquid), which is also a char on MGS. Soon came Reject, I don't know why but I got this idea to make an undersized, big-eared, and oddly skilled elf. Reject seemed fitting so I stuck with it. Then I got hooked on the anime cartoon, "Outlaw Star", and Outlaw seemed cool. I plan on making this guy a real outlaw, with maybe a thief flag. 4) What's your favorite area? * I like Clock Tower a lot. It fits my personality with its theme. 5) Where do you live (state or province/country)? * California, US 6) What do you do for a living? * HS Student/Network Tech for my school (nice pay ;)) 7) If you're a college/grad student, whats your major? * Haven't been there yet, but I plan on majoring in Computer Science, Computer Programming, and Robotics 8) What do you want to be when you grow up? * Video Game Programmer :P 9) Are you single? * Yep. Bad luck with girls lately AHHH!! 10) What are your hobbies? * MUDing, programming, baseball, reading, drawing, anime, Japanese.... 11) What's the hardest thing you've ever had to do? * Uhmm... I don't think my personality allows anything to be "hard". I suppose the hardest thing for me to do is introductions. (I'm a shy guy!) 12) Who do you most admire? * My easygoing family. So laid back and carefree, but very responsible. They are very forgiving as well. 13) Which celebrity would you like to hook up with? * Britney Spears 14) What's the last book you read (including for school)? * The last book... hmm.... the last book in the "Chronicles of Narnia". I'm currently reading the "Lord of the Rings" series. 15) What's the last movie you watched? Did you like it? * We rented the Mexican. Not a bad movie, but I think Julia Roberts was too annoying in it. 16) If you could be anywhere in the world for a week, where would you go? * Japan (I know it's crowded, but I want the experience!) SLART'S RESPONSES TO NEWSLETTER JULY 2001 > Brodgar: Put Scavenger's name in the next newsletter so he'll read it > ;-) Slart: I guess this one's done... > Wasabe: How about when we identify a container... it gives us an > indicator of how full it is... scuba tank ... half-full, pack, fourth > full. :) Slart: This isn't a bad idea. Containers are one of the last bits of true mystery in the Realms, though. How much can they hold? Are you sure you want to demystify them? :) > Wasabe: I would like tildes to show up in my profile, thank you very > much. Slart: You and everyone else, I'm sure. Making this happen would involve changing the format of our pfiles. This is more risk, never mind work, than I'm willing to take on. Please, no amateur analysis on this one. Our pfile format, taken from merc, uses tilde to delimit long strings that may contain newlines. We could use a lot of other characters, it's true. Unfortunately, many of them are used just as frequently as tilde. Also, if we did change, EVERY SINGLE PFILE would have to be changed. I wouldn't want to do that; I wouldn't even want to try to write a script to do it. On the bright side, if all you want is to be able to properly put your webpage in the URL slot, use %7E instead of tilde and it will work when people cut-n-paste it. >From help webpages: The OFFICIAL Barren Realms HomePage: http://www.coredcs.com/%7Ebarren/ > Divebomb: remove the existence of no-exit areas (i.e. connect the area > at least back to its entrance or some way to get out). No exit rooms > are perfectly fine, but it seems illogical to have areas that you > can't leave when you go there Slart: I don't think "points of no return" are really all that bad, but I do agree in principle. > Wasabe: How about the ability to get something from inside a corpse... > ex ... get item corpse backpack... to get the item from the backpack > in the corpse Slart: You have no idea what a horrible, evil, awful, no good, very bad mess you just made of the code for the get, put, and look commands, especially if you want this to be infinitely nestable: get item backpack basket bag pouch bucket sack . . . Trust me when I tell you the mud is not only easier to play when the command syntax is kept simple, it works better, too. > Wasabe: How about an option to list areas by Creator's name e.g. > 'areas Faustus' cause his area's rock! Slart: I like this, and in fact there's a much more flexible version of the areas command that will go in whenever I can get the time to test it properly. I can't remember if it will do exactly what you ask for here, but it'll do lots of other neat stuff and even julienne fries! P.S. The rumor that any sentence containing the words "when," "Slart," "gets," and "time" is a euphemism for "when hell freezes over" is completely untrue, or at least really overstated. ;) > Wasabe: I believe the value of magically charged items... like a staff > with 10 charges... should diminish in value each time one of the > spells are discharged[sic] Slart: A lot of games are like this. It ends up just being a money-making scheme for whoever has the recharge spell (which isn't even in BR). For now, I think, you should just be grateful for the high prices you fetch for your nearly expired staves at the magician. :) > Wasabe: When we identify a container... it should show the total > weight of the container as well as its contents. Slart: Also not a bad idea, but probably not something that will get a lot of priority when it comes time to add features, I'm afraid. > Wasabe: For Illithids... how about s spell that temporarily makes them > a puddle of goo allowing them to pass through crevices in a door... > 'pass door' ;) Slart: Three words: "help ectoplasmic form." ;) > Wasabe: Can you folks please extend the length the prompt string can > be??? thank you Slart: While the fifty character max is admittedly arbitrary, what are you doing in your prompt that requires much more than fifty chars? That's more than halfway across the screen, not leaving a lot of room to type... > Rivan: make all maps level 0 or 1 to buy Slart: I guess this makes some sense, but I think the levels on the maps give a nice confirmation on the levels reported by the (underused) areas command. > Xorex: flags for area building which would force people to play an > area the way that the builder intended. For instance, perhaps doors > that couldn't simply be walked through if finding their keys was an > important part of the area's plot Slart: Um. If I could invent the magic algorithm for "do what I mean, not what I say" on the computer, I'd be writing this response from my yacht in the south Pacific. ;) I think I know what you mean, but adding a flag to subvert pass door makes it pretty useless, and power mudders would still play your area using config +brief after the first week. You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him appreciate it, or something like that. > Wasabe: Well here's an even dumber idea... how about the ability to > sac an item in your corpse? Slart: But then people wouldn't accidentally pick up the cursed item they just killed themselves to be rid of...where's the fun in that? :) > Thrasher: maybe somthing like a healer that offers offencive spells > like frenzy & berzerk. Slart: I might be pretty miffed if ol' Clericus decided to raise my AC by about 230 or so, especially if I was only level 10! > AMystery: be able to put nodrop items in a container. have the > container code check for nodrop items inside before dropping the bag. > clean up inventories without defeating nodrop Slart: This works for heroes, who have practically unlimited inventory space, but for morts, who have finite inventory space and for whom the nodrop penalty is a little more severe, this would lessen it. If the nodrop flag isn't there to be inconvenient, why's it there at all? > Shiloh: instead of create water have it be create drink so it will > refill and drink contains like skins and barrels of beer Slart: You can fill waterskins from the resulting spring. I'm not going to finance your booze habit with a magic spell, sorry. ;) > Kannibal: when u cast create sound make people in the same room not > see u utter the words so they dont know who casted it Slart: If they fail their saving throw, they won't see who said it. This is one of those spells that most people think are broken because they never seem to work properly. They work fine, generally, it's just that the victim almost always makes the saving throw. > Wasabe: Please add ^K for highlighted black... a.k.a '^[[30;1m' dark > gray Slart: I'm pretty sure that color was left out for a reason (namely that most people wouldn't be able to see it). > Wasabe: How about a skill for dwarves to create objects out of gold > bars or gold coins... Just imagine it... dwarves working all the live > long day making shields and helms of golden glimmer. Slart: Nifty, but I'm thinking most dwarves wouldn't waste their gold by making equipment out of it. Most avians can't be bothered to use up corpses for tan, and those are worthless. > Wasabe: Newbies should be able to see drunk. Slart: Wouldn't this just delay the inevitable questions about it? Seems like this would only postpone the inevitable...Maybe we could put a little blurb from the mud right after they see drunkspeak for the first time to explain it a little, but I'm reaching here. > Thrasher: a spell that raises max hp for a round or two. Slart: There're potions that do this in Moria/Angband and I always thought they were kinda dumb. What happens when they expire? Yikes, I thought I was okay, but I'm actually super dead. What's the point of fighting on borrowed time if you're just going to die after you win the fight? > Thrasher: make word of recall in guild for all races at least we can > get exp for it. Slart: Any other spells/skills you'd like a freebie xp boost from, or just that one? > Taipan: How about the 'locate object' spell showing the area the mob > is in too? Slart: Nah, a little mystery is good for everyone. :) > Colador: When you get killed by a mob have the mob brag about it :) Slart: if ((!IS_NPC(ch)) && (strcmp(ch->name, "Colador") == 0)) { ... > AMystery: yeah, I know, its another history request but I have a valid > reason:p History on the quest channel. It would probably help both > quest masters and players. Be good for people who just logged on and > missed the beginning. And it makes sense, even medie Slart: There's honestly no really good reason why we can't have history on all the global channels. Tellh and gtellh take more memory than questh or hackerh ever would. > Thordain: The question of "Is multiplaying allowed?" is coming up a > lot. Maybe a "help multiplaying" is in order? > > Kiri -- I have no problem with this, but it _is_ in help rules, which > is required reading for all players. Slart: Maybe we could have a help faq, which touched briefly on things that are covered elsewhere, just to have a catchall for this kind of thing. > Horus: not wishing to be rude, but what's the point of allowing Ills > to have an offhand weapon of they don't get dual? I mean, even elves > get dual... Slart: Top five things to do with your offhand if you're an illithid: 5) Stop snickering. 4) I said stop snickering, dagnabit. Don't make me hurt you. 3) Get a normal weapon enchanted and offhand it for the hit/dam boost. 2) Find a two-handed weapon and use it. They're really cool. 1) Use a spell weapon instead of a regular weapon. The spells don't care whether or not you have dual. > Divebomb: antisocial for mobs - basically prevents teleport to the > mob, summon the mob, and track to the mob regardless of room flags Slart: That turns out to be vaguely evil for a couple of technical reasons I don't want to get into at the moment...let's just say the original designers of Merc, in their infinite wisdom, thought it'd be keen to overload certain act bits depending on whether the char in question was a mob or a player... > Wasabe: how about a social 'squishing' were we get the Kids in the > Hall... 'I'm squishing your head... Wasabe is squishing your head... > What the hell is Wasabe doing with his thumb and index finger? > > Kiri -- read help writesocial. Enjoy writing it. Slart: Or you could just try the crush social. It's your call. Kiri -- I'm an idiot. Slart's right, we had it all along. Tells you how often I use that social. > Wasabe: What if... a player could sit in meditation... and spawn a > higher self... then use this higher self to navigate about 4 or so > initial spaces away from the body(as they get higher in level they are > able to move even farther)... This would allow the player to > essentially scout the area for mobs before physically needing to move. > As a balance, the physical body is more susceptible to being attack... > This would be a good spell for solo/paranoid players who are wandering > unchartered territory. ... Wasabe, the ever flying ever faithful > sausage Slart: Try help empath. It basically does most of this for aggressive mobs, without the added risk of surprise attack. Kiri's WWW of URLs: Mystic Ages. A review of BR will be here soon. http://www.mysticages.com/ From Dakata. Bert is EVIL! http://www.fractalcow.com/bert/bert.htm Funny, submitted by Oakley http://www.main.gadclan.de/flash/dengdeng.swf And how could I forget? http://www.barrenrealmsmud.com Great Truths About Life Children Have Learned: 1. No matter how hard you try, you can't baptize cats. 2. When your mom is mad at your dad, don't let her brush your hair. 3. If your sister hits you, don't hit her back. They always catch the second person. 4. You can't trust dogs to watch your food. 5. Puppies still have bad breath, even after eating a Tic-Tac. 6. Never hold a Dust Buster and a cat at the same time. 7. You can't hide a piece of broccoli in a glass of milk. 8. Don't wear polka-dot underwear under white shorts. Great Truths About Life Adults Have Learned: 1. Raising teenagers is like nailing Jell-O to a tree. 2. Families are like fudge . . . mostly sweet, with a few nuts. 3. Today's mighty oak is just yesterday's nut that held its ground. 4. My mind not only wanders; sometimes it leaves completely. 5. If you can remain calm while all others around you are losing their heads, maybe you just don't understand the problem. Great Truths About Growing Old: 1. Growing old is mandatory; growing up is optional. 2. Insanity is my only means of relaxation. 3. Forget the health food. I need all the preservatives I can get. 4. You're getting old when you get the same sensation from a rocking chair that you once got from a roller coaster. 5. One of life's mysteries is how a two-pound box of candy can make a person gain five pounds. 6. God put me on earth to accomplish a certain number of things. 7. Right now, I am so far behind, I will live forever. 8. I finally got my head together, and my body fell apart. 9. There cannot be a crisis this week; my schedule is already full. 10. Just when I was getting used to yesterday, along came today. 11. Sometimes I think I understand everything, then I regain consciousness. 12. Seen it all, done it all, can't remember most of it. News from the Realms: Cobalt: Halloween Party Quest BR's resident black cat will be hosting a big Halloween party this year. However, I have a rather busy schedule as of late, and I need someone else to come up with and obtain all of the necessities.. decorations, food, drink, etc. Naturally I'll be wanting something creative and festive.. maybe even downright morbid and scary. Collect all the goodies you think would make for the best All Hallows Eve bash ever. For food and drink, only include one of each item.. I can always order more. This is open to all levels, and to even things out a bit, mortal and hero entries will be judged separately, if there are enough of each kind. Oh, and no renames, please. As a last note: a big thank-you to Java for helping to sponsor this year's festivities! All spells accepted. DEADLINE: Midnight, Saturday, October 20 (see me for a bag) DevilsAngel: A Halloween costume quest!! yes, you heard right! A costume quest! I want everyone to find the best halloween costume BR has to offer! There will be 2 differant levels of entry, morts and heroes. You may enter one of each if you like. The mort catagories will be .....the silliest, scariest, most unique, and most traditional. No renames are allowed and all must be mort equipment. 6 spaces need to be filled on the morts. The hero catagory will be most original. Up to 3 renames are allowed. 8 spaces need to be filled, and any equipment on the mudd is ok. You don't have to be able to wear the equipment on your character, just place it in your Trick or Treat bag that will be supplied by Vain. Let him know you are playing. The quest will end on October 31 which means your email with your costume description has to be to me by then. Send it to Cherryblossumoftx@hotmail.com Please put the item names and locations in your email with a short description of your costume. I hope everyone has fun and plays. All spells are allowed. PS Please remember to include your character name in your email so I know who you are. And if entering both a mort and hero please send seperate email entries. Happy Halloween everyone! Kiri: new pics Pictures of Cord, Stars & Sheila are now up on the BR website at www.barrenrealmsmud.com These people are coming up for deletion after a year and a half of inactivity. Please either log on these characters to save them, or contact me if you forgot your information. Thanks! Backup, Bleu, Carmen, Cot, Crack, Drjones, Jer, Loreth, Mavric, Nathan, Ren, Roven, Sangfroid, Valic Ideas: Kharn: disable "tell" channel while ppl are in the void Ruin: if you are frenzied when you chat it should automatically be all in caps Kiri -- I can see this getting really rude and annoying Dimmesdale: A help boredom, like something to read, when your sitting there regenerating hp's, it could be like an article that changes like the newsletter Kiri -- this is not a bad idea, but given how often we reboot (which isn't often, thanks to Slart's bugfixing), it may not be different too often. We'll see. BIO BY DARKCRAD: 1) What's your BR name? * Darkcrad/Evillive 2) What race/level are you? * 151/Kender, 14/Dwarf 3) How did you pick your Br name? * both are opposite spell dark backwards but i dunno i used c haha and evil backwards. 4) What's your favorite area? * MTV (lol jay leno and david letterman) 5) Where do you live (state or province/country)? * Vancouver, Canada 6) What do you do for a living? * High school student 7) If you're a college/grad student, whats your major? * *shrug* high school student. 8) What do you want to be when you grow up? * I duno some job that is fun......i dun mind work tho...but i kinda like jobs where you can express ideas 9) Are you single? * *sigh*......yea now i am...wasn't yesterday tho.... 10) What are your hobbies? * basketball..uh...dreamcasting..playstationing... :P ......and mudding 11) What's the hardest thing you've ever had to do? * Presentations.... 12) Who do you most admire? *A real family 13) Which celebrity would you like to hook up with? * Dani Filth and marilyn manson 14) What's the last book you read (including for school)? * uh.......i dun really read much but i read Marilyn Mansons long hard road out of hell 15) What's the last movie you watched? Did you like it? * The mummy returns 16) If you could be anywhere in the world for a week, where would you go? * Japan i wanna see the technology! haha and 3d stuff :) NADDAROW'S REPLIES TO JULY 30th, 2001 Newsletter >Brodgar: Put Scavenger's name in the next newsletter so he'll read it ;-) > Naddarow: Well...Kiri did that, lets see if it worked;) >Wasabe: How about when we identify a container... it gives us an indicator >of how full it is... scuba tank ... half-full, pack, fourth full. :) > Naddarow: Good idea...I hate it when I get a container full *grumble* >Wasabe: I would like tildes to show up in my profile, thank you very much. > Naddarow: *shrug* Thats been a problem for a long time..and probably will be :p >Divebomb: remove the existence of no-exit areas (i.e. connect the area at >least back to its entrance or some way to get out). No exit rooms are >perfectly fine, but it seems illogical to have areas that you can't leave >when you go there > Naddarow: Just need to fix a few no-exit rooms that are in no-recall areas...other than that, no-exit rooms are there to be annoying, and I'm fine with that :) >Wasabe: How about the ability to get something from inside a corpse... ex >... get item corpse backpack... to get the item from the backpack in the >corpse > Naddarow: Umm...Well... The only real purpose I see for this is if can't get the backpack from the corpse because it is too heavy..which isn't a bad idea... >Wasabe: How about an option to list areas by Creator's name e.g. 'areas >Faustus' cause his area's rock! > Naddarow: *shrug* pointless in my opinion ;) >Wasabe: I believe the value of magically charged items... like a staff with >10 charges... should diminish in value each time one of the spells are >discharged[sic] > Naddarow: Not a bad idea! Logical :) >Wasabe: When we identify a container... it should show the total weight of >the container as well as its contents. > Naddarow: Another good idea :) >Wasabe: For Illithids... how about s spell that temporarily makes them a >puddle of goo allowing them to pass through crevices in a door... 'pass >door' ;) > Naddarow: Umm they already have that, it is called "ectoplasmic form" :P >Wasabe: Can you folks please extend the length the prompt string can be??? >thank you > Naddarow: Good idea...but is that easily adjustable? >Rivan: make all maps level 0 or 1 to buy > Naddarow: THe maps are different levels to buy because there is no reason a low level mort would want to explore an area like "The fireswamp"..and if they did, they should probably already know where that area is:P >Xorex: flags for area building which would force people to play an area the >way that the builder intended. For instance, perhaps doors that couldn't >simply be walked through if finding their keys was an important part of the >area's plot > Naddarow: LOL, would be a good idea, but impossible to enforce :) >Wasabe: Well here's an even dumber idea... how about the ability to sac an >item in your corpse? > Naddarow: Step One: Get item corpse. Step Two: Drop item. Step Three: Sac item. Step Four: smack self on head ;) >Kiri: increase time on hero corpses to hours, rl > Naddarow: Huh?? >Thrasher: maybe somthing like a healer that offers offencive spells like >frenzy & berzerk. > Naddarow: I'd like that :) >Armageddon: saftey deposit boxes at the bank for heroes, we have some >things like rewards that we would rather not lose with burned containers or >our corpses melting > Naddarow: Good idea..but better yes, make it so Heros can't lose items to Burning!!! >AMystery: be able to put nodrop items in a container. have the container >code check for nodrop items inside before dropping the bag. clean up >inventories without defeating nodrop > Naddarow: I like that one...Nodrop clutter up inventory..but you'd have to make sure that then the backpack couldn't be dropped... >Shiloh: instead of create water have it be create drink so it will refill >and drink contains like skins and barrels of beer > Naddarow: Would make the spell more usable! >Kannibal: when u cast create sound make people in the same room not see u >utter the words so they dont know who casted it > Naddarow: Well...with Ventril. I thought if you did it properly, that would happen...but if it doesn't, then it is another good idea. >Wasabe: Please add ^K for highlighted black... a.k.a '^[[30;1m' dark gray > Naddarow: *no comment, don't use black with black backround :P * >Wasabe: How about a skill for dwarves to create objects out of gold bars or >gold coins... Just imagine it... dwarves working all the live long day >making shields and helms of golden glimmer. > Naddarow: Like tan for gold...only it would force the player to sit at his screen for a while without being able to do anything, I like it :) >Wasabe: Newbies should be able to see drunk. > Naddarow: Makes since through level 10..but People need to learn to speak drunk at somepoint in there life ;) >Thrasher: a spell that raises max hp for a round or two. > Naddarow: Hmm..too easily abusable in my opinion >Thrasher: make word of recall in guild for all races at least we can get >exp for it. > Naddarow: LOL, but word of recall is suppose to Be pointless!, if it has a point, then it isn't as funny! ;) >Taipan: How about the 'locate object' spell showing the area the mob is in >too? > Naddarow: I like it...but people with locate object also have teleport :p >Colador: When you get killed by a mob have the mob brag about it :) > Naddarow: LOL...just what we need: BATTLE UPDATE: Naddarow killed by a pile of gold a pile of gold shouts 'PANZY, I DARE YOU TO COME BACK FOR MORE!' a pile of gold shouts 'HEY EVERYONE, LOOK AT NADDAROW, HE'S CRYING IN THE CORNER OF THE ROOM!' a pile of gold shouts 'HEY NADDAROW, I BET THE PRACTICE DUMMY COULD KILL YOU!' >Thordain: The question of "Is multiplaying allowed?" is coming up a lot. >Maybe a "help multiplaying" is in order? > Naddarow: Good idea > >Kiri -- I have no problem with this, but it _is_ in help rules, which is >required reading for all players. > Naddarow: And everyone reads this? (I have, don't look at me like that..I HAVE!) >Horus: not wishing to be rude, but what's the point of allowing Ills to >have an offhand weapon of they don't get dual? I mean, even elves get >dual... > Naddarow: Higher Hit/dam...For a shield...People would complain to much if it was removed. I think illithids actually should be able to hold more items with all there crazy tenticles;) >Divebomb: antisocial for mobs - basically prevents teleport to the mob, >summon the mob, and track to the mob regardless of room flags > Naddarow: Not a bad idea..I would get annoyed with it though ;) >Wasabe: how about a social 'squishing' were we get the Kids in the Hall... >'I'm squishing your head... Wasabe is squishing your head... What the hell >is Wasabe doing with his thumb and index finger? > > >Kiri -- read help writesocial. Enjoy writing it. > Naddarow: I was gonna write a bunch of socials once..but I'm too lazy :p >Wasabe: How about if bad ideas get a response of : That is a bad idea. >Thanks for wasting our time. > Naddarow: That is a bad idea. Thanks for wasting our time. ;) >Xorex: This may be to small a problem to worry about but you shouldn't be >able to see the sunset or the rain at the bottom of the dark see > > >Kiri -- this is a bug, be sure to use the bug command (help bug) to report >that kind of thing when you see it (the rain, anyway) > Naddarow: fixed..WooP wOOp! >Wasabe: What if... a player could sit in meditation... and spawn a higher >self... then use this higher self to navigate about 4 or so initial spaces >away from the body(as they get higher in level they are able to move even >farther)... This would allow the player to essentially scout the area for >mobs before physically needing to move. As a balance, the physical body is >more susceptible to being attack... This would be a good spell for >solo/paranoid players who are wandering unchartered territory. Naddarow: Interesting Idea :) would make a good illithid or Human skill! > > Wasabe: Autosplitting should not occur when the member of a group takes > > coins out a pack or other holding object... it should be up tto the = > > users discretion when and how they split their coins. > > > > Kiri - I agree completely. This is a bug. > >THANK YOU!!! I've lost more money this way... Naddarow: Agreed > > Wasabe: I think like the fly flag... there should be a swim flag... = > > since well swimming is flying under a liquid... and I still don't know = > > how I tripped this fish ;) > >Baltar: Makes sense to me...and yes, you probably shouldn't be able to trip a >swimming >mob (nor should a mob be able to trip you if you're swimming). Naddarow: Think they are working on a swimming flag type thing... > > Wasabe: Be able to 'where' a corpse... would really help some. > >Baltar: Actually, you get this when you make Hero... > Naddarow: Actually I think he means when your in the area of the corpse, I think it would help some fustrated lost mortals :) > > Mathis: if your flying and you trip a flying mob, that mob should land > >Baltar: You can trip flying mobs? Since when? I should pay more attention... > Naddarow: Need a new skill, "Knock Down" Like trip, but agains flying mobs :) > > Wasabe: How about a help file containing all the equipable areas on the > > body... for a quick reference... so we know if we're missing something = > > or not... thanks > >Baltar: Or perhaps a default when you check EQUIP, like "Nothing." > Naddarow: Make one and sent it to kiri, I'm sure She'd add it, I mean, she added "help apostrophe" :p > > Naxias: How about a gmote, group-only emote. So that ppl within the = > > group can> communicate when drunk more easily. > > Packor:Emote is for doing a home-made and not in the socials action. It = > > is not> to communicate in the first place. How can you do an action on >your group> alone, when you are doing it in the open? Not to mention that, technically, one shouldn't use emote just to get >around being unable to speak clearly when drunk... Naddarow: *nod*, emote is a social action, actions speak louder than words :p > > Nal: when you walk into a wall have like a trap on some that will hurt = > > you? > > Packor: Question, why do you want to walk into a wall? I know some items = > > that=> have traps on them, but almost none of the ones I have seen work, >but => > then I> am just a lowly mort. > >No one *wants* to walk into a wall, but it can happen if (a) you're drunk, >(b) you're running frantically in a particular direction until you run out >of rooms, (c) you have an error in an alias, (d) you're just not paying >close enough attention, etc. etc. etc. Naddarow: No wall traps...Hard enough for drunks to move around as it is ;) --I think treasure traps and opening door traps should be fixed to work:) >Armageddon: a corpse cooking idea. If you can tan them, why not cook them >and>eat them? > Packor: Stone stew, yumm.... agreed. there should be a devour or maybe >butcher skill which lets you respectivly either eat the corpse or cut/tear >out body parts from it. Naddarow: LOL, making KFA all that much more popular ;) >Deathless: a speco for scared mobs, they will try to flee or leave whenever >someone is in the same room as them, regardless of if they are fighting. >They>don't like being around any players > Packor: Problem, you don't flee unless in combat, making a mob move when >you >come in requires it to go a direction. Since not all rooms have all >directions, it cannot be randomly picked. To do so would require something >extra that 'reads' the directions the room allows it to go. You could urge >it to move though, with the sight of a character. That means increasing >the >chances of it moving, I believe that happens too when it's bleeding. Naddarow: Interesting Speco idea >Wasabe: How about a submarine for a vehicle? :) so we don't need scuba >geer... > Packor: Sorry, don't believe we've invented that yet. If we even had a >rifle... Naddarow: No To sub...But There is a rifle in Les Mis already ;) >Wasabe: Is it possible to be able to add conditional statements to aliases? >ex: if(!invis){get elixir leather;quaff elixir;} > Packor: The purpose of aliases is to help you perform actions faster or >without having to repeat very common stuff, not to automate your >character... Naddarow: That is what triggers are for in ZMUD :p >Wasabe: As you gain more experience... shouldn't you learn how to better >step>so to use even less moves? How odd that we continue to gain moves well past >their true usage. > Packor: Really simple, really, recall takes away half mv. Explorers would >fast run low of mv. When do you think true usage is exceeded? At that >time, >we would have to change the char a bit so they gain this "step better" >instead of getting mv too. Naddarow: Interesting..But Fly works for me most of the time :p >Wasabe: How about a spell to hide drunkenese... available from clericus. > >Kiri -- Your own or other people's? Either way I'm not sure I want to >take>away the penalty of drunkeness > Packor: That wouldn't be my concern, I just think that to hide drunkness >would be to postpone a major hangover, worse than the consequenses of being >drunk. Naddarow: I think a spell to hide drunkness is a good idea to the extent of speech (be able to chat without drunk), but all other penalties should stay (random movement, puking, etc.) >Wasabe: How about a spell for dexterity for dwarves? > Packor: Hmm, why would they be in position to gain this skill? I would >think a class like elves would be more suitable for such a spell, as elves >are supposedly agile and dwarves slow - To give them even 22 dex is wrong. > :> Naddarow: I don't think Dwarves are suppose to be that agile too... Dwarves are strong like elephants...and I've never seen an elephant side step an attack ;) >Kharn: we need a 2nd mud school .... its like impossible to introduce a >newbie while another newbie is in the school (no trainees at all ect) > Packor: Generally, a newbie can move on after level 2, encourage them on >kill only 1 or 2 of each trainee. As you know, repop is faster in the >school. Naddarow: Not needed, repop is quick. >Colador: Have an automated auction system. > >Kiri -- people don't even use auction on BR now. > Packor: Yes, we do, sometimes for silly things, sometimes people do want >to >use it though :> Naddarow: And automatic auction would be too spammy >Wasabe: If an avian carries a player... said player should not need to be >invisible... > Packor: Well, no. The invisible field only goes beyond some of the >target, >therefore. The one being carried will only be 2 inches invisible. Naddarow: Disagree...I "could see" a person being carried around by an invisible trasportation , while they are still visible. >Wasabe: How about making the amount of damage bash can do be based on the >amount of hp a user has? Naddarow: Good idea >Arcane: i think you need to make the idea work probably so it doesn't say >line to long when you put in a good, lengthly idea > Packor: Congratulations, you have posted the idea of the month. I think >Kiri would agree. Some ideas simple have need of more explaining than a >line. While you could do this by mail, it IS what the Idea command is >for. Naddarow: *nod*, or make a new note type attachement for longer ideas..? >Wasabe: Drunks should lose hp when they hit walls... >Foy: trip should do a tiny amount of damage > Packor: We also hit walls when not drunk, the only difference is a drunk >doesn't walk right. Your butt hitting the floor doesn't seem so bad to me, >hehe. It should put them in a resting position, therefore reducing their >defense for one round though. > Naddarow: PLEASE NO ;) >Lehua: i think the guardian should sell popcorn, the Guardian should sell >soda too ;-) > Packor: Oh yeah!!! Yummy, and no. :> Sell me some heads though! Naddarow: LOL, why the hell not;) >Packor's Own ideas: I noted that when you have a corpse in a vehicle, you can't loot >the >corpse outside, but it does let you sac the outside corpse. (person died >inside vehicle, leaving corpse) kills mobs, mob corpse is outside) Naddarow: That sounds more like a bug to me... > Packor: I had previously sent an idea about illithids being able to >enchant >shields, or perhaps druid?? if ills are not fitting. As I said before, >this >encourages the use of shields and does not make people too powerful. It >would >be like having the extra weapon people like to carry, except for armor >class >uses. People now mostly aim for damage and not evasion of attack, making >it >terribly unbalanced. Perhaps as a bonus, make bash damage better with some >shields, and enchanted also ( A bit like Diablo II, I know, heh, but those >dwarves are complaining about not having any devastating skills, maybe just >have bash at the range of half a normal attack's strength would be good. >Dwarves arn't the only ones with bash too, please note.).... Packor: Well, Illithid use to be able to enchant armor..But they took it away for some reason that I can't recall..I though it was a good spell myself. Kiri's WWW of URLs: a really great explanation of the Osama Bin Laden/Bert phenomenon http://www.wired.com/news/conflict/0,2100,47450,00.html A boring page about MU netiquette. I'm out of good links ;) http://www.cwrl.utexas.edu/~claire/texts/netiquette.html MUD-Dev -- Discussion of MUD system design, development, and implementation https://www.kanga.nu/lists/listinfo/mud-dev And the mud staff resource page http://www.msrp.net/ Top 15 Signs an Athlete is Using a Banned Substance 15. Gets "psyched" before each competition by banging his head against a locker, although he's on the chess team. 14. Her javelin was shot down by jet fighters. 13. Killed two spectators and a line judge with his forehand lob at this year's French Open. 12. Although a sprinter, he won both the Indy 500 and the Preakness. 11. Swimmer's refusal to trim beard and wax chest costs her valuable seconds in the 100-meter freestyle. 10. His red and yellow jersey reads, "Track Cartel de Colombia." 9. Absent-mindedly shows up at starting blocks with syringe dangling from arm. 8. Remainder of high-jump event postponed until he lands. 7. Somehow manages to win the 100-meter butterfly without getting wet. 6. Signs new contract for $6 over 2 million years. 5. Instead of exploding out of the blocks, he just explodes. 4. According to the urine test, he's six-week's pregnant. 3. Breaks his pelvis but insists he can just "walk it off." 2. Has switched her shower song from "I Feel Pretty" to "Old Man River." 1. Forget Nike and Reebok-he's got endorsement deals with Merck and Glaxo. Welcome to the BR Newsletter! Come visit your favorite MUD at telnet://www.coredcs.com:8000/ Please send me bios, I'm all out! :) IDEAS: Lugin: make the instructor cast spells faster on lvl 1 characters Voodoo: if you trip someone, they can't flee until they stand back up Theros: more races would be fun.....a minotaur maybe....and a fairy... DrDeath: flaming weapons should do more damage but not work underwater DrDeath: make fly a newbie spell from Clericus Kineya: it'd be nice if we could type enhance or something and it would give us a list of how many times we've enhanced each thing... and maybe what we've enhanecd at the current level... Straad: what about a thief that steals from everything mobs and characters alike. Dimmesdale: Make the understanding of spells work right. I'm a kender, and when a high level kender is in the same room as me and casts 'Detect hidden', I understand them, doesn't make sense seeing as how I don't know how to cast detect hidden, however I know bless, but when a druid or a elf or even clericus casts bless, I can't understand them, just doesn't make sense... My 2 cents.. Responses to the august 15 Newsletter by Liquid: >Wasabe: We should be able to enchant shields... to provide a reason >for dwarves not to just use weapons but shields... to bash! Divebomb: Or get an area designer to just design a good shield. I'm sure they would, but nobody would ever use them. Liquid: It might envourage the use of shields if this is put in. I used to equip a shield when I was mortal, it's quite useful for the AC-challenged Avian >Rhyme: a way to modify the prac command so we can see in guild and >out of guild skills, skills we've practiced, things we haven't... and sort >by skill level and percent.. etc Divebomb: The practice command does have its downsides, but if you really want to know what's in guild and what's not, go to your guild and type "prac". It only shows you the skills that are in-guild. You could compare that with an slist or the "prac" command from somewhere else. You could be really ambitious and go to each guild and type prac to see what you can practice in only that guild. Liquid: Yes, you could do that. But everyone wants things to be easier! >Wasabe: What if the shopkeeper sold a : CR bag... contained therein >would be 1) purple fly potion, 1) invis elixir 1) torch !!! Divebomb: Items in bags repop - like the seashell ring, the trail rations, the money in the midget's purse. If you could buy a "CR Bag" you'd have endless purple potions, invis elixirs, and torches (although nobody cares about that one). So instead you could just type recall;w;w;b yellow;b purple;quaff yellow;quaff purple;e;s;s;s;w;b torch; wear torch Liquid: Well then how about a single shopkeeper near recall only selling those three items. For balance the prices could be increased maybe 150-200% of the original items (Specifically the invis elixirs) >Very: why not get rid of kick for druids, at level 25 it is hardly >worth the bother... Divebomb: Then just don't practice it. Liquid: Well... if it really isn't that useful then I do believe it should be taken out. But it is kind of nice having an attack for druids that doesn't cost mana >WasabE: Heal faster whilst sleeping in a tent. Divebomb: Why? Should you heal faster because you're indoors too? What about in "safe" rooms? (You'll probably say yes). Maybe you should, but it's still too much coding for something like those I think. If you want to get technical, the mob should be able to open the tent and come in and beat you up. After all if I was an aggro and saw a tent there, I wouldn't walk by it... Liquid: The coding would be easy, and I think it's a reasonable idea. >Turale: make trip in-guild for humans! Divebomb: Of course, nobody deserves trip more than the martial artist! Liquid: I'm all for it >Wasabe: how about when you fail a spell..you say the wrong >words... like 'ouranholi' versus ouranihol Divebomb: Pointless really. Liquid: Pointless.. maybe. But it does add a bit of realism to the game. >Anubis: messages for teleport and astral like goto :) Divebomb: Ummmm.... no. You can play with aliases and emotes and make your own. Heros get more perks than mortals and imms get more perks than heros. The joys of a hierarchy. Liquid: Heh.. I always wanted it as a mortal, but I'm on DB's side with this one. >Asimi: When you grin at someone, their alignment should drop. Just >like the social says Divebomb: "great" I'll set up my alias to grin at you 500 times so you become evil and get zapped by your equipment, then I'll pick up that nice little weapon you were using and use it for myself. Liquid: Just modify the social.. I would suggest an alternate but I seem to be drawing a blank >Wasabe: Ability to give all.anything : give all.fly player Divebomb: just drop all.anything and have other play get all.anything Liquid: Once again, I don't think it's a bad idea. It would be very useful. And you have the problems of items already in the room, or scavenging mobs. And it might just be too much of a hassle to go into an empty, no mob room >Wasabe: Ability to : get all.item all.container Divebomb: I guess, but if you weren't so messy you'd have all your "all.items" in the same container in the first place ;) Liquid: I've always had no more than one container *shrug* I don't see the need for more. >Wasabe: how about a double breasted tent... for two people? or more? Divebomb: There are some tents that fit 2 people i think. It's all dependent on the holdable weight that the tent has. Besides, would you really want to share a tent with a dwarf? ;) Liquid: LoL but seriously. Larger tents that can hold more weight for higher prices. >Wasabe: I want to kick people out of the vehicle I purchase... it >should be the owners right... Divebomb: If you're really ticked off at them for being on, drive to alandra, go into the arena, and beat the crap out of them before they know what's going on. ;) Liquid: Sorry but I agree with Wasabe. Or at least you could be able to "close" and maybe "lock" the vehicle >AMystery: when two invisible mobs or players or players & mobs >fight, they should remain invisible. only when one is visible should >the other become so. After all, invisible creatures should be able >to see eachother and fight Divebomb: Just because I am invisible does not mean I can see you. That's why invis and detect invis are different spells. The concept of invisibility is that you can remain unseen so long as you do not attack (or are forced to attack). You'd be altering the entire concept, not just the way it works. Liquid: Well if they are both invis and both have detect invis cast they should remain invis :) >Wasabe: when I emote a ' I would like it to appear immediately after > my name... like so emote 's feet are green. = Wasabe's feet are > green. Divebomb: I would like it too. Liquid: Not for all emotes though. only ones beginning with ', -, or : >Wasabe: wimpy max should set wimpy to max hp Divebomb: First of all the concept of "wimpy" is for autoflee when you're low on hp. If you're setting wimpy to max you obviously don't intend on fighting. If you're just exploring you can take the 3 seconds to figure out roughly how much your max hp is and set it to that. I bet you have your hp in your prompt, and you're probably full when you're thinking about doing this, so just type it! Liquid: The score command works good for determining those little secrets as well >Johan: pass door should have an -ac modifier as well - if you're >translucent you must be harder to hit Divebomb: Not necessarily, you probably just look funny because you can pass through walls. Liquid: Well if a door doesn't touch you then what makes a mob able to? Responses to the August 15 2001 newsletter by Packor: Leiland: how about it tells you what color someone arena'd to? that way it'd be easier to find someone in the arena... of course, it's not a big deal... Packor: But it is,... most people probably don't want you to know. If they did they could tell you :> FireLily: what if the foods had special effects? Like protein type foods could temporarily raise wid/int (brain food), carbohydrates could increase sta/str, and sugary foods could increase movement/mana. Since you can't eat too much you can't OD on it and get Packor: Too much food gives stomachaches :> foods with protein usually contain carbohydrates too. I really think, though, that making every food give you extra stuff is kind of giving too much power. There are also foods, pills, and drinks that cause spell effects already. If you want food to make a difference, being full should make your dex go down too, I would think. Darkcrad: i think clerius could have a new service that we pay for and that is dispel magic, cos sometimes we can't dispel all the magic away, so we could pay the healers and they will dispel all the magic for us :) Packor: I disagree, he's a healer... which means he chould have holy magic(clerical). If we want spells like dispel magic, we should have a sorcerer or something in town.. :> >Wasabe: I want to kick people out of the vehicle I purchase... it >should be the owners right... >>Divebomb: If you're really ticked off at them for being on, drive to alandra, go into the arena, and beat the crap out of them before they know what's going on. ;) Packor: No way! You can't carry your vehicle once you've dropped it and you know you can't leave Alandra, except if there's a hidden exit somewhere... Kiri's WWW of URLs: Kitties who made it through the WTC 9-11 tragedy http://www.channel4000.com/sh/news/stories/nat-news-102110120011018-131004.html This site has all sorts of brand-name recipes, including for vegetarians and diabetics http://204.148.156.137/fbnr_web/index.html You've all seen it, now you can buy it. http://www.thinkgeek.com/stuff/apparel/57b2.shtml You know that fake picture of the guy on the WTC? Well, this site has gone nuts with it, with hilarious results :) http://touristguy.com/ Thanks Sgetsuo for this: The Two Cow Explanation for What Makes a... A CHRISTIAN: You have two cows. You keep one and give one to your neighbor. A SOCIALIST: You have two cows. The government takes one and gives it to your neighbor. A REPUBLICAN:You have two cows. Your neighbor has none. So what? A DEMOCRAT: You have two cows. Your neighbor has none. You feel guilty for being successful. You vote people into office who tax your cows, forcing you to sell one to raise money to pay the tax. The people you voted for then take the tax money and buy a cow and give it toyour neighbor. You feel righteous. A COMMUNIST: You have two cows. The government seizes both and provides you with milk. A FASCIST: You have two cows. The government seizes both and sells you the milk. You join the underground and start a campaign of sabotage. DEMOCRACY, AMERICAN STYLE: You have two cows. The government taxes you to the point you have to sell both to support a man in a foreign country who has only one cow, which was a gift from your government. CAPITALISM, AMERICAN STYLE: You have two cows. You sell one, buy a bull, and build a herd of cows. BUREAUCRACY, AMERICAN STYLE: You have two cows. The government takes them both, shoots one, milks the other, pays you for the milk, then pours the milk down the drain. AN AMERICAN CORPORATION: You have two cows. You sell one, and force the other to produce the milk of four cows. You are surprised when the cow drops dead. A FRENCH CORPORATION: You have two cows. You go on strike because you want three cows. A JAPANESE CORPORATION: You have two cows. You redesign them so they are one-tenth the size of an ordinary cow and produce twenty times the milk. A GERMAN CORPORATION: You have two cows. You re-engineer them so they live for100 years, eat once a month, and milk themselves. AN ITALIAN CORPORATION: You have two cows but you don't know where they are. You break for lunch. A RUSSIAN CORPORATION: You have two cows. You count them and learn you have five cows. You count them again and learn you have 42 cows. You count them again and learn you have 12 cows. You stop counting cows and open another bottle of vodka. A SWISS CORPORATION: You have 5,000 cows, none of which belongs to you. You charge for storing them for others. A BRAZILIAN CORPORATION: You have two cows. You enter into a partnership with an American corporation. Soon you have 1000 cows and the American corporation declares bankruptcy. AN INDIAN CORPORATION:You have two cows. You worship them Happy Halloween! Has it been a while? Come visit your favorite MUD at telnet://www.coredcs.com:8000/ Devilsangel: You better get costume hunting. The quest ends on Halloween night at midnight. Don't forget you must send an email as well as collect the eq. Send a short email to cherryblossumoftx@hotmail.com with your eq listed and a short description. Morts must fill 6 eq spaces and have NO renames. Avatars must fill 8 spaces but can have 3 renames. Please remember to include your character name with your email so I know who you are. Also if you are entering both a mort and an avatar or hero please make 2 seperate emails. I hope you all play. This is my first quest. And remember with Vain doing the prizes they will be awesome!! There are many ways to win this quest as well!! Happy costume hunting!! The quest is almost over. Please don't forget the email entry, it is vital. I am judging from the emails and using the bags as verification. You have 10 more hours!!! happy questing In case you need it again..... cherryblossumoftx@hotmail.com These people need to log in their characters or contact me for their passwords: Anatole, Arathorn, Arctice, Arkane, Briney, Chavez, Cougar, Dinin, Drakin, Eriol, Faile, Fernanndes, Fuegen, Healint, Khalyn, Korin, Krugar, Luke, Mystra, Qbert, Reality, Recoil, Rheannon, Thermagoth, Thugee, Ugmo IDEAS: DrDeath: how is it that you can put flaming items in a container, but the container can be burned by mobs? Shiloh: a skill that druids and elves can learn that allowes them to make a scroll of a certain spell Scavenger: Add a way to pass all the remaining positional parameters in an alias to the alias in a single variable. (Slart knows what I mean.) DrDeath: it should be more probable that you hack of a limb of a mob when you are hungry... you would be more savage in a fight if you needed food to live as well BIOS (I'm out of them after this one! Please send more!) It's not that great... but hey, it doesnt have to be, right? 1) What's your BR name? Leiland, Isis, and some others... 2) What race/level are you? Well, Leiland is 68 human, and Isis is 46 kender 3)How did you pick your BR name? Leiland... I dunno... just thought it sounded cool, and Isis is an Egyptian Goddess and I like Egyptian mythology, even though I dont know much about it... 4) What's your favorite area? Umm... Dragon Desert is pretty cool... but I'd have to say... "there's no place like smurf!" 5) Where do you live? (state or province/county) California 6) What do you do for a living? Mooch money off my parents... and go to school... 7) If you're a college/grad student, what's your major? I'm not there yet, one more year, but I want to major in chemsitry. 8) What do you want to be when you grow up? Umm... chemist of some sort... I love chemsitry... 9) Are you single? No, I have a boyfriend of 2 years and 5 months 10) What are your hobbies? Reading sci-fi, playing MUD, doing math and chemistry... 11) What's the hardest thing you've ever had to do? Well, that one's tough... Hmmm... well... I don't know... Oh, I know! I took trig and honors chem at the same time... and at our school we have two terms, so we take 3-4 classes each term, instead of 6-8 the whole year, so we cover the same material in half the year, which means in math, you do two sections a day, instead of 1... and my chem teacher gave tons of homework... so it was extremely hard... 12) Who do you most admire? Well, I admire a lot of people... I admire most scientists, most authors, especially Orson Scott Card... I admire most parents, too... but I cant think of anyone specific... 13) Which celebrity would you like to hook up with? None really... they're cute and all, but I dont know them... 14) What's the last book you read, including for school? I read the Fellowship of the Ring, and it was awesome! 15) What's the last movie you watched? Gladiator. I watched it on DVD, it was great! Little gory at points, but the end is sooo cool... 16) If you could be anywhere in the world for a week, where would you go? I like my little town... but I think I'd have to go to Greece and Egypt... check out the museums! Responses to the September 9, 2001 newsletter by CORD: > Vishnu: some kind of throwing item that is sold by default at the > weaponsmith? Cord: Seems like a good idea to me. > See: you should be able to throw through open doors Cord: Also seems like a good idea. > Darkcrad: i think it will be cool to type a command showing the history > of battle updates hehe you could keep track of people leveling or dying > and entering the battle arena ooOooOOoOOooo Cord: And a hack history, shout history, etc. I'd like to see the chat code replicated for each of the public channels... > Snarf: put buy - buys of s on the help page of > buy and the sign.. Cord: Help files are good. Even better when they have all the pertinent information contained within them. > Lehua: how about every item have a key word somewhere in its > description... this'll save time on the guesswork.. ;-) Cord: This is up to the area coders... personal preference. > Darkcrad: a super cool spell called "kamakazy" it kills yourself and > kills all the mobs in the room oOOoOOoo well of course not all mobs will > be affected by this spell cos that would be kinda cheap :P Cord: An interesting idea... a spell so powerful, that by using it, you risk your own life. Misfire == death. This could be rather fun... > Cord: allow a system field for your prompt... > %t : Display the current mud time Cord: Slight typo... a system _time_ field for your prompt is what I'm refering too. > Rhyme: a spell for illithids which will allow them to send objects to > another player anywhere in the realm, and when they are high enough they > can send players to other players > > Packor: Spells that can change is a no-no :>, and illithids deal with > the mind, mostly. Telepathy is okay, but energy channeling, > translocation, and stuff like that are a bit far fetched. Cord: I agree with Packor on this not being the best of ideas. Too easily abused. > >> Saffron: Bah add wear location to identify > > Packor:I didn't see this at first, but this whole idea presents a > problem. Potions... can be held, but arn't for that purpose. Also, I > believe you know of items that can be worn or held or some other form of > bizarre combinations. Cord: I don't see this as a problem. Those items can still be held now. Providing that information flat out isn't going to encourage people to hold them; it's just going to know where they could be held. And anyways - in order to see the slot for the item, the would have to identify it. If it's been identified, they will know the attributes of it (or lack thereof) and decide then whether they want to wear it or not. Responses by Cord to Sept. 25 Newsletter: > > AMystery: be able to put mental barrier on mobs when > > writing areas. the spell lasts until someone attacks > > the mob then it goes for the normal one round > > Packor: How will it get the spell back? I mean other > mobs must be dispelled, but with a MB mob you only have > to attack. Cord: When the mop repops, it would have the spell once again. > Fossil: It seems to me that if the weather is bad > enough, it might just "knock the fly out of you." Just > a thought. Cord: I like this idea. I'm sure it would annoy the heck out of people, but at least it would bring _some_ significance back to movement points. And also, when the different areas == different weather gets put into effect, this would make things more interesting in a much more 'prolific' way. Kiri's WWW of URLs: Love compatibility quiz: http://ivillage.com/relationships/cupid/getinfo/1,7756,2-0,00.html From scavenger, fun little videos: http://www.theunderdogs.org/game.php?id=2936 This is creepy, it actually works! http://www.wotch.com/funstuff/funpages/thehand/default2.asp And finally, the funniest thing I've ever seen. http://www.ismokecrack.com/imagine/wee.swf New TV Shows Inspired by the Internet 1. Modem, She Wrote -- Each week, our intrepid detective tries to solve the ultimate mystery why her modem won't ever connect at 56k. 2. Micro-CHiPs -- Ponch and Jon now patrol the Information Superhighway. 3. Carly's Angels -- Chief exec Carly Fiorina instructs her team of three vixen market analysts on how to prop up HP's sagging stock price. 4. Hawaii 6.0 -- An upgraded version of the classic series. Steve McGarrett goes surfing for bad guys online. 5. T. J. Hacker -- A retired cop, with an uncanny resemblance to James T. Kirk, takes up computer hacking to track down the miscreants who canceled his TV show. 6. The Excel Files -- Inexplicable things are happening to the data in Microsoft Excel spreadsheets. Can this puzzle be solved? The truth is out there. 7. The AOL-Team -- Each week, AOL, Time Warner, Netscape, and Mr. T unite to promote corporate mergers and make the world safe for capitalism. 8. Magnum, PC -- This series about a crime-solving personal computer that goes by the code name Deep Blue is based in beautiful Hawaii. Season finale cliff-hanger: Will Deep Blue be seduced by the wily charms of the Texas Instruments Speak 'n' Spell? 9. The Incredible Bulk -- The exciting adventures of Windows, which just keeps growing and growing. 10. Buffy the Virus Slayer -- Buffy and her fearless gang of antivirus definitions stalk and kill VBS files--no small feat while wearing a halter top and high-heeled boots.