Newsletter April 27, 2003

[kiri]

Welcome to the Barren Realms MUD newsletter (Sorry it's late).

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IDEAS: Please feel free to hit reply.

AMystery: it doesn't seem right that wimpy and memory can be used together. if the mob flees then it shouldn't remember me and try to attack, it already knows its inferior

Stars: make it so that you sell items to only the shopkeeper that can buy them. That way you will not get the message "aod looks uninterested in a sword".

Birdseye: make all mobs become aggressive in the arena *g*

Grogar: pills shouldn't be affected by hunger..

Wood: there should be a druid spell called create beer

DevilsAngel: a history of all the tells you have sent

Leiland: ban laughing buddha from the arena

CrazyChaos: when you're in the rapids, a lake, a river, etc. you should be able to drink from it like drinking from a fountain

RadicalEd: create a new type of afk, only called aak for when i fall asleep while mudding...

RadicalEd: make the O in c4 a different color than the board so its easier to see?

Xorex: when someone summons a mob, it should get a flag so that only people grouped with the summoner can get experience for killing it

Xorex: There should be a restrictive measure on healing spells, either making them only work on grouped members or making them cost exponentially more to cast on other players with levels nowhere near the caster's

Birdseye: allow thief mobs to steal from other mobs, and have the mobs react to the thief as they would react to a player stealing from them

Birdseye: vision should not be affected by drunkenness, or detect hidden should be affected by drunkenness - they are both about powers of observation...

Keiichi: A help command to that gives information about being hit by lightning. Some people don't know they can be hit by lightning.

CrazyChaos: Frenzy/berzerk should last longer, but still not too much. Maybe kind of like Sanctuary works.

RadicalEd: some kind safety for remort like delete

Stars: make it impossible to trip or be tripped on or in water, swimming, sailing on a boat, underwater etc.

Icecold: nuke charmie code or modify it. i hate it. i hate it.
hate hate hate it! hehe. how about it set your gold (bank account, too)
to 0 and your exp to the max you need to level instead of a killer flag?
and make area attacks from players not affect char

Stars: I love the idea of peek being a command for looking at players. However, I prefer to see a mob's inventory just by looking at it. How about switching it back just for mobs?

Shi: you might want ot fix the help file for peek

RadicalEd: change the peek help file so it matches the adjustment

CrazyChaos: Maybe demons could get windzone or blast, dependant on what type of wings they get.

Hana: I'd like something to be done about the Commander of the City Guard...I'm sick of him kicking my ass when I'm trying to kill termites

Crater: The "eyes of the green dragon" in Chmabers in the Clouds that teleport you to the council should take less time to teleport you.

Brodgar: Add a few bells and whistles to reimb so that data like renames aren't lost to crashes.

Enter: the help peek should be updated due to the changes of the skill

Shi: there should be a use for extra prac sessions

Moldfinger: a way to forget a skill, particularly an OOG. You have an XP penalty of double your max XP for that level but then you go down to what it would be without the OOG penalty next level

DevilsAngel: we should have a beep history, that way if we missed any we could see that!!

DevilsAngel: that only Ken can use tainted weapons, like how only Elves and druids can handle flaming

Peel: a skill/spell that avians can use to put poison on their claws

Shadowhawk: how about demons get enhanced damage? We are supposed to be all mean and stuff right?

AMystery: I think something needs to be done with hp. Characters are so powerful these days that arena battles lose much of the point. An avatar demon can kill another avatar demon in one-two rounds so there is no skill involved, just who goes first and luck

AMystery: I propose changing the way hp is gained and changing some of the abilities that are hp based. If characters ended up with greater hp, almost equivalent to the mobs they fight (con would have meaning again)

Eol: a command that shows the ten most recent characters who used the profile command with your character's name

AMystery: In case I forgot to tsay this earlier. I think that xp and cost for enhancing should increase with level. I'd prefer it to jump suddenly at 51, and possibly again at 101

AMystery: as a corollary, its again been suggested that we increase the stat maxes so that heroes have something else to enhance

AMystery: change two of the death messages to denote the cause, suicide or bleeding to death for players

AMystery: I wonder if the track code could be improved by having it search for mobs near your level first. that should be the majority so it should be the fastest

Melissa: the command for 'away from keyboard' should be altered so that when the flag is put up, you don't suffer the effects of hunger, or at least not as fast, and so on, since you are *away* from the computer. It can also be altered so that it cannot be t

Peel: a dispel magic spell that you can pay a healer to cast on you

Liubei: an item that affects your align

Moldfinger: change it so you can hr from battle

Eol: could we have a listing of level 151 Demons on the Wizlist ?

Peel: a demons normal human arm should be able to disarm someone if it does nothing... or have a skill where it could tie up the mobs arm if they have a weapon so they cant hit u with the weapon

Akasha: How bout extending the benefits of ac further past -300 ac or whatever invincible is, -1500 ac shouldnt be good for nothing

Peel: poses for demons like all the other races

Ack: Give size to pets (or anything for that matter) and that way you could put the smaller pets inside packs (ie ferrets, if you charm a smurf or somethign)

Moldfinger: the destruction of a foul rites bag claims it singes your hands. it should do a little damage

Shadowhawk: Have "heal restore" cure poison and disease if needed. Yes, I'm that lazy.

AMystery: avians and demons now vary from the normal equipment slots. Lets continue the theme by adding and removing some slots from other races, especially Ill which is a different body type

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Kiri's WWW of URLS;


Maximum Double Universal Timekick Warrant: A Jean-Claude Van Damme Cinematic Retrospective
http://www.thewavemag.com/pagegen.php?p ... leid=23130

The IraqoMeter
http://www.iraqometer.com/

Top 100 Hoaxes
http://www.museumofhoaxes.com/top100.html

From Scavenger:
http://www.reallifecomics.com/d/20030128.html

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Jokes from Amystery:

1. Only in America...can a pizza get to your house faster than an ambulance.
3. Only in America...do drugstores make the sick walk all the way to the
back of the store to get their prescriptions while healthy people can buy
cigarettes at the front.
4. Only in America...do people order double cheeseburgers, large fries, and
a diet coke.
5. Only in America...do banks leave both doors open and then chain the pens
to the counters.
6. Only in America...do we leave cars worth thousands of dollars in the
driveway and put our useless junk in the garage.
7. Only in America...do we use answering machines to screen calls and then
have call waiting so we won't miss a call from someone we didn't want to
talk to in the first place.
8. Only in America...do we buy hot dogs in packages of ten and buns in
packages of eight. (THIS ONE ALWAYS BUGGED ME!)
9. Only in America...do we use the word 'politics' to describe the process
so well: 'Poli' in Latin meaning 'many' and 'tics' meaning 'bloodsucking
creatures'.
10. Only in America...do they have drive-up ATM machines with Braille
lettering.


EVER WONDER ~~~~
Why the sun lightens our hair, but darkens our skin?
Why women can't put on mascara with their mouth closed?
Why don't you ever see the headline "Psychic Wins Lottery"?
Why is "abbreviated" such a long word?
Why is it that doctors call what they do "practice"?
Why is it that to stop Windows 98, you have to click on "Start"?
Why is lemon juice made with artificial flavor, and dishwashing liquid is
made with real lemons?
Why is the man who invests all your money called a broker?
Why is the time of day with the slowest traffic called rush hour?
Why isn't there mouse-flavored cat food?
When dog food is new and improved tasting, who tests it?
Why didn't Noah swat those two mosquitoes?
Why do they sterilize the needle for lethal injections?
You know that indestructible black box that is used on airplanes? Why don't
they make the whole plane out of that stuff?
Why don't sheep shrink when it rains?
Why are they called apartments when they are all stuck together?
If con is the opposite of pro, is Congress the opposite of progress?
If flying is so safe, why do they call the airport the terminal? ~~~~~

In case you needed further proof that the human race is doomed through
stupidity, here are some actual label instructions on consumer goods.

On a Sears hairdryer: Do not use while sleeping. (And that's the only time I
have to work on my hair.)
On a bag of Fritos: You could be a winner! No purchase necessary. Details
inside. (The shoplifter special?)
On a bar of Dial soap: "Directions: Use like regular soap." (And that would
be how??...) On some
Swanson frozen dinners: "Serving suggestion: Defrost." (But, it's "just" a
suggestion.)
On Tesco's Tiramisu dessert (printed on bottom): "Do not turn upside down."
(Well...duh, a bit late, huh!)
On Marks &Spencer Bread Pudding: "Product will be hot after heating."
(...And you thought????...)
On packaging for a Rowenta iron: "Do not iron clothes on body." (But
wouldn't this save me more time?)
On Boot's Children Cough Medicine: ?Do not drive a car or operate machinery
after taking this medication."(We could do a lot to reduce the rate of
construction accidents if we could just get those 5-year-olds with head
colds off those forklifts.)
On Nytol Sleep Aid: "Warning: May cause drowsiness." (And... I'm taking this
because???....)
On most brands of Christmas lights: "For indoor or outdoor use only." (As
opposed to...what?)
On a Japanese food processor: "Not to be used for the other use." (Now,
somebody out there, help me on this. I'm a bit curious.)
On Sunsbury's peanuts: "Warning: contains nuts." (Talk about a news flash)
On an American Airlines packet of nuts: "Instructions: Open packet, eat
nuts."(Step 3: maybe, uh...fly Delta?)
On a child's superman costume: "Wearing of this garment does not enable you
to fly." (I don't blame the company. I blame the parents for this one.)
On a Swedish chainsaw: ?Do not attempt to stop chain with your hands or
genitals." (...Was there a lot of this happening somewhere?)

[Anakin]

DevilsAngel: a history of all the tells you have sent

*nods* This would be really helpful especially for me who keeps mistelling.

CrazyChaos: when you're in the rapids, a lake, a river, etc. you should be able to drink from it like drinking from a fountain

Sure then we can also have a random dirty part of them where when you drink, you get poisoned.

RadicalEd: make the O in c4 a different color than the board so its easier to see?

|O| Hmm.. even in here it's easy to see... It's just probably me but I've never had difficulty differentiating | and O.

Xorex: when someone summons a mob, it should get a flag so that only people grouped with the summoner can get experience for killing it

Xorex: There should be a restrictive measure on healing spells, either making them only work on grouped members or making them cost exponentially more to cast on other players with levels nowhere near the caster's

I take it that this is another proposal against level 50 druids? Damn, so now I need druids for every 5 levels to group with. =[

Icecold: nuke charmie code or modify it. i hate it. i hate it.
hate hate hate it! hehe. how about it set your gold (bank account, too)
to 0 and your exp to the max you need to level instead of a killer flag?
and make area attacks from players not affect char

I would really hate this if it ever happens. I don't want to lose millions of gold if what I did was an accident...

Shi: you might want ot fix the help file for peek

RadicalEd: change the peek help file so it matches the adjustment

Enter: the help peek should be updated due to the changes of the skill

Crater: The "eyes of the green dragon" in Chmabers in the Clouds that teleport you to the council should take less time to teleport you.

It's fine the way it is but hey, if they want to shorten the better.

Shi: there should be a use for extra prac sessions

Probably a really powerful spell that costs 1000 practices? Like 5 of them and we can pick which one we want to practice?

Shadowhawk: how about demons get enhanced damage? We are supposed to be all mean and stuff right?

You mean, having twice the damroll of a normal character isn't being mean and stuff?

AMystery: as a corollary, its again been suggested that we increase the stat maxes so that heroes have something else to enhance

How is this going to work for the avatars? Do they have to remort to enhance them again?

Melissa: the command for 'away from keyboard' should be altered so that when the flag is put up, you don't suffer the effects of hunger, or at least not as fast, and so on, since you are *away* from the computer. It can also be altered so that it cannot be t

If you will be afk and don't want your character to be hungry/thirsty, make a trigger to make them eat and drink when hungry/thirsty or quit the game before you go potty.

Moldfinger: change it so you can hr from battle

I still don't get why they changed the code so we can hr from a battle with Baal but we can't hr from a normal battle. I guess I'm just slow.

Peel: a demons normal human arm should be able to disarm someone if it does nothing... or have a skill where it could tie up the mobs arm if they have a weapon so they cant hit u with the weapon

It would let you hold both a nondemon_wearable light and a nondemon_wearable held item. So it really does nothing hehe. :p

AMystery: avians and demons now vary from the normal equipment slots. Lets continue the theme by adding and removing some slots from other races, especially Ill which is a different body type

The view of a druid wearing a dwarven armor is still hunting me.

[Ginzor]

Only in America...do people order double cheeseburgers, large fries, and a diet coke.

Only in America...do banks leave both doors open and then chain the pens to the counters.

Only in America...do we leave cars worth thousands of dollars in the
driveway and put our useless junk in the garage.

Only in America...do we buy hot dogs in packages of ten and buns in
packages of eight.

Not only in America I'm afraid

[Ginzor]

AMystery: I think something needs to be done with hp. Characters are so powerful these days that arena battles lose much of the point. An avatar demon can kill another avatar demon in one-two rounds so there is no skill involved, just who goes first and luck

Maybe you could fix the ac thingie with this.
I mean mortals can have nice fights as it is but for heroes and avatars they are to powerfull but they have lower ac.
Demons have the lowest ac and are the most powerfull too..this would make the demons alot better then ordinary avatars in arena too and wouldn't make a mayor code change.
I mean if you give the mobs alot more hitroll or so.

[kyrathaba]

Frankly, I think the Demon is great! Someone said a Demon Avatar is more powerful than a non-demon avatar. Well, they should be! They're demons, not just very powerful mortals!

As for all those accumulated practice sessions that never get used, why not let them be useable to improve some existing skills or attributes? Perhaps they could be spent to improve the hit percentage of "jab" or "crush"?

I didn't like the idea of placing limitations on Druid's healing ability and who they can target with it. Druids tend to be a bit underplayed as is, since many players go in for the more "tanky" types. Let's not give anyone a reason to shun the class further. If anything, go the other direction. Perhaps extra practices for Druid mortals could be spent on a "group sanctuary" spell?

I LOVE the option to remort repeatedly. Those who want to remort over and over till they accumulate 60,000 hit points and win every arena challenge should be able to do so. If they put in the time and effort, let them reap the reward.

[Anakin]

I LOVE the option to remort repeatedly. Those who want to remort over and over till they accumulate 60,000 hit points and win every arena challenge should be able to do so. If they put in the time and effort, let them reap the reward.

You must be a real addict to do this... you only get 20/25 hp per remort and you're talking some major hp additions. :p I've remorted 10 times and this never hit me until now.

[xorex]

I didn't like the idea of placing limitations on Druid's healing ability and who they can target with it. Druids tend to be a bit underplayed as is, since many players go in for the more "tanky" types. Let's not give anyone a reason to shun the class further. If anything, go the other direction. Perhaps extra practices for Druid mortals could be spent on a "group sanctuary" spell?

No, you miss the point. This doesn't prevent people from playing druids at all. This prevents people from abusing the game. Right now people just sit in room and summon mobs for their char to kill from level 5 to 50. I don't call that playing a druid. That's not even mudding. My suggestions do not affect druids in groups at all. It only affects druids used in conjunction with much lower level chars.

[Melissa]

Melissa: the command for 'away from keyboard' should be altered so that when the flag is put up, you don't suffer the effects of hunger, or at least not as fast, and so on, since you are *away* from the computer. It can also be altered so that it cannot be t

If you will be afk and don't want your character to be hungry/thirsty, make a trigger to make them eat and drink when hungry/thirsty or quit the game before you go potty. :)

My idea got cut off about halfway thru, so here's the entire thing:

"idea : The command for "away from keyboard" should be altered
so that when the flag is put up, you don't suffer the effects
of hunger, thirst, attacks, etc. at all or as fast, because you
are literally *away* from the computer and can't help it. It
can also be altered so that it cannot be taken advantage of, by
making it respond to keyboard entries, just like being sucked
into limbo does. This way someone can only have the flag up
when they are *not* actively playing, and when they start
entering commands, the flag automatically goes away. You could
even put a mandatory 5 min. limit on it, so if you put the flag
up, you can't immediately take it down again. "


And i don't play thru a client, I use telnet straight, so I *can't* make triggers for "simple" things like that. And I was more referring to playing while at work, BTW. *Some* people don't have a desktop/computer type job, and have to steal minutes here and there to play (yes, addicted. Sue me.) And finally, if you *want* people, especially new people, to submit ideas, it's a good idea *not* to mock them on their first attempt.

I just want to say, since I found BR in (late?) Feb., I've met some of the nicest, friendliest people here, and I truly consider those of you I've met to be good friends. I'm still learning about BR, MUDs, Telnet, and everything else that I've never heard of before, and appreciate all the help and advice I've received. Looking forward to seeing you all in BR!

Melissa

[Comatose]

I didn't like the idea of placing limitations on Druid's healing ability and who they can target with it. Druids tend to be a bit underplayed as is, since many players go in for the more "tanky" types. Let's not give anyone a reason to shun the class further. If anything, go the other direction. Perhaps extra practices for Druid mortals could be spent on a "group sanctuary" spell?

No, you miss the point. This doesn't prevent people from playing druids at all. This prevents people from abusing the game. Right now people just sit in room and summon mobs for their char to kill from level 5 to 50. I don't call that playing a druid. That's not even mudding. My suggestions do not affect druids in groups at all. It only affects druids used in conjunction with much lower level chars.

I totally agree with Xorex, but it really bugs me to see a level 50 druid doing nothing but spelling up lower level characters and summoning mobs to lower level characters. When I was a mortal druid I was always very helpful, but I wasn't going to do the work for others and I wasn't going to use my high level druid to do the work for my lower level characters. Back when I was a mortal it was very taboo to have any character sit at level 50. In my opinion it is just laziness to sit and have the druid summon the mob instead of going to find it.
Just to make sure I am clear about spells. I have no problem with any mortal druid spelling up other morts at any level. I just don't like that being there only purpose for existing. I have the same issue with high level heros doing the same thing.

[Comatose]

Melissa, it is great to have a new addict to join the rest of us addicts.
Thank you for your suggestion.

[Slart]

I didn't like the idea of placing limitations on Druid's healing ability and who they can target with it. Druids tend to be a bit underplayed as is, since many players go in for the more "tanky" types. Let's not give anyone a reason to shun the class further. If anything, go the other direction. Perhaps extra practices for Druid mortals could be spent on a "group sanctuary" spell?

No, you miss the point. This doesn't prevent people from playing druids at all. This prevents people from abusing the game. Right now people just sit in room and summon mobs for their char to kill from level 5 to 50. I don't call that playing a druid. That's not even mudding. My suggestions do not affect druids in groups at all. It only affects druids used in conjunction with much lower level chars.

I totally agree with Xorex, but it really bugs me to see a level 50 druid doing nothing but spelling up lower level characters and summoning mobs to lower level characters. When I was a mortal druid I was always very helpful, but I wasn't going to do the work for others and I wasn't going to use my high level druid to do the work for my lower level characters. Back when I was a mortal it was very taboo to have any character sit at level 50. In my opinion it is just laziness to sit and have the druid summon the mob instead of going to find it.
Just to make sure I am clear about spells. I have no problem with any mortal druid spelling up other morts at any level. I just don't like that being there only purpose for existing. I have the same issue with high level heros doing the same thing.

There are some problems with this from a game balance standpoint, and I can see that we will have to seriously consider renewed vigor in enforcement of the long-standing rule about level 50 characters.

That said, if this is the way people want to play -- as mind-boggling as that is -- I don't have a huge problem with it. I see no reason to add restrictions to penalize a given style of play. BR's a game, but it's not really a competition. The advantage gained from styles of play that I might call cheap comes at a price in terms of experiencing what the game has to offer. If some people can't be bothered, I don't see how it's our place to tell them they're wrong about how they like to have fun.

[Divebomb]

That said, if this is the way people want to play -- as mind-boggling as that is -- I don't have a huge problem with it. I see no reason to add restrictions to penalize a given style of play. BR's a game, but it's not really a competition. The advantage gained from styles of play that I might call cheap comes at a price in terms of experiencing what the game has to offer. If some people can't be bothered, I don't see how it's our place to tell them they're wrong about how they like to have fun.

The only comment I have to make on that, because I don't really disagree, is that, imo, far too many people adopt the "cheap" style of gameplay. When a newer player sees everyone else playing like this, they're likely to think there's no alternatives - i've seen it happen. Whenever i play muds, i go where everyone else goes or tells me to go for a long time until I feel comfortable enough to go out on my own.

I don't really care if someone wants to take their level 1 char up to 51 with their 50 druid tagging along all the time. I don't like when they ruin the game for others. I welcome people into my groups when i'm playing a mortal but if they bring along their big-boy alt, i send them packing.

I wish people would only ruin the game for themself, not for others.

[kyrathaba]

That said, if this is the way people want to play -- as mind-boggling as that is -- I don't have a huge problem with it. I see no reason to add restrictions to penalize a given style of play. BR's a game, but it's not really a competition. The advantage gained from styles of play that I might call cheap comes at a price in terms of experiencing what the game has to offer. If some people can't be bothered, I don't see how it's our place to tell them they're wrong about how they like to have fun.

I agree completely. It's just a game. Why should one worry about whether someone else seems to be making things "easy" for their lower-level character by using a high-level druid. How is that cheating? I personally wouldn't do it, but I see no reason to tell others they cannot, even if it seems like the easy way out from my point of view. Those who feel that the use of high-level druids to make advancement easier is "wrong" are free not to participate in it. As for worrying about whether new mudders will be corrupted by this lazy style of play, I concede that this is a legitimate concern. Perhaps brand new characters (not remorts) could be flagged so that they cannot receive spells from a druid who is -- say -- X levels higher than the character's level.

Just an idea.

[Stars]

Perhaps brand new characters (not remorts) could be flagged so that they cannot receive spells from a druid who is -- say -- X levels higher than the character's level.

The only problem I see with this is that it would prevent heroes from casting spells on true newbies.
I would like to see something done so that high level druids are not able to ruin the fun for others. I have entered a full area and suddenly all the mobs are summoned away, some even from right under my nose (right as I was about to kill them). Of course, it does give me a reason to try out other areas I am not so familiar with.

[Comatose]

I agree completely. It's just a game. Why should one worry about whether someone else seems to be making things "easy" for their lower-level character by using a high-level druid. How is that cheating? I personally wouldn't do it, but I see no reason to tell others they cannot, even if it seems like the easy way out from my point of view. Those who feel that the use of high-level druids to make advancement easier is "wrong" are free not to participate in it. As for worrying about whether new mudders will be corrupted by this lazy style of play, I concede that this is a legitimate concern. Perhaps brand new characters (not remorts) could be flagged so that they cannot receive spells from a druid who is -- say -- X levels higher than the character's level.

Just an idea.

Yes it is a game, but all games have rules and restrictions to make the game more difficult. I seem to be in the minority about this rule, but I still think it could be valid. Coding it so a new character can't receive spells from higher level characters doesn't seem to be any different from the rule. If you don't consider it cheating then why code for it? I don't consider it cheating, because the rule is not being enforced, but it is something that really bothers me.
I also agree with DB I think that it has very much been adopted by new players to the mud. I was shocked at how prevalent it is now.

Just my opinion.