Legendary Times vol.3 no.9
Previous Issue Main Index Next Issue =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= .............._______ ............./ / THE LEGENDARY TIMES ............/ / .........../ /.....______.._____.....______.._____.......____ ........../ /...../ /./ \.../ /./ \...../ \ ........./ /...../ ___/./ ____/../ ___/./ __. \.../ /\ \ ......../ /...../ /_.../ /....../ /_.../ /..\>./ /./ / ......./ /...../ __/../ /____../ __/../ /.../ /./ /./ / ....../ /_____/__/__../ \_\ /./ /__../ /.../ /./ /_/ / ...../ / /./ /./ /./ /.../ /./ / ..../ /_/..\______/./_____/./__/.../__/./_______/ MUD .../________________/ running on mud.aus.sig.net 9999 199.1.78.16 9999 =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= http://mud.aus.sig.net/ ftp://mud.aus.sig.net/pub =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= VOLUME THREE, ISSUE SEVEN and ONE HALF July 30, 1996 =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= NEW IMMORTALS!!! UPDATES -Coding- -Building- -Player Descriptions- ANNOUNCEMENTS -Lecture Series- -Trivia!!- -Border Contest Results- -Ultima On-Line Beta Testing- -Web Page Award- ARTICLES -Newbies and You- LEGENDARY WORKS -A New Beowulf Saga- -The Disturbing Case of John Doe- -The Life of a Legendite- -A Newlyn's Journal- =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Please send your responses to articles to the Legendary Times address at lt@mud.aus.sig.net. Letters to the editor are welcomed. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Since this is the first issue in a long time, there's quite a back log of material to catch up on. Some things which ought to be in, may well not be, and will hopefully be included in issue Eight. In addition, since there were so many reader contributions for this issue, I've replaced this issue's social section with a "lit" section. Those who have social events which they would like reported in the next issue should send e-mail or mud-mail. Thanks for your patience! - Rusalka -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=--=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= NEW IMMORTALS!!! Legend has recently acquired many new immorts. In the Building Dept, recent additions include Deanna, Leila, Joule, Sandra, and Sabella. All of the new immorts are very familiar with Legend. Deanna, who wishes to be Patron Saint of Cats, is working on Melbourne in the year 1859, at the end of the Victorian goldrush. As Melbourne is also her real-life hometown, this seems especially appropriate. She's been on Legend for nearly a year now, and promises her area will be really interesting and well worth a visit. Leila is currently working on a Ph.D. in Art History/Theory majoring in Film Theory. Her thesis is on the titles of the film 'Seven.' Another Australian, Leila lives in Sydney by the beach and is learning to surf this summer. She backpacked around the world for a year and a half after finishing her undergraduate work. Appropriate to her vast worldly experience, Leila is working on a Carnival area which will move around the mud. She plans to attend either the University of Chicago or NYU next year, and hopes to make documentary films someday. Joule is on vacation and thus could not be reached for comment. A long time player, she is planning to debug area files, and so forth. Sandra started mudding over a year ago. In fact, Legend was her first go at playing any Internet games. Her area, Salem, Mass, is set around the times of the well-known witch trials of the 17th century. She's already quite a ways towards completing her area, and it looks to be lots of fun. Sandra is also working in PR, helping out Rusalka while she was moving and away from the mud, and working on the Lecture Series. (Tuesdays, 7:00 or 8:00 EST, ya'll come now, ya hear - shameless plug :). Sabella has been mudding for around 4 years now and causes equal amounts of trouble wherever she goes. Legend is the only mud that has kept her interest for any length of time. She recently acquired an undergraduate degree in Art History, specializing in ancient to medieval artwork, especially medieval and early renaissance, and has spent some time working on a Master's. Her thesis is on the Development of the 'Triumph' or Tarot, and much of this work is finding its way into her area, Italy in the Early Renaissance. She's also aiding and abetting Rusalka and Sandra in PR, working on the Lecture Series. Other departments are also acquiring immorts at a rapid pace. Recently immorted in Administration is Baca who has been wandering LegendMUD for about 2 years now. He says it is one of the first muds he found, and, in spite of some forays into other muds, the only one he's stuck with. He continues: "I particularly like the range of players we get on LegendMud and the complexity of the environment it provides for their interaction. As a newbie immort in Admin, I hope to help maintain and further improve that environment, so that players can get the most out of the time they spend on Legend with minimum hassle. In my spare time (heh), I'm in the process of becoming one of those bottom-dwelling, paper-generating, flesh-tearing fellows we call attorneys. Since I think this is as funny as anyone, I'll accept--by mudmail--between now and August 1, 1996, any lawyer jokes you want to send me. The funniest (short and appropriately clean, please) will be incorporated into my poofs for as long as this whole thing doesn't get old. :) In the rest of my spare time (heh heh), I write and ruminate on everything under the sun (and some things over it). For a sample of my ramblings, take a look at the full text of the speech I gave on LegendMud the other night on the Communications Decency Act, at www.nicom.com/~mseidl/CDA.HTM. (case sensitive)." NOTE: This was the first of the Lecture Series. Be sure and come here the rest - more shameless plugs :) Last, but certainly not least (!), are our new immortals in the Player Relations Department. Spencer, who is also on vacation (and thus beyond our alliterative reach) has been playing on Legend for over a year now. His role playing includes a tour of duty with the Order of the Scroll, where he also did quite a bit of newbie assistance. Not surprisingly, his main area of interest in PR is newbie assistance. Not only will he be manning the watch for newbies who could use a hand with help menus, sleeping, and so forth, but he's also planning to overhaul the newbie manual (available through the main menu). Moreover, he has many, many ideas for new games beyond the familier realms recall tag and flag quests. Clutch, another long time player, is mainly interested in writing for us. More specifically, he'd like to put his years of experience with college newspapers, picky editors, and so forth to use at the Legendary Times. Already, he's got plans for columns debating various game issues, and so forth. He's also been looking around for good material among the various role-plays and happenings among players, so be sure to let him know if you've anything that you'd like reported in our "social" column. Lirra, yet another long time player (dating back from Legend's very first incarnation on an Apple Macintosh, no less!), is most interested in developing role play. She'd like to get some lively TinyPlots going, as well as work with player killing clans to strengthen role-play (something she's well qualified for given her experience as both a Hermetic and Knight of Legend :) Incidentally, for those who haven't heard of TinyPlots before, they originated on MUSH's (games similar to MUD's, only without the MOB's to kill). A TinyPlot is basically a (somewhat) organized group scale role play event. They can be sponsored by immortals, although that isn't necessary (for instance, a plague might strike Tudor London -- players would then act out their symptoms and efforts to combat the foul disease. Although TinyPlots may start with a fairly organized plan, they very often spontaneously become something wholly different then originally planned (an occurrence which is held to be a Very Good Thing among avid TinyPlotters). For those who are interested, there are yet many openings in the PR department (OK, shameless plug!). Mainly, we need folks who enjoy helping out newbies, answering questions, and basically acting as player-liaisons. In addition, we are looking for folks who are interested in promoting role-play events, through role play seminars, impromptu role play (*GLOOSH*), and organizing TinyPlots (you can never have too many TinyPlots!). We are also seeking writers, advertisers, game inventors, and so forth. In particular, we very much need someone to look after and/or install the Web pages. Those who are interested should send an HTTP address containing an example of their work (for instance, a home page), to Rusalka. -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- CODE UPDATES Thanks to Hunter Rose, our board appends have a totally new look (shameless Coders' plug !). No more do you have to read through all the appends on every message, no more is it nearly impossible to look up a particular append. Instead, the various appends are listed under the main message by number. To read a particular message, for say, the fifth append of message 8, simply type "read board 8 5." The Coders have also been making good progress on fixing the memory leaks which we've been suffering for the past several months. Finally, for those who have been waiting for skill trees (including me), the latest ETA is sometime in the middle of this year (it's been a long and difficult coding process, so bear with us!). -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- BUILDING UPDATES The Building Department has overhauled several areas in order to bring them more in line with the mud overall game balance. These include Ireland, Industrial London, Bengal, Macao and India. Although the areas won't be unrecognizable, certain mobs and items may not quite be what you remember them to be. We've added patches to San Francisco to cut down on the number of mobs with outrageous stats, but ask that you PLEASE let Kaige or Rufus know of ANY bugs that you find in Frisco (both helpful and harmful). -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- FTP/WEB UPDATE It's again possible to get at the Volume One issues of the Legendary Times via ftp and the web. Sorry for the snafu--it was a case of mixed-up permissions on the directory housing those old issues. -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- DESCRIPTION UPDATES Many, many people have changed their long and/or short descriptions lately. Below is a partial list (if your desc change has been left out, please let us know so we can put it in the next issue :). Lust: (long) it was: "A dark seductress undresses you with her sultry gaze" it is: "a sultry seductress undresses you with her magnetic gaze" Egami: short: A thin asiatic fighter long: A thin asiatic fighter irradiating power is standing here, concentrating. Kelvin: short: a betrayed thief long: A sad thief with a blade in his back stands here in a pool of his own blood. On a somewhat similar note, Pegasus recently achieved the 100 million experience mark, and has subsequently decided to unclan (be sure to congratulate him on his achievement!) -=-=-=-=-=-=-=- LEGEND LECTURE SERIES!!!! As many of you know we've started a lecture series here at Legend with both in-game and out-of-game topics. The following is a schedule of the first 4 in the series. Updates will be appended to the PR board post. RolePlay and How to Best Utilize Your Character speaker: Agrippa date: Tuesday, July 30 at 9pm eastern Where: OOC Auditorium Cooking for the Internet Junky speaker: Chocorua date: Tuesday, August 6 at 8pm eastern where: OOC Auditorium Each will be posted on the welcome board a week in advance with a short bio of each speaker. Check back often for updates. And we hope you all enjoy them. Our first topic, the CDA in context, was held Tuesday July 16th, Baca was the speaker and there was a brief discussion afterwards. His speech can be seen in its entirety at http://www.nicom.com/-mseidl/CDA.HTM (warning: this site IS case sensitive). Our second talk was given on LegendMUD's combat system, by Arkenstone this past Tuesday. As with the last, there was also a brief discussion afterwards. If you missed Ark's speech, you'll be able to find it on the web page, in case you don't know the address, its http:\\mud.aus.sig.net . Our upcoming speech, 'RolePlaying and how to best utilize your character' will be given by Agrippa. The following is a brief bio that Agrippa sent in: About a year ago, when I got my modem, I read about muds in a newbies Internet guide. At first I wasn't terribly interested, but became hooked when I began to interact with other players on Legend. In that year I've played here almost exclusively, partly because of the historical format, but mainly because of the quality of people I've met, and the care everyone has taken to give this mud a depth I haven't found anywhere else. I've been fortunate to live an exotic and exciting life, in which I've been a Catholic priest, mafia hit man, Latin American dictator, and short-order cook. My dream is to be able to tell each of my three wives about the existence of the others and to share a communal house wherein I burn incense and am referred to as 'The Messiah'. -Agrippa We hope that you all enjoy this series that we've begun, and ask that if anyone has a topic that you might enjoy hearing about or giving yourself, mudmail Sabella or Sandra. We have also posted to various newsgroups inviting outsiders to come and listen in on these discussions. -=-=-=-=-=-=-=- TRIVIA!!! Parrilyn has been running regular trivia games, including ones based on various themes which have proven quite popular all around. To check on fellow trivia players' standings, as well as to see when the next game will be held, we invite you to peruse the trvia board, in the PR wing of the OOC. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .: :.:.: :.:.: :.:.: :.:.: :.:.: :.:.: :.:.: :.:.: :.:.: :.:.: :.:.: BORDER CONTEST RESULTS After long and careful consultation with various persons (most notably, Sandra), we've (finally) judged this year's winner to be Elidan, Northstar's daughter. You can find her winning design just above the "lit" section of this issue. Thanks to all who entered the contest -- it was a very tough contest to judge. All those who entered will receive a cookie or certificate for one, while Elidan will receive a string coupon for her winning entry. -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- ULTIMA ON-LINE BETA TESTING Alright guys! Ptah, Kaige, Rufus, Sadist, and many others have been working on this game for a LONG time...the pre-alpha test is already long gone.....now the beta is here!! Those of you who dreamed of a real graphical MUD may want to take a look at this....and perhaps about 1000 other players will be on at the same time. The system requirements are fairly steep, however, and here goes for the WIN95 version: 8 megabytes of RAM(prefers 32) 486DX4/75 CPU(prefers 133Mhz Pentium) VLB or PCI video with 1 Megabyte of RAM(prefers 2 MBs with PCI) 50 MEGS of HD space(prefers 150MBS) 2X CDROM(prefers 4XCDROM) 16-bit soundcard .....and a REALLY GOOD MOUSE:) You can register at www.owo.com(I think) and you will find more info there) you must send $2 check to cover cost of CD and postage See you online!(beta tests prolly start sometime in the fall...) - Xenon -=-=-=-=-=-=- WEB AWARD! EyeOnTheWeb has just named the LegendMUD official Home page one of the most outstanding on the Net! As a winner of the "Selected Site Award" we get to place an award graphic on our page, and will be featured in EyeOnTheWeb's catalog of notable Internet sites at http://www.eyeontheweb.com. Grats to all those who contributed to or worked on the web pages! -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- NEWBIES AND YOU (by Farnsworth) This is being humbly submitted as my opinion on newbie matters. Some may agree with me others may not but for what it's worth this is my opinion. I would like to start this with a definition of newbie. As I see it there are three types of newbie. There is the first time ever on a mud newbie. There is the first time at Legend experienced mudder newbie. And there is the new character for an established player newbie. Unfortunately I think most of the trouble I have experienced from newbies has been from the last group which should really be the least trouble. The true newbie, the person who falls into category 1, deserves all the help we can give them as far as explaining our system of play, getting good armor for their level, and advice on mobs to kill and places to go. Funny, I have NEVER had a true newbie be anything other than astounded by my generosity when I have given them a little money, bought them some newbie gear, taken them to Sherwood or Klein, told them how to con things, then told them to go and kill with my blessings. The next sort of newbie, the new to Legend but knows mudding sort, is usually even more happy with the way I treat them cause they are usually ready to be ignored on a new mud. Once in awhile I find one who asks me to level them and after I explain that the Legend system isn't really conducive to that sort of thing when there is too great a split in levels they are USUALLY understanding and I have never been treated rudely by one of them after I gave them what help I would and sent them off to kill. I am often saddened, however, by the last sort of newbie. For those who don't know me, I am a simple Victorian doctor who couldn't fight his way out of a sack with his original stats and who isn't a great deal better of a fighter now (but much happier with his stats this time). I tend to heal others in my level range and can perform a nice entrance or calm so they tend to put up with me alright, but I level slowly and fight a LOT of mobs (level 41 and hasn't soloed a cap yet). I DON'T level people. Never have. I WILL group with you for exp if you are within ten of my level either way cause it is beneficial to both of us. A doctor's a real nice thing for a tank to have with him. But even with all that what I want to say would be true even if I WERE a tank. When a newbie comes on and asks (or even demands) to be leveled I take an instant dislike of this person. Especially after I politely tell them no a couple of times and they keep asking me. It is even nastier for one to hit me with a tell to help them as soon as I've signed on. It is particularly frustrating for me since I don't really believe it is helpful for a low level to try grouping with higher levels. I recently fell off a mountain (as some of you may recall) and my wife and brother (levels 50 and 48 respectively) tried desperately to help me out and so we ran around industrial killing things. I got 40 pts for the vampire as a level one. And I could have been killed. After the rp aspect of it was done (they REALLY did need to react that way in the rp sense), we split up and for awhile I leveled a bit by myself, I admit completely that my dear wife killed many a mob helping me get my memory back, but I WAS a level 50 and she IS my wife. The point of all this is I think newbies (all types) should hear how I think leveling can be done both relatively quickly and have a lot of fun doing it. My advice is GROUP. Group as often as you can. At low levels group with others within 2 or 3 levels of yourself. The gap can widen as you gain skills with which to benefit the group. The exp split never seems like enough i know. It seldom adds up to the total available exp even when fighting 'perfect matches' with like levels. I've never understood why but I do accept that there will never be as much exp gained with someone as appears in the total. However killing something alone will never get you as much exp as the total available anyway. BUT when fighting with someone else you have a waker, more damage inflicted per round, a bandager (hopefully), a helper in carrying heavy objects (for example someone to help you carry stuff to sell or money to bank), and company. Sure you can probably take on the same mobs you kill together by yourself but how long will it take and how long will you have to heal up afterward? Together two level sixes got over 4000 pts each in 45 minutes recently killing nothing but animals and an occasional slave. When low level, kill everything in your path that you can *evil grin* - NOTHING is beneath you! You'll level in no time. But be aware that things con slightly differently in different places. Judge is much better than con at letting you know if you really SHOULD attack something. But nonetheless when in a new area try an easy or fairly easy first and see if it really is. If so you can work up to higher and higher cons but don't get stupid. When you have only 30 or 60 hps and something cons death it probably is. And even with two of you 'Are you crazy" is gonna be a hard fight if you win it at all most of the time. Don't be afraid of exploring your world. There are LOTS of exp rooms out there and all you have to do is enter one to get exp. Always use your exits command in a new area. The gods were kind enough in their creation of our world to let us know if we are willing to spend the time to type exits when we are about to enter certain and irreversible equipment loss. All DT's and some that are not always DT's appear in capital letters on LegendMud. Stay out of areas you are warned against however like the Tara landscape and feel free to ask me or some other higher level around for an escort to or from Tara if low level cause even if you know the route their are still boars to worry about. But remember an escort is just that. Passage to safer lands then you politely thank the person and let them go their way unless expressly asked to join them for some reason. When grouped with someone play with your agg wary commands. Work out with your group mate that when the tank starts the others will keep going agg till the mob attacks them and then the tank starts going agg while the other person goes wary till the mob changes his attacks and back and forth. You will often kill the mob quicker this way and share in the damage some which can be very useful with low hps to start with. A mob hitting four times might be survived when two level ones each get hit twice but would die with four hits. Lastly, but possibly MOST importantly for the low level is wimpy. Too low a wimpy setting is responsible for more deaths than anything else especially at low levels. When something does 5 hps damage to you each time you are hit and your wimpy is something like 5 out of 20 you most certainly will die if you get hit 4 times. First flee attempts are often unsuccessful unless you have very high dex. I know that when I have low levels I try not to have to flee very much by fighting things I know i can kill cause 50 hps doesn't last long and half my exp is hard to make up. But if you want to try a mob you have never fought set your wimpy high (like 15 out of 20) and if you find yourself trying to flee right off hope you can. I like to set my regular wimpy at least 40% of my hps, even 50% when I have more hps and can afford to be hit a bit before i flee. Remember you can't raise wimpy above your current hps but you CAN change wimpy during a fight if you wish so if you've got a mob down to dying and you see yourself try to flee you can LOWER your wimpy if you'd like to try to stay and finish the job. One other thing don't set wimpy full unless you are trying to use the strategy of hit and run because instead of fighting you will keep trying to flee. Lastly, to those high-levels out there who have been reading and nodding their heads in agreement. Not all newbies who fit in the last category behave badly. There is seldom a reason to be rude to a low levels first contact with you. Even if they are mistakenly demanding your first No should be polite. You can never be sure if the problem isn't just a misunderstanding to begin with. Perhaps there is a difference in native languages. Legend is truly a multi-national place. Or perhaps they had the unfortunate situation of first time they were on someone took them and did level them a bit so they think it's standard or they were on at a time when someone else went up 15 levels in an afternoon and felt left out. Anyway people seldom deserve to be treated rudely the first or even second time they 'tell' to you. We should not be a world of snobs. Low levels DO need some help now and then getting eq or accompaniment to a certain area or mob. And a newbie who doesn't group with high levels and doesn't want to disclose alternate characters for rp reasons (lets face it people DO react differently when they find out who else you play) have a very hard time getting eq before they can actually kill for it. Should a low level mage 'wanna be' not be able to learn certain words because they need a common but hard for them piece of eq be denied the chance to learn a word at a low level just because they haven't made high level 'friends'? Or a person be denied getting a common skill cause they need a slight stat boost before they can qualify for it? I'm not suggesting you run out and get wormys for every level one on the mud, just that we all be more willing to get simple eq for the lower levels. We used to be a happy family with high levels and low levels helping each other. Vamp tag for corpse removal used to be a sure thing. Lately I have seen people have to beg for someone to come help them. Remember the newbie you scorn could be one of your closer friends and be getting a look at your character you don't really want them to see. I hope I have offended no-one. I am really only trying to help. Please send input on what you have read as I really want to know how it is received. Well, in the immortal words of Stan Lee, 'Nuff said. Farnsworth Kurwa the Wordy, Husband to Linda, Father of Alexis and Brother of Zorn, Sage ___ $>__|----------------------------------------------------------------|__ Previous Issue Main Index Next Issue
