My idea to hold a scavenger hunt didn't exactly go so well. This was partly due to the fact that only 3 people really participated in the first leg of the hunt, but mostly due to me getting somewhat discouraged by that fact and then having events in the real world conspire to see me not wanting to log in to the MUD much. So I disappeared around the same time as the second leg of the scavenger hunt was supposed to start, and remained offline for the better part of a month.
Sorry about that, for the people who were looking forward to getting their hunt on in the second leg. The long and short of things is that I've ended the hunt and will be awarding a prize of their choice from the prize list to each of the three participants in the first leg of the hunt in order to make up for the overwhelming sense of disappointment they might be feeling. Those people should get in touch with me in order to claim their prizes.
However, I still haven't given up completely the idea of holding some more in-MUD events. I'm still formulating some ideas for what comes next, but I'm thinking that I want to move things away from just me posting something on the wiki and leaving people to decode a puzzle or fetch 100 rat tails. Instead, I would like to move these contests into being something that's a little more interactive, and a little more engaging and challenging for me as well as for the rest of the player base. I'd also like to turn these little events into something that's a little more roleplay-oriented and possibly with a bit more of an ongoing story. I've got the basic outline swimming around in my noggin, and am working a bit on fleshing those ideas out into something that I could actually implement with Porphyria and possibly one or two of my other characters (given that I don't have, nor never would be trusted with developer powers). That being said, I would welcome ideas from others.
Look for something more on this next month.
Tuesday, December 13, 2011
Saturday, October 15, 2011
Challenges.
In the spirit of giving players something MUD-related to do other than running around and killing stuff, and also in the spirit of getting more player-driven stuff going on, I've had a challenge going for about a week now to get players to decode a line of cyphertext in order to win a glomschal. So far, nobody's cracked the code, and I'm running out of clues to give, but hopefully someone will figure it out soon.
And so I'm already looking towards a new challenge that will hopefully get a few more players on-board than the few who haven't gotten frustrated with the whole cypher thing. I'm also looking at doing something a little more "in the MUD", rather than just something you do on scratch paper at home. This next challenge will be a scavenger hunt, since pretty much everyone can get involved with that.
The idea behind the scavenger hunt is to get people to explore the MUD a bit and to find some things that are somewhat obscure, non-wikified, and off the beaten path of what typically drops from the high-xp critters that everyone loves killing. For the most part, I plan these to be mostly fixed-drop items, with possibly a few random items thrown in to give people who haven't memorized the complete contents of every room, shop, tavern, tree, and outhouse on the MUD a bit more of a chance. Obviously, having explored a significant portion of the MUD will still be a huge advantage, though.
Additionally, rather than offering just one prize to the first on to complete the challenge, or score highest, or whatever, I'll be offering a number of prizes of varying value to a number of different categories of player, so there won't be just one person walking away with a reward for their effort. At the very least, I'll have a veterans' division and a newbie's division, so as to give the new players some good incentive towards participation.
Anyhow, keep an eye on the current events wiki page, so you'll know when it all starts. I'm planning on sometime around Halloween.
And so I'm already looking towards a new challenge that will hopefully get a few more players on-board than the few who haven't gotten frustrated with the whole cypher thing. I'm also looking at doing something a little more "in the MUD", rather than just something you do on scratch paper at home. This next challenge will be a scavenger hunt, since pretty much everyone can get involved with that.
The idea behind the scavenger hunt is to get people to explore the MUD a bit and to find some things that are somewhat obscure, non-wikified, and off the beaten path of what typically drops from the high-xp critters that everyone loves killing. For the most part, I plan these to be mostly fixed-drop items, with possibly a few random items thrown in to give people who haven't memorized the complete contents of every room, shop, tavern, tree, and outhouse on the MUD a bit more of a chance. Obviously, having explored a significant portion of the MUD will still be a huge advantage, though.
Additionally, rather than offering just one prize to the first on to complete the challenge, or score highest, or whatever, I'll be offering a number of prizes of varying value to a number of different categories of player, so there won't be just one person walking away with a reward for their effort. At the very least, I'll have a veterans' division and a newbie's division, so as to give the new players some good incentive towards participation.
Anyhow, keep an eye on the current events wiki page, so you'll know when it all starts. I'm planning on sometime around Halloween.
Sunday, November 7, 2010
Thursday, October 7, 2010
The 2 Hour, 22 Minute Hero
Jencla
Retired from the world of Lost Souls to paradise at level 50
A female kobold adventurer, about eight and three tenths dimins tall, two and three fifths dimins wide, and thirteen twentieths of a dimin front to back. She was a member of the Brotherhood of Wine and Song and the Stalkers of the Gate. She left Lost Souls on Karmina 3, 559.
This was my first kobold hero (as well as the first adventurer I've heroed since the level required to hero was changed to 50), and it took me all of 2 hours, 22 minutes of playing time to get. As far as I can remember, the play-by-play went something like this:
Hour 1: Wake up in Sanctuary as an Amberite and vivi to kobold (I picked Amberite to have the extra skill points as well as the possibility of vivisecting into a dakshin or something at level 200 if I felt like going that far). Next, go do At'Lordrith's Riddle, get a ring of flight. After that, start working on training up lockpicking on the Losthaven sewer grates, and get a bit of training in lockpicking from mouser. Dump all gained attribute points into dex, and spec lockpicking to 10 (I forgot that kobolds get an autodidaction point).
Later, joined Brotherhood of Wine and Song for the extra lockpicking spec.
Hour 2: Pick locks in Liathyr. Realize that footlockers can be picked too. Realize halfway through the hour that I would make better time if I joined stalkers, so that I wouldn't have to fly all the way between Liathyr and ST. Set portals in Liathyr, ST, Discordia. Got to around level 44 by the end of this hour of play.
Last 22 minutes: Pick locks in Liathyr and ST, portaling between the two. Lockpick skill at this point was in the 250-300 range. Started feeling a bit guilty over being an insufferable munchkin. Heroed at about 2 hours, 20 minutes. Heard a couple of "woot"s and "LOL"s over OOC, and retired the character.
All in all, I have to say that I like lockpicking XP, but that it seems like it might be a bit much. After all, my kobold was getting about 30k experience from picking one door lock (and about 4k for a failure) by the time she retired, and even Porphyria, a level 227 mazikah (with -15 assim) gets around 4k for a success, meaning she can make somewhere around 200k xp just by spamming shadow tower with her Jinx lockpick.
Retired from the world of Lost Souls to paradise at level 50
A female kobold adventurer, about eight and three tenths dimins tall, two and three fifths dimins wide, and thirteen twentieths of a dimin front to back. She was a member of the Brotherhood of Wine and Song and the Stalkers of the Gate. She left Lost Souls on Karmina 3, 559.
This was my first kobold hero (as well as the first adventurer I've heroed since the level required to hero was changed to 50), and it took me all of 2 hours, 22 minutes of playing time to get. As far as I can remember, the play-by-play went something like this:
Hour 1: Wake up in Sanctuary as an Amberite and vivi to kobold (I picked Amberite to have the extra skill points as well as the possibility of vivisecting into a dakshin or something at level 200 if I felt like going that far). Next, go do At'Lordrith's Riddle, get a ring of flight. After that, start working on training up lockpicking on the Losthaven sewer grates, and get a bit of training in lockpicking from mouser. Dump all gained attribute points into dex, and spec lockpicking to 10 (I forgot that kobolds get an autodidaction point).
Later, joined Brotherhood of Wine and Song for the extra lockpicking spec.
Hour 2: Pick locks in Liathyr. Realize that footlockers can be picked too. Realize halfway through the hour that I would make better time if I joined stalkers, so that I wouldn't have to fly all the way between Liathyr and ST. Set portals in Liathyr, ST, Discordia. Got to around level 44 by the end of this hour of play.
Last 22 minutes: Pick locks in Liathyr and ST, portaling between the two. Lockpick skill at this point was in the 250-300 range. Started feeling a bit guilty over being an insufferable munchkin. Heroed at about 2 hours, 20 minutes. Heard a couple of "woot"s and "LOL"s over OOC, and retired the character.
All in all, I have to say that I like lockpicking XP, but that it seems like it might be a bit much. After all, my kobold was getting about 30k experience from picking one door lock (and about 4k for a failure) by the time she retired, and even Porphyria, a level 227 mazikah (with -15 assim) gets around 4k for a success, meaning she can make somewhere around 200k xp just by spamming shadow tower with her Jinx lockpick.
Monday, July 19, 2010
Goodbye Tavern Hopping...
I read the changelog today to find out that tavern hopping has been taken out of the Brotherhood of Wine and Song. So with them losing that, and having lost the ability to identify items a long long time ago, the Brotherhood becomes yet another association that's nothing more than some decent spec access and a trainer.
Oh well.
Of course, I can understand that the tavern hopping ability was pretty much illogical, but it was still a useful ability, and its removal eliminates yet another shortcut between points of interest. At the same time, other methods of traversing the world without necessarily needing to hit the amazingly-barren overland map and type 'go 160 n' to reach the nearest point of interest have gone largely unrealized.
Oh well.
Of course, I can understand that the tavern hopping ability was pretty much illogical, but it was still a useful ability, and its removal eliminates yet another shortcut between points of interest. At the same time, other methods of traversing the world without necessarily needing to hit the amazingly-barren overland map and type 'go 160 n' to reach the nearest point of interest have gone largely unrealized.
Friday, July 16, 2010
Chapter 11, Page 2
Quilline glanced hesitantly at the demon beside her. Despite having been commanded by her superiors in Ordo Maleficus to assist Porphryia in any way to bring about as much suffering amongst the Inquisition as possible, she still felt as if perhaps too much faith was being placed upon this demon. Although in theory, all mazikah served the same dark God as Ordo Maleficus did, Quilline knew from experience that many demons had ambitions and designs that put them at odds with the gods who would be their "masters".
"You have not been with your Order for long, have you?"
Porphyria's question caught Quilline off-guard, and it took a moment for her to respond, "No. I was initiated two years ago, so I am still in the process of learning." Quilline lowered her eyes, continuing, "I hope that my lack of experience does not displease you..."
The demon seemed to consider for awhile, and then replied softly, "No. I will not hold your inexperience against you. On the contrary, I have found the older members of your Order somewhat set in their ways, and quite a bit less ambitious than those, like you, with something to prove." Porphyria looked about her before lowering her voice and saying, "I do require that you swear your loyalty to me. I know you have probably been commanded by your superiors in your Order to follow me faithfully, but I would have your personal oath. And know this: Not only will I hold you to this oath; I have the means to ensure that any breach of trust by you will result in the most delicious punishment my mind can devise."
Quilline paled slightly at Porphyria's threatening words, and the strange little goblin-thing at the table grinned toothily at the witch's discomfort. Quilline closed her eyes for a moment in deep thought; one did not swear oaths to demons lightly, and while Quilline had few pretensions over who truly owned her soul, she was still quite hesitant to deliver herself into the hands of this strange creature.
"I swear the oath you request of me," Quilline finally said, resigning herself to intertwining her fate with that of Porphyria. After all, what else could she do? If she returned to her Order without having completed the mission they assigned to her, she would fare no better than she would with the demon. And, she thought, looking appraisingly at Porphyria, this assignment could very well be fun.
"Good." Porphyria smiled at Quilline in what appeared to be a reassuring manner, "Now have a drink with me and Vurp here." Porphyria indicated the goblinoid companion who was still leering at Quilline. "We've got all day to relax. This town doesn't get really interesting until night falls."
"You have not been with your Order for long, have you?"
Porphyria's question caught Quilline off-guard, and it took a moment for her to respond, "No. I was initiated two years ago, so I am still in the process of learning." Quilline lowered her eyes, continuing, "I hope that my lack of experience does not displease you..."
The demon seemed to consider for awhile, and then replied softly, "No. I will not hold your inexperience against you. On the contrary, I have found the older members of your Order somewhat set in their ways, and quite a bit less ambitious than those, like you, with something to prove." Porphyria looked about her before lowering her voice and saying, "I do require that you swear your loyalty to me. I know you have probably been commanded by your superiors in your Order to follow me faithfully, but I would have your personal oath. And know this: Not only will I hold you to this oath; I have the means to ensure that any breach of trust by you will result in the most delicious punishment my mind can devise."
Quilline paled slightly at Porphyria's threatening words, and the strange little goblin-thing at the table grinned toothily at the witch's discomfort. Quilline closed her eyes for a moment in deep thought; one did not swear oaths to demons lightly, and while Quilline had few pretensions over who truly owned her soul, she was still quite hesitant to deliver herself into the hands of this strange creature.
"I swear the oath you request of me," Quilline finally said, resigning herself to intertwining her fate with that of Porphyria. After all, what else could she do? If she returned to her Order without having completed the mission they assigned to her, she would fare no better than she would with the demon. And, she thought, looking appraisingly at Porphyria, this assignment could very well be fun.
"Good." Porphyria smiled at Quilline in what appeared to be a reassuring manner, "Now have a drink with me and Vurp here." Porphyria indicated the goblinoid companion who was still leering at Quilline. "We've got all day to relax. This town doesn't get really interesting until night falls."
Monday, April 5, 2010
Chapter 11, Page 1
The witch walked down the streets of Camille with some hesitation; it was dangerous for a Malefici to operate so closely to the seat of power of the Almerian Inquisition. The Inquisitors were mostly overzealous fools who had no understanding of witches, but mixed in with those fools were some surprisingly-competent individuals. Even so, the Inquisition had taken its toll upon Ordo Malefici; witches were vanishingly rare in the area around Camille. While the persecution of the innocent in the occasional witch scare was an amusing and fitting fate for the followers of Yehovah, it also spoke of the zealousness with which a true Malefici would be pursued if found within the walls of Camille.
Quilline had left her blood foci behind; even concealed, the taint of unholiness upon them could possibly call too much unwanted suspicion. The need for such discretion rankled Quilline as she considered how easy it would be to cause a maleficent pox to spread amongst the city-dwellers. With the right tools, Quilline would be able to cause much pain and suffering and disappear before the Inquisition ever caught wind that a servant of Samael was operating within their midst.
Quickly, Quilline drowned such urges, promising herself that she would make up for the self-restraint with a good deal of future mayhem. For now, there were more important things to do.
The witch turned the corner to see her destination -- a relatively nondescript tavern with little outside adornment that would recommend it. Probably a lousy pilgrims' dive, Quilline thought to herself with derision, a place for the hypocrites to come and fill their souls with 'sin' so that they'll have plenty to boast of to the Patris who takes their confession. Although it was still daytime, the sound of raucous merrymaking emanated from the establishment, and Quilline smugly reflected upon the corruption any hypocrisy of the Yehovist pilgrims.
Although Quilline's advenus blood had gifted her with the ability to detect psychic activities, her abilities merely confirmed what she immediately suspected upon entering the tavern. Quilline could sense powerful and subtle psychic activity centered on a woman at a table near the center of the room. The woman Quilline was here to meet was seated next to an ugly and diminutive creature who Quilline dismissed without a second thought. Quilline recognized the dark, ethereal beauty of the mazikah, whose golden wings merely further confirmed Quilline's presumptions. That such a creature could walk through Camille unhindered merely reinforced Quilline's contempt for the Inquisitors, and further put her at ease.
Quilline slowly walked up to the demon's table, smiling with grim satisfaction at the flinching of the demon's goblinoid companion under her gaze. The mazikah's gaze had stuck on Quilline as soon as she had started across the tavern, and Quilline now found a strange tingling at the edges of her consciousness, while her psychic senses informed her that the demon's psychic facilities were actively probing her defenses. Quilline grimaced in what she hoped was a friendly manner, and bowed slightly to the woman at the table.
"I have been sent here by my master to serve you, Lady," Quilline said in a calm and quiet voice which was drowned out by the noise of the crowd around her after mere dimins. Quilline was confident that the mazikah would hear, as she could feel the psychic contact from the demon probing the surface of her thoughts.
The mazikah's response intruded suddenly into Quilline's mind like a question that had been asked seconds earlier but was only now grabbing Quilline's attention. "Your master," the strangely unheard voice said, "and who would that be, that I should be impressed or grateful?"
Quilline took a deep breath, looking around herself instinctively as she subvocalized, "Samael. Ordo Maleficus has taken an interest in your activities here, and I have been sent to offer you any aid I can provide."
The mazikah's eyebrows raised a fraction of a dimin as she appeared to ponder this information. Quilline could see the strange goblinoid at the table picking at his food, looking studiously ignorant. Again, the thoughts of another intruded into Quilline's mind, saying, "Why should I trust your order of witches? You play about as nicely with others as I do."
Quilline considered her response for a second, and then thought, "Our causes are aligned here. Samael has foreseen that your activities here might cause the fall of the Almerian Inquisition, and there is little that Ordo Maleficus desires more than to see those hubristic Yehovists weakened."
The mazikah nodded, and Quilline was pleased to see her smile and motion to a seat next to her. Once Quilline was seated, the mazikah leaned over and whispered in her ear, "I am pleased to have your assistance, if only because you have so much more to fear here than I do, what with the Inquisition surrounding us. I am Porphyria, and I am glad to accept the aid of you and your master."
Quilline had left her blood foci behind; even concealed, the taint of unholiness upon them could possibly call too much unwanted suspicion. The need for such discretion rankled Quilline as she considered how easy it would be to cause a maleficent pox to spread amongst the city-dwellers. With the right tools, Quilline would be able to cause much pain and suffering and disappear before the Inquisition ever caught wind that a servant of Samael was operating within their midst.
Quickly, Quilline drowned such urges, promising herself that she would make up for the self-restraint with a good deal of future mayhem. For now, there were more important things to do.
The witch turned the corner to see her destination -- a relatively nondescript tavern with little outside adornment that would recommend it. Probably a lousy pilgrims' dive, Quilline thought to herself with derision, a place for the hypocrites to come and fill their souls with 'sin' so that they'll have plenty to boast of to the Patris who takes their confession. Although it was still daytime, the sound of raucous merrymaking emanated from the establishment, and Quilline smugly reflected upon the corruption any hypocrisy of the Yehovist pilgrims.
Although Quilline's advenus blood had gifted her with the ability to detect psychic activities, her abilities merely confirmed what she immediately suspected upon entering the tavern. Quilline could sense powerful and subtle psychic activity centered on a woman at a table near the center of the room. The woman Quilline was here to meet was seated next to an ugly and diminutive creature who Quilline dismissed without a second thought. Quilline recognized the dark, ethereal beauty of the mazikah, whose golden wings merely further confirmed Quilline's presumptions. That such a creature could walk through Camille unhindered merely reinforced Quilline's contempt for the Inquisitors, and further put her at ease.
Quilline slowly walked up to the demon's table, smiling with grim satisfaction at the flinching of the demon's goblinoid companion under her gaze. The mazikah's gaze had stuck on Quilline as soon as she had started across the tavern, and Quilline now found a strange tingling at the edges of her consciousness, while her psychic senses informed her that the demon's psychic facilities were actively probing her defenses. Quilline grimaced in what she hoped was a friendly manner, and bowed slightly to the woman at the table.
"I have been sent here by my master to serve you, Lady," Quilline said in a calm and quiet voice which was drowned out by the noise of the crowd around her after mere dimins. Quilline was confident that the mazikah would hear, as she could feel the psychic contact from the demon probing the surface of her thoughts.
The mazikah's response intruded suddenly into Quilline's mind like a question that had been asked seconds earlier but was only now grabbing Quilline's attention. "Your master," the strangely unheard voice said, "and who would that be, that I should be impressed or grateful?"
Quilline took a deep breath, looking around herself instinctively as she subvocalized, "Samael. Ordo Maleficus has taken an interest in your activities here, and I have been sent to offer you any aid I can provide."
The mazikah's eyebrows raised a fraction of a dimin as she appeared to ponder this information. Quilline could see the strange goblinoid at the table picking at his food, looking studiously ignorant. Again, the thoughts of another intruded into Quilline's mind, saying, "Why should I trust your order of witches? You play about as nicely with others as I do."
Quilline considered her response for a second, and then thought, "Our causes are aligned here. Samael has foreseen that your activities here might cause the fall of the Almerian Inquisition, and there is little that Ordo Maleficus desires more than to see those hubristic Yehovists weakened."
The mazikah nodded, and Quilline was pleased to see her smile and motion to a seat next to her. Once Quilline was seated, the mazikah leaned over and whispered in her ear, "I am pleased to have your assistance, if only because you have so much more to fear here than I do, what with the Inquisition surrounding us. I am Porphyria, and I am glad to accept the aid of you and your master."
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