------------------------------------------------------------------------------- .. .. .||. ||.. ... || || || ||.|| `|.. || || `|.. ..|'''.| '|| || '|| '|' ' .... . .... ..||.. ... ..., || .... || '' .|| || || || || .| ' || .|...|| '|. | .|' || || || || || || || || ''|...'| '|..'|' ||. ||. '|..' .||. '|..| ||. '|...' ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Volume 14.0 11 Nethory, 569 1 Coin --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Welcome, patient readers, to a new issue of the Canticle. We have had some slight changes to the offices and some members of the staff have been getting additional education to improve their customer service capabilities. Erin has finally arranged the issue archives so that you can actually find previous papers from there - but note that they are arranged a bit differently than the paper volume numbers. In the beginning we used to have the minor issue numbers in use as well, so the third paper will not be volume 3.0, but volume 1.3, and so on. I have been slightly distracted with other things myself lately, but don't worry, I have no intention of quitting yet. The paper will continue to come out eventually, as did this one. In the time between the previous issue and this one, the mud has been changing again. Those who have read what went on in the latest Town meeting will know that there are 132 active and 72 inactive projects in the QC/Balance/Mudlib queue. I am under the impression that the RL summer vacation period is supposedly the more quiet time for playing, creating and checking, but still I could not seem to fit our News in Brief on one page... I would like to thank Meg, Booya, Dooku, Ironic, Lunger, Theryn, Adinos, Shinrikyo and Scale for their contributions for this issue. Fir Acting Editor The Canticle --------------------------------------------------------------------------- <*> CANTICLE INDEX <*> -------------------------------------+------------------------------------- News In (Not So) Brief.............2 From The Town Hall...............14 Interview With Ironic..............4 Classifieds......................16 Interview With Lunger..............7 Mortal Council News..............17 Interview With Dooku and Booya....10 A Necromancer In Your Party?.....19 --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Volume 14.0 11 Nethory, 569 Page 2 --------------------------------------------------------------------------- N E W S I N ( N O T S O ) B R I E F --------------------------------------+------------------------------------ People now have more selective | The quality of the booths of the memories when communicating over long | Ancient Inn of Tantallon has distances - tell history has been | been improved - there are reports upgraded to take arguments on what | of more emotion seeping into sort of people the tells should have | discussions as the improved looks been coming from. | of the booths help to create a more ______________________________________| intimate atmosphere. |____________________________________ A gamehouse has been opened in | Neville. The owner, Kanai, would be | The Lone Ranger says: Wolves are no happy to beat you and your friends in | longer a use-once-then-send-away Takanikoo. Come one, come all! | commodity; the bond between a ______________________________________| ranger and a wolf is a long-term | commitment on both parties. Intelligent Creature Rights activists | Rangers following the new way of are in an uproar over new proof of | growing their canines from pup Drowgar enslaving a whole species, | report that their helpers understand dubbed "manspiders". The creatures' | commands better and learn to do more future seems a bit brighter now, as | complicated things. They can be some managed to sneak away with a | taught to carry things in their vital artifact of the Drowgar mages. | mouth without chewing them to bits, Magically inclined people are flowing | or guard things on the ground. to the southern regions to search for | After some teaching, they also this artifact, which is rumoured to | manage to tell the difference be the book Drowgar mages learn from. | between friends and foes. ______________________________________|____________________________________ | A Kaifouin caravan, a small band of | Mages' spellbook looks now reflect nomadic humans, has been spotted in | the amount of spells the owner the southern desert trade routes | knows. between the Azhads, Drakhiya and the |____________________________________ mountain pass to the north. | ______________________________________| Necromancers' undead servants | have learned new tricks. "This is A shipbuilding yard has been opened | smashing," commented a dark artist, to the northeast of Tantallon. The | "they're totally getting it now!" owners, Tamarlyn and Davian Torrenan, |____________________________________ have run into a problem which will | require aid from adventurers... | Clerics now help themselves more. ______________________________________|____________________________________ --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Volume 14.0 11 Nethory, 569 Page 3 --------------------------------------------------------------------------- M O R E N E W S . . . -------------------------------------+------------------------------------- Three changes have been causing much | Arpeggio reports that the waitress heated debate: | in the Hobbitat pub will no longer 1) Using two weapons now allows you | mistake Rover for a drink. to learn the "Two Weapon" skill. |_____________________________________ 2) Necromancer undead now prefer to | use the weapon they used in life. | Shifters have been discussing the 3) Cleric bless was modified: the | pronounciation of 'Xaerre'. The bonus is slightly larger, as is the | Linguistical Centre For Cute duration, and blesses are no longer | Omnivores suggests the form stackable by bug abuse; on the other | 'Fluffy'. hand, certain armours which were on |_____________________________________ the borderline became no longer | blessable. | Rangers want to make poison antidotes. _____________________________________|_____________________________________ ---------------------------------------------------------------- | ___ __ __ | | / __|\ \/ / The | | | <__ > < Commodities W A N T S Y O U ! | | \___|/_/\_\ Exchange | | | | Are you an orphan between the ages 15 and 20 (humans), | | 24 and 30 (half-elves), 75 and 145 (elves), 12 and 18 | | (orcs) or 35 and 50 (dwarves)? Do you crave adventure? | | Excitement? A daily chance of death? | | | | If so, you can be one of our couriers! You can deliver | | packages in your spare time and earn up to 300 gold | | coins an hour! You can have your own choice of Dangerous, | | Hazardous, Deadly, Fatal or **NEW** Definitely Lethal | | delivery routes! | | | | We are located just west of the south harbour in | | Tantallon - ask for Lou, he'll fill you in on all the | | details and give you a copy of our release form... | | | ---------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Volume 14.0 11 Nethory, 569 Page 4 --------------------------------------------------------------------------- In an ongoing attempt to piece together a larger picture of the MUD we all play and enjoy, I talk to Ironic in this next interview. He has been a regular player, much like a good majority of the people who play Ancient Anguish. The character was suicided for a while recently, then restored. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Meg: Hi Ironic, thanks for doing this interview. First of all, how long have you been playing AA? Ironic: Oh, bout six and a half years now. Meg: What class and race are you? Ironic: At the moment, I'm a human mage. Though I've went through just about every class/race combo in the game. Meg: What's your favourite class? Ironic: Favourite? Probably mage. But it's not what I'm the best at. Meg: What are you best at? Ironic: Necromancer, hands down. Meg: Why is that? Ironic: I put about three years into learning the class, mostly through trial and error. Meg: Do you think it's an easy or a difficult class to learn to play? Ironic: (ponders) I'd say fairly hard to learn. But once you get the hang of it, it gets easier. Meg: Ok, well, let's move to a different subject. Initially, you told me that you aren't a well-liked character. Do you still think that's true? Ironic: I'd have to say that there are a few people, or characters on here that don't like me too much. Meg: But it's not an overwhelming majority or anything? Ironic: No, nowhere close to the universal dislike of [some people]. Meg: Do you find that the people who dislike you affect your gameplay in any way? Ironic: Actual gameplay? No. Meg: Ok, so you still party with people, and powermud? Ironic: Yes. Though about all I do lately is idle. Meg: When you first started this game, were there any characters who took the time to help you out? Ironic: (sighs) That's a long story. And one I don't remember fully. Like I told ya the other day, my memory sucks. :) But in short, yes... there were a couple people that helped me get going. Interview with Ironic continued on page 5 ... --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Volume 14.0 11 Nethory, 569 Page 5 --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Interview with Ironic, continued from page 4 ... Meg: Do you think that's important, that true newbies are helped by other players? Ironic: (nods) Of course. I try and help where I can, if I have the time. Meg: What do you think about the shouts that tell newbies to type "quit (blahblah)"? Ironic: Lame. Plain and simple. Meg: What kind of advice would you give to a real newbie just starting out on the game? Ironic: You ask that question to everyone, dontcha? (gazes) Meg: Yep, i think it's important. :) Ironic: It is. Um, hmm. Well, don't trust everyone right off the bat. That's likely to get you into a personal interview with Lars and Death. On the other hand, ask all the questions you need to ask. There are people who are willing to help. Actually, most are willing to help. It's just the few that spoils it for the many. Meg: Do you help on the newbie line? Ironic: No. Not at the moment. The newbie line, while nice, is kinda... confusing. You get so many answers to questions, ones that contradict each other, so that all it does is confuse you. I'd have to say, find a single person, and ask that person for help. Meg: Have you seen a lot of changes take place here over the years? Ironic: (nods) A lot of change. Though, not as much as some. (coughs and mumbles something about Paldin.) Meg: What have been the biggest changes, in your opinion? Ironic: There were a few big ones, imo. Having to choose your skill, when they implemented skills. And of course the most recent revamping of the system that houses AA. That was a huge upgrade, imo. Meg: You mean getting the new machine, etc? Ironic: (nods) And the better connection. That kinda stuff. A lot of people just consider the "coding" changes to AA. Meg: That's a good point. No one's brought up the new machine as one of the big changes. But, has there been a change in particular that you would like to see taken out or reversed? Ironic: (chuckles) That reminds me of the note on the Fighter Board about Lister tanking. But, no, I'd have to say that overall, the changes have been for the better. Interview with Ironic continued on page 6 ... --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Volume 14.0 11 Nethory, 569 Page 6 --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Interview with Ironic, continued from page 5 ... Meg: What keeps bringing you back to AA when there are so many other games available? Ironic: The people, of course. To a certain extent. The fact that I'm addicted and couldn't break the addiction even if I wanted to. Um. Gameplay, AA is very smooth for the most part. The few games that I've played are slow, or not very involved. Meg: Do you think people tend to underestimate the effort that's put into keeping this mud running so smoothly? Ironic: (nods) All the time. I don't envy the Arches their jobs. Meg: Why do you think it's underestimated? Ironic: Hmm. Well. A lot of people just play the game, and it just never occurs to them, the effort that all the wizards of AA put into this game. Meg: Do you think that the majority of people take things for granted or that it's just the vocal few? Ironic: A lot of people take things for granted. Myself being one. Though that opinion has been changing as of late. You just don't hear about it, until the vocal few decide to open their "mouths". Meg: Why has your opinion been changing lately? Ironic: I can't get into too much detail on that. But my real life girlfriend recently wizzed on here. And I've seen the turmoil she's been going through with her coding and other aspects of the Wizard world. It's not easy being a wizard. Before she wizzed, I always held the opinion that all that wizards did was hang out in some kind of "wizardly hula-club" drinking pina-coladas and snickering at the pathetic little mortals. And yes, now I see that it actually is work being a wizard. Meg: Do you have any wise words to share with the Canticle readers before we end this interview? Ironic: This is just a game. A lot of people seem to forget that. Don't take things here too seriously. If someone screws you over, for whatever reason, don't let that affect your real life. A lot of the people here seem to feed on the pain of others that they hurt. Meg: Well said and thanks for the interview Ironic. +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | Brianna has taken Cedric's advice and is now refilling wineskins with | | tea again. Choose from the usual blends: rosehip, blackberry, chamomile | | and peppermint tea. Come by at Gabaldon and bring your friends as well! | +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+ --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Volume 14.0 11 Nethory, 569 Page 7 --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Interview With Lunger Meg: Hello, Lunger...you're the top necromancer in the Hall of Heroes, aren't you? Lunger: Hi Meg, and yep. Meg: Are you in any of the other class lists? Lunger shakes his head. Lunger: I haven't really tried. Working up a new alt to do the level of a run that I'd want to do would take too much time. Meg: How long have you been playing AA? Lunger: Since sometime late in 1996/early 1997. A buddy played it and I logged in looking for him. Meg: And you played as a rogue, initially? Lunger shakes his head. Lunger: I had a wee little half-elf knigget ranger. Meg: Well, so let's find out how you rack up the experience points. Do you think there's a technique involved? Lunger: Sort of. Knowledge of the mud, a good alias system, and efficiency all play a role in normal killing. In the huge HoH runs, its just going all out and using every little trick in the book. Meg: How much experience did it take to put you at the top of the list? Lunger: Character experience or the actual session? Meg: The actual session. Lunger: I've done several, with every one improving on the one before it as I worked out the kinks. My best one was 987k in 1 hr, 58 secs. Meg: That's pretty good! When you say efficiency plays a role, what do you mean? Lunger: Using heals wisely, using as little time as possible to loot corpses and then selling the gear, killing in the same general area as possible. These all factor into it. Meg: So when someone starts a necro for the first time, what do you think is the most important thing they should do? Lunger: Same thing for every class, read every help file available. Lunger grins mischievously. Meg: Right, but after they do that, what's the most important thing? :) Lunger: I'd say choosing a skill and then getting a corpse. You'll make lots of mistakes while a lowbie, and its better to learn them then instead of when you're 19 with tons of exp to lose. Interview with Lunger continued on page 8 ... --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Volume 14.0 11 Nethory, 569 Page 8 --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Interview with Lunger, continued from page 7 ... Meg: Do you think necros are easy to master in comparison with the other classes? Lunger: Yes and no. In raw killing power, if you take anybody they will kill faster as a necromancer than with their other class. However, getting to the point of being a good necromancer takes time and learning some of the intricacies of the class. Meg: Ahhh. What kind of tips would you give someone just starting out as a necro for the very first time? Lunger: Definitely setting up basic aliases and figuring out some of the less populated lowbie areas to kill in. As you get higher you can make more aliases as you need them, but the basic ones should be made right away. Best skill to work on is staff. Necros have three skills which seemed to raise at a decent rate. Knife goes the fastest but does minimal damage. Staff and Shortsword both seem to raise at the same rate, with shortsword doing slightly more damage than knife. Meg: Do you prefer soloing to partying? Lunger: Definitely soloing. I find I do more exp soloing than partying unless I'm with a really good basher. Plus, I can be greedy and keep all the exp/coins to myself. :) Meg: Is there anything about necros that you'd like to see changed or tweaked? Lunger: It'd be nice for liches to be useful. Part of the reason I chose half-elf was to be able to make a lich. Then I remembered necros had been balanced some and as a side-effect of that revenants became the choice undead. Meg: What's wrong with liches? Lunger: Nothing really, its just that revenants are SO much more powerful and efficient that it'd be almost dumb to go with a lich while you have a relatively tame killing machine. Meg: But other than that, you think necros are pretty much a tricked out class? Lunger: Yep, the only class that can tank any kill on the game at level 7/8 without massive amounts of heals. As much as people say we're balanced, we're off the scale. Meg: Off the scale? Lunger: Off the scale as in: if 1-10 is balance's class power scale, with 10 being the most power they want to allow, necros come in around 40. Interview with Lunger continued on page 9 ... --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Volume 14.0 11 Nethory, 569 Page 9 --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Interview with Lunger, continued from page 8 ... Meg: They need to be re-balanced? Lunger nods solemnly. Lunger: That's just my opinion, I'm not a member of Balance. Rebalancing would make lots of necros quit, leaving more good-aligned areas for me and would make necros somewhat challenging again instead of just seeing how much exp I can do in an hour and still make money. Meg: So you would like to play for the challenge and you can't do that now because of the amount of necros that are logged on at any given time? Lunger shakes his head. Lunger: With the amount of necros on, and the amount of necros that kill in 3-4 areas, it actually makes it challenging because I've had to adapt my kill route to take in harder, less killed NPCs. Meg: I've heard that you hate uniques. Is that true, and if you do, why? Lunger: Well, I dunno if I hate them. But one thing I can't stand is people who depend on them and can't or won't play without them. You see people sitting in their tiny huts because they can't kill without being behind a tank, so they hit and run kills beyond their skill so they can use their precious capitalized equipment. If a monster on my kill route has a unique and I can use it, I will. but I just think it's absurd to see all these unique shouts and people who logoff when they find out someone has "their" unique. Meg: That brings me to this question then, why do you have a kill route and doesn't that get repetitious and boring? Lunger: I think I do...at least, everyone keeps asking me for my route. I don't have a strict route per se, but I try to stick to "regions" of the mud to kill in at a time. Meg: Any last wise words you'd care to impart? Lunger thinks carefully. Lunger: No, you can't bash or tag! And if you have rot get your own corpse! Meg: So in other words: Please don't ask Lunger if you can bash or tag. Lunger: To put it more politely than I do.:) Meg: Ok then. Thanks very much! Lunger: Been a pleasure. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Volume 14.0 11 Nethory, 569 Page 10 --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Interview with Dooku and Booya MeG: Ok, let's start out by finding out how long you guys have been playing AA.. Dooku: Since 97. Booya: Same here, about 96-97. Booya: Too long, geez. Booya looks very happy. Booya: But I'm way better than Dooku. Dooku: Yeah, I only have way more exp than him. Booya: Oh yeah, play that card. MeG: Ok, how much exp do you guys have? Booya: 13.5 million. MeG claps enthusiastically. Booya: I'm overshadowed by Dooku though. Dooku: Just tell people to send a tell to Booya when he's online. He LOVES tells for tagging/bashing. Dooku: I have 46.5 million. MeG applauds Dooku. MeG: Nice. Booya: Don't encourage him. MeG: Oh yeah, sorry about that. Booya: I'm suprised you, me and his ego fit in here. MeG giggles. MeG: So, Dooku, do you have a huge ego? Dooku: Not as big as Booya's. MeG: What would you guys say is the key to your success? Booya: Smart aliases - that's the key. Dooku agrees wholeheartedly. Booya: Tanking is quite mindless, I have a couple one letter aliases that I hit when my hitpoints get low. Other than that, it's just being able to get around the mud quickly. MeG: For the benefit of newer players, what do those aliases do? Booya: I have an alias to drink potions and whiskey, a parkraz alias, a fix alias, a cure alias and a knigget eating alias, got a while bunch. Dooku: His most important one is alias "h" *****SAY HELP ME DOOKU*****. MeG laughs. Interview with Dooku and Booya continued on page 11 ... --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Volume 14.0 11 Nethory, 569 Page 11 --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Interview with Dooku and Booya, continued from page 10 ... MeG: Why is it important to get around the mud quickly? Booya: So your bashers dont get irritable. Dooku: Yeah exploring the mud alone and getting familiar with the areas is a plus. Booya: You gotta keep moving, keep killing especially in a party. Dooku: No clueless bunches. MeG nods. MeG: What makes for a smart basher? Dooku: Paying attention! Booya: Yeah. Not one handed mudding, I swear half of them are doing that. MeG: Paying attention to what? Booya: Watching my hps, watching how many heals i have, watching which area we're in. Dooku: Booya is an attention hog. He cries if he doesn't get all your attention. Booya nods solemnly. MeG: So its all about taking care of the tank? Booya: Yeah, you scratch my back and I'll scratch yours. MeG: What kind of tips would you give to up and coming players who want to learn how to party successfully? Booya: Tanks, aliases, understand how to get around the mud. Dooku agrees wholeheartedly. MeG nods solemnly. Dooku: And don't go afk too much! Booya: Try to snag some experienced bashers every once in a while, and don't be afraid to let them boss you around. Dooku: If you can't party don't get in one! Booya: Do some exploring, that never hurts. MeG nods. Booya: Also, for tanks anyway, if they get a chance, make a fighter character and try bashing for some good tanks then you can watch what they do and learn from them. Dooku: Booya paid for Supar Lunger Experience and learned from that. Booya: One of the reasons I'm where I am is because I've had good tanks and bashers boss me around and show me what to do. MeG: But do experienced tanks and bashers take on new players? Booya: I know I usually take one per party. ;) It seems that way anyhow. I'm usually a bit more patient than Dooku. Booya kicks Dooku. Dooku: Yeah, I spam 10 lines, he only spams 5. Interview with Dooku and Booya continued on page 12 ... --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Volume 14.0 11 Nethory, 569 Page 12 --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Interview with Dooku and Booya, continued from page 11 ... MeG: You two are like an old married couple, I swear. :) Booya snickers. Booya: He's the bitch. Booya peers at the sky. Dooku: Yeah, he's always trying to get me to wear the purple cloak! Dooku mumbles to himself. Booya nods solemnly. MeG: What about you, Dooku? What do you think is most important for mage bashers to know? Dooku: You should get some good skills and haste! MeG: Why haste? Dooku: Tanks love it when you haste cause the person you haste gets more hits doing more damage. Booya: So you aren't worthless. Booya peers at the sky. MeG: What do you mean when you say good skills, Dooku? Dooku: Booya is just mad I have 100 staff and he doesn't have any 100s. MeG blinks. Dooku: It's the second time I had to get it ...death is a bitch. MeG: (Note to readers: 100 in anything is considered a good skill :) ) MeG: So would you summarize it by saying a person should work on skills, watch experienced players.. MeG thinks carefully. Booya: "Know" the areas. MeG nods. Booya: Try to anticipate what the tank is going to want you to do. MeG: Think ahead. MeG nods. Booya: So I don't have to wait and get mad at you. MeG giggles. Booya: And then I take my time rescuing you next time. Dooku: Yeah, he'll spam the hell out of you. MeG: And this is the joy of powermudding, eh? :) Dooku: Yup. Booya: This is actually uber-power mudding. MeG: Either of you guys in the hall of heroes? Booya points at Dooku. Dooku: I am. Booya: I'm on for stars, poker, and 10th on cleric xp run. Dooku: I'm second on mage xp run. Interview with Dooku and Booya continued on page 13 ... --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Volume 14.0 11 Nethory, 569 Page 13 --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Interview with Dooku and Booya, continued from page 12 ... MeG: So, you're BOTH in the HoH. Booya: Not on the plaque. Booya pouts. Dooku: I'm on the plaque and he isn't. Dooku comforts Booya. Booya snickers. Booya: We know. MeG: Tsk. The plaque isn't everything in the hall. :) Booya mumbles something about it is to me. Dooku: Oh, can you also mention that I beat Booya in poker on a daily basis? Booya falls down laughing. Booya: Half of my bank account was funded by Dooku. Dooku: So for anyone who wants to play poker, play Booya. He sucks at it. Booya: Not likely. Booya snorts. MeG: You guys want to add anything? Booya: Yeah, when you take all this advice, and become a good basher please feel free to contact me. MeG giggles. Dooku: Try not to die when you play, invest in heals! Booya: Yeah. Dooku: Man, some people don't buy heals. Booya: Don't be afraid to buy my heals and ALWAYS bring money for a party. Never pull a "oh, sorry, no cash on me", that infuriates me. Dooku: Or never say "I don't do heals" (carrying the heals). Booya: And tanks, buy potions, man. Don't be lazy. Bedrolls are cool when you are level 10, after that they are lame. Dooku: Hey I still use one! Dooku sulks in the corner. Booya: Gotta buy potions like mad, its the only way to fly. MeG: Ok, thanks a lot for this interview, you guys. Hopefully, this will inspire a lot of new tanks and bashers!! --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Volume 14.0 11 Nethory, 569 Page 14 --------------------------------------------------------------------------- F R O M T H E T O W N H A L L Seniorious Creation Sylwen and Mickie have been awarded Senior Creator status by the senate. Sylwen is the creator of Alataciria and the shipyard, and has numerous smaller areas and projects in the game as well. She has also been an active member of the QC and Balance teams since 2000, and has in many ways contributed to AA. Mickie has created the Yeti Village, the Manspider Colony and the Drowgar school of spells. He also served over a year as an admin assistant to World. There are more projects to come, among other things there is a small quest in the works. Congratulations, new Senior Creators! --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Did You Know Larina? In '97-'98 there was a wizard on AA named Larina. During that stay she created one area/quest and when she left she had some unfinished good projects under development. There is an interest in seeing them completed, but AA's rules are unclear about whether abandoned projects can be finished by others. It would therefore be nice to be able to contact the creator about these. If you know Larina, her RL name/address/phone or anything else helpful, let Adinos know. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Town Meeting A Town meeting was held last autumn (year 568; Jul 18th 2003). Town meetings bring the Senate (and extended Senate) members to the people for some two-way information-flowing. Most of the meeting concerned closely or slightly less closely Law-related issues, and the complete log of the meeting can be found from the Senate board. Below are some tidbits from the meeting. From The Town Hall continued on page 15 ... --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Volume 14.0 11 Nethory, 569 Page 15 --------------------------------------------------------------------------- From The Town Hall, continued from page 14 ... The player houses are still underway. According to Adinos they are now sort-of working, but still rather "bare" in the sense of not being able to do much with them. He is planning to recruit a few helpers to make the houses appear soon, as he has two other huge projects underway as well (besides being Arch of QC). Bleys's reward house was already close to release, most of the remaining work being in the streets in the residential areas. There was a suggestion to reduce illegal player killing on AA with no-player-attack flags (turned off when a rogue is caught etc) and other coded-in aids. There were some changes underway, and some already made, but not even the flags would take the problem completely away, since there are other ways to kill players than direct attack. Code for "can't attack players unless one is in SK" has been proposed and rejected. Adinos was planning to change cloudkill so that it would not automatically make players attack others. There were also numerous PK arena projects approved by World, but none yet have been finished; there might even be a "duel" feature enabled one day, if it got done. There already is protection against PK attempts by newbies. Malire found it reasonable to take a look into the PK flags again and either restoring experience/skills or limiting how much damage a high-level character could take from being killed illegally. There was also much talk about Law traffic (Malire gets some 250 mails a week). There have been some plans to automate parts of Law, for example making simple theft-bounties automatic without requiring Law to interfere. This may happen some day, mused Adinos. Jerusulum will be working on the Newbie line now. Send your suggestions about eg. making it more newbie-friendly to her. There was some discussion about guild governing as well. Should inactive GMs be demoteable? Being able to squelch people permanently got some thumbs-up. Paldin wished for each guildmaster to write up some kind of a code of conduct which could be used to determine what is and is not acceptable. (In some guilds any Law member or an arch/senator, or an assistant GM can squelch or kick out a misbehaving player.) From The Town Hall continued on page 16 ... --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Volume 14.0 11 Nethory, 569 Page 16 --------------------------------------------------------------------------- From The Town Hall, continued from page 15 ... There was also discussion about whether AA is really a family mud. For example, the Chaos and Scythe GMs have pointed out that just about anything goes on their guild lines. Considering this, maybe AA should stop claiming to be, for example, strict on profanity. It was suggested later during the meeting that Chaos mentors should have a limited-time ability to un-mentor someone for an additional karma fee. This would help the guild clean itself up of troublemakers. Oliver would talk to Dawg about it. Newbie tutorials on first login were discussed. Adinos thought about adding three options at creation time: 1) know AA, just let me in, 2) new to AA, but know mudding, so give me a description of rules and newbie areas, and 3) total mud newbie, give me a getting-started tour. Firebird was interested in looking into the tour bit. There was some discussion about making it possible to fine-tune item weights more, and Paldin is looking into the weight system. The idea of adding encumberance was rejected; it had been considered when combat was rewritten, but it seemed too big a hassle to implement in relation to what it would add to the game. __________________________________________________________________________ | ____ ____ ____ ____ ____ ____ ____ ____ ___ ____ | | The Canticle / / // / / / / / / | / | | / / /___//____ /____ / /__ / /__ / //____ | | / / / / / / / / / / / / / | | / / / / / / / / / / / / / | | /___ /___ / / ____/ ____/__/_ / __/_ /___ /____/ ____/ | |__________________________________________________________________________| | | | | | | <*>I am the Win<*> | A king's castle | When in doubt, | Common sense | | Scale feels the love. | is his home. | give advice. | isn't. | |_______________________|_________________|________________|_____________ _| | | | In case of urgent advertising, we can throw in the ad before the issue | | changes, too. Contact Fir for details. | |__________________________________________________________________________| --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Volume 14.0 11 Nethory, 569 Page 17 --------------------------------------------------------------------------- M O R T A L C O U N C I L N E W S A new mortal council was elected last fall (568). The new Mortal Council members are: Mage: Riko, Wynlan Rogue: Eveon Fighter: Joho, Whitelance, Fyrix Necromancer: Real Cleric: Slinkee, Meg, Lahana Paladin: Boneski Ranger: Levek, Mordygan Shapeshifter: Scale, Gyn The council meeting held a few months later was the shortest one on record, possibly due to a Town meeting held some time before it and the rather few people showing up. (I missed it too, sorry!) Theryn has kindly provided the Canticle with a summary of the things discussed there, which I have arranged to the usual format. The log can be found on the MC board. Rangers (Levek): Trained wolves should be able to stop attacking on command. Paldin would look into it. Ranger meats should respond to salted/roasted state and size, Theryn will be doing it. Some rangers were hoping for being able to tame gigantic wolves, but Paldin considers it fairly unlikely that such will show up. Paladins (Boneski): There was a complaint about saddlebags, which Sylwen is working on. Boneski wished for dragons for paladins to ride on. Dragons were considered to be quite evil on AA, however, and the suggested using a unicorn as a Cool(TM) mount instead did not catch fire with Boneski himself. Mortal Council News continued on page 18 ... --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Volume 14.0 11 Nethory, 569 Page 18 --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Mortal Council News, continued from page 17 ... Mages (none present): A spellbook fix was suggested for extracting more than one component at a time. Paldin warned about inventory problems for taking out e.g. 255 nightshades. Theryn will have the project until he can delegate it to someone else. Clerics (Lahana, Meg): Oliver was not available to comment on the progress of the major changing project of clerics. Last time this was brought up, there were some problems with theme and getting everything to agree with World. Rogues (Eveon): Bunbun passed along a gripe that rogues should be able to raise the two-weapon skill faster (although not as fast as fighters). Paldin noted that they already do. Shapeshifters (none present): Paldin was looking at doing some internal changes to shifters. Galt said he had heard of shifters who were wanting to be able to use the Body shop, which Theryn was looking into. It wouldn't be really possible at the moment, but after the internal changes it might, according to Paldin. Other: Lahana suggested that on first login, newbies could automatically get the newbie carving and/or go through a tutorial, if they choose so. Senate was discussing the idea, Paldin gave it a thumbs-up. Since Jerusulum is looking into newbie-friendly things, Lahana'd talk to her about it. PK arenas were brought up, but as it was said in the Town meeting, many have started on the project, none have finished. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Volume 14.0 11 Nethory, 569 Page 19 --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Top 10 Signs Your Fellow Party Member Is A Necromancer 10. None of the bugs eating the rest of the party ever seem to bother him. 9. You are aware that he likes to carry ice with him, but you would still think his skin was a bit warmer. 8. He uses pick-up lines like "My, what nice-looking bones you have." 7. He *really* likes taking walks in graveyards. At night. And he some- times brings a shovel "to take care of the flowers". 6. As another sign of dedication to gardening, he shows a keen interest to worms, but yet you never see the things he grows. 5. It seems that ticking him off would lower your resistance against certain nasty diseases. 4. When he is sleeping you have to look very carefully to be convinced that he is still alive. 3. He can heal at an amazing speed, but not without the invigorating effect of battle, it seems. 2. When he introduces you to his friends, they tend to smell like they have been dead for a few days. - - - 1. He barely notices you - until you show signs of being lethally ill. ________________________________________________________ |\'-._( / | | \ .'-._\ Unhappy about your looks ? , ,| |-.\' .-; All those scars detracting from '\`-' | | \ .' ( your attractiveness ? _.' \ | |.--.\' _) ;-; \._| | ` _\(_)/_ Visit The Body Shop ! \ `'-,_,-'\ | |______ /(O)\ _______________________________/____)_`-._\|