im new to OLC on ROM mud and was wondering if anyone had a hitdice table that
they can send to me. im lookin for formulas up to 50-60k

Anyone out there running on ROT code base?<br><br>-Furball<br>Head builder,
Lothlorien

I'd like to advertise, but we don't have an ad banner or anything. Is there a
website I can go to that makes ad banner graphics? I have one but it is really,
really old.<br><br>Materolia

I'm updating the Mu* Forum Ultimate Link List and
I wondered if you had any links that I didn't
include.<br><br>I'm updating the website theme and will be adding an
index page within the week. I will be including an
advertising section for anyone interested in advertising
their mud or resource. Initial responses will be placed
free for 2 months. Submit an email with a _link_ (do
not send graphics) to your banner ad or small
graphic.<br><br>Get those links together,<br>Moonstone
:o)<br>moonie@...

Yeah, I know, this topic was introduced a *long*
time ago, but it is useful regardless since we're all
builders here. I've been building for quite a while, and
I've found a few tricks to help ease the pain of
writing descriptions for forests and plains and deserts,
etc: Pick up a book! Although I'm not going to tell
you to plagerize, I will tell you to take key
sentences or descriptions and work with 'em for filler. Mix
and match the sentences and use your own (you should
have gotten some inspiration from
reading).<br><br>Need some help getting started? Try the most
long-winded authors: Dickens, Shaw, Hawthorne,
Cather.<br><br>Here are some ones to look for
especially:<br><br>Forests : 'The Scarlet Letter' (Hawthorne)<br>Plains :
'My Antonia' (Willa Cather)<br>Ocean : 'Moby Dick'
(Herman Melville)<br>Tundra : 'Frankenstein'
(Shelley)<br>Mountain:'K2 the Savage Mountain' (Houston, et al)<br>Jungle :
'Congo' (Crichton)<br><br>Dickens is also a goldmine,
winning my award for most long-winded author in history.
If you cut out all the flack and excessive
descriptions from one of his novels there might not be but 50
pages of it left!<br><br>Happy building!<br>ZTI

It's become more and more obvious to me as of
late that botting is the cheap and easy way for people
to mud now. That's very sad, since so many people
spend so much time on their zones, and the people for
whom it was created aren't even there to see it
sometimes. So I am on a one-woman mission to try to slow
(since it's impossible to stop, I'm sure) this bad
habit.<br><br>So how do we do it? Of course with dg scripts and
mob progs, it can be done. I personally have made
some simple scripts to knock people off course on the
main paths to certain zones, and have been scripting
mobs to do random nastiness to their victims, like
teleport them elsewhere or summon new mobs or simply sap
all of their mana so their bots keep recalling them
home when they can't heal...<br><br>Fun as it is to be
so devious and mean, I tire of it. I wonder if there
are any other ways to deter botting, and would like
to hear any thoughts from you kind folk as to new
scripts or code that can potentially be written in the
same spirit.<br><br>I almost feel as if my work,
although fun, is in vain for people who swoop in and level
up overnight while they aren't even sitting there.
Can someone please help end my
suffering?!<br><br>Thanks in advance for any
advice,<br>Tigger<br>Co-Administrator/Head Builder<br>Anywhere But
Home<br>anywhere.dhs.org
5555<br><a href=http://anywhere.wolfpaw.net
target=new>http://anywhere.wolfpaw.net</a>

Obsessions adult MUX's base world in in a modern
earth city with links to differently themed worlds
hidden in it. Because some of the content can be of a
graphic violent or sexual nature, we only allow those
ages 18 or over. <br><br>The main focus is on
social/mini-rp, but we also like to include puzzles, mazes,
activities, etc. I'd very much appreciate any posts on ideas
or suggestions you might have for puzzles, etc. that
players might enjoy.<br><br>If anyone would like more
information or might be interested in building and/or coding
these things, you can email me at
<br>ann@...<br><br>TIA

Personally I only used 'brief' when travelling in
areas that I'm well-acquainted with, and even then only
when room descriptions were long enough that it was
bothersome having them appear on my screen over and over
again.<br><br>Obsessions, our game, is based in a modern earth city, with
hidden links to other worlds set in different ages and
themes. We place clues in room and exit descriptions, so
if they don't look at them, they're missing an awful
lot, including special additional things like puzzles,
mazes, etc. I don't put descriptions of what's to the
north, south, etc, in the room descs, except to mention
something like 'buildings surround the area'. They need to
look at exit description to see specifics. If they're
a couple of rooms away from a lighthouse, I might
mention seeing the lighthouse rising out of the forest to
the 'x' direction. <br><br>When I desc a room, I
first decide what features would stand out to me if I
enterred that room irl, adding adjectives to add flavor.
Then I add mentioning if there's any kind of noise
such as wind in the trees or the drone of machinery,
which can also be used as clues to things nearby. I
find that use of color, smell, and other sensory input
is excellent for giving just the right 'feel' to a
room. Mention what the ground feels like underfoot, is
it hard-packed, spongy, treacherous? Is it soft
thick carpetting or do their footsteps echo in the
cavernous area because it's so quiet?

I was thinking very strongly about posting some
of my MUD's original zones to our website for
download by other builders. (I remember when we were first
starting out, I raided Dibrova's zones so many times that
I think Kaan had done more for our MUD than we did
for a long time. :) )<br><br>My question is this:
should I even bother? My mud's lib files are pretty
highly modified, and it may take a bit of time for
people to set them back to stock, much less to their own
format. I don't want to get a bunch of flames via email
that my zones are worthless to people due to their
format.<br><br>If I do post, would it help matters to also write
out the way to convert the zones back to stock Circle
for those who want to try?<br><br>I want to help my
fellow builders, but...<br><br>What do you guys
think?<br><br>Thanks,<br>Tigger<br>Head Builder/Co-Administrator<br>Anywhere But
Home

*evil grin*<br><br>Messing with players who keep
their brief on is fun. I personally like to trick them
by changing routes to zones sometimes, or perhaps,
as was suggested, put hidden routes to nifty things
in the room desc for those few who read
it.<br><br>As a player, I have never used brief... I always
read things (if not very thoroughly at times), and so
I have come to appreciate well-written zones. I
like extra descriptions, but I think that some people
do get carried away. One such example I know of is a
person who would put an extra desc on a wall, then one
for the shelf on the wall, then one for the papers on
the shelf, then a particularly tattered paper, then
one for the runes on the bottom of that paper... that
was just way too much. And often, it has no purpose
other than the builder's boredom... For that purpose,
it is too much, but if those runes held the secret
to King Whozamama's tomb, then that is worth it. At
least imho.<br><br>I like filler, btw. It not only
makes me feel all big and powerful because I have
twelve more rooms than I had a week ago :), but also
because it gives me lots of places to connect things.
However, although I sometimes copy room descs, I hate if
every single one is the same or close to. I like a
little variety, if for no other reason than to make my
eyes a little less sore. :) I have lots of filler
zones, though, that have 80-100 rooms in which I have
rotated a bunch of different descs around to make it
easier on myself. (In fact, if you want one of them,
mail me, and I might very likely share with
you.)<br><br>I think that to ask what a 'good builder' would do
in many cases is a little silly, though... I think
that the fact that you consider what a player might
like before you build is enough to make you good, at
least in my mind. A builder who builds things just to
try to kill someone or just so their mortal can get a
great piece of eq, they are the ones who need to be
reading this stuff. (No offense to anyone... I've had
some bad admin-builder relations lately. ;)
)<br><br>Tigger<br>aka. Dorene<br>The Queen of Long Posts

&lt;&lt;&lt;<br>most of my players, when
venturing through zones they either know well or are just
fluff, they have a brief mode on and don't read anything
anyway... so I try to keep that in mind when I write
things. <br>&gt;&gt;&gt;<br><br>Another thing -- though
my mud has no players yet (we're still in the
creation phase, been about a year now), I'm already
looking forward to playing around with the ones who enjoy
having BRIEF on constantly. When I started MUDding, I
would always play with brief on, and I knwo I missed a
lot. It's probably the reason I was never the one
discovering that "new area" or the hidden route to the
dragon's treasure.<br><br>The point being that I have, in
some cases, layer upon layer of extra descriptions in
a room. The question is, how much is too much?
<br><br>I personally believe it depends upon the area -- in
my opinion, higher level areas should definitely
have many little quirks and such to "complete"
(conquer/discover) them (and their story); mid-level areas should
have the layered extra descriptions leading to little
treats or just bits of knowledge that could be useful in
a trivia contest; and the extra descs in low-level
areas, if I even layer them, really shouldn't/don't have
much purpose beyond enjoyment.<br><br>How necessary is
filler, if many players will not even read it? And for
those players who do read it, does a good builder use
the same basic description repeatedly, or change it?
I have a large filler area to do which I've been
avoiding, and have been thinking of creating five different
basic descriptions, then just rotating them.<br><br>How
do other builders or admins feel about this, and the
rest as well? <br><br>And forgive me the long posts --
I've got a lot on my mind about building, and haven't
had people to talk to about it
=P<br><br>Meurtriere,<br>the Growing-Savvier (Is That Even a Word?!) Builder.

When I was younger (okay, last year :) ), I would
have said that the longer the description, the better,
generally speaking. Now, though, after building probably
two thousand rooms (mostly filler), I would say that
that is hardly the truth.<br><br>I think that, really,
what makes a desc "good" really depends on what it is
that one is writing. As I said, I wrote a lot of
filler, so a lot of forest and path and road and such,
stuff that player's don't generally pay attention to. A
lot of those rooms, consequently, have little
description (although there is some of course) and are more
to-the-point, like "The road splits here, heading north toward
the mountains and east toward the Dragon Sea." It
might say what the mountains and sea look like from
here, it might say what the countryside nearby looks
like, but the desc is most likely brief, not only for
an easier time in building, but also so that players
don't have a lot to wade through during their search
for Mount Doom or what have you.<br><br>However, when
building a "real" zone (ie. one that has a specific theme,
rather than just more forest or desert or whatever), I
think that telling a player pertinent sights, sounds,
scents, etc. is very important. I like to give them a
good feel for the area that they are in. That doesn't
necessarily mean a lot of adjectives and adverbs, but it does
require a decent flow from room to room, as well as a
good sense of what the area's predominant features
would be. (For example, I would talk about the stench
of rot in a bog, or the horrible heat of a
desert.)<br><br>Also, as far as the day/night problem, I try to pick
out things to talk about that would be present either
way... or if I want to talk about something in
particular, I might say something to the effect of "This area
of the graveyard is known for horrible spectres in
the night." That way you elude to the idea without
ever saying what time it is.<br><br>In my opinion, you
need long and short descs in a mud... long is good
from an admin's point of view, I think, if only for
the reason that it looks better, but since I know
that most of my players, when venturing through zones
they either know well or are just fluff, they have a
brief mode on and don't read anything anyway... so I
try to keep that in mind when I write things.
:)<br><br>Good question, though. I look forward to hearing what
everyone else thinks.

So, what makes a good room description? Is it the
same as what makes a piece of writing good, or does it
necessitate more adverbs/adjectives than one would have in a
book? <br><br>And what about sensory detail? If the mud
does not have night/day descriptions, what is the
safest way to go as far as what the character can see? I
myself get tired of seeing "Forests lie east, a river
runs to the west, and the path continues north and
south.", but it seems like since those facts would all be
true no matter what the time of day or weather
conditions, it might be the most "realistic" or "true"
description available. <br><br>I don't think that good room
descriptions should be sacrificed for the sake of more
"truthful" ones, and I think I've found a pretty good
balance in my areas, but how does everyone here
feel?<br><br>Meurtriere.

I think that Shen is right on track with his
reply.<br><br>I, too, believe that fantasy is by far easier to
write areas for than anything historically based. In my
experience, one can walk from a regular, run-of-the-mill
village into a nest of dragons and then into a swamp full
of giant rabbits. This, I feel, makes it more
interesting, giving the players a good feeling that anything
can happen to them, so they had best be careful. On
the other hand, a historically-based mud/area is a
bit more predicatable. It is doubtful that, when
walking around, say, medieval France, that one will come
across anything too out of the ordinary. No dragons, no
giants, just people, for the most part, and perhaps a few
wild animals.<br><br>I personally stay away from
historical zones in my mud. I run a medieval-themed fantasy
mud, and when hiring builders, I tell them to build
whatever they want that would fit into that theme. In this
way, they are much more likely to finish the zone.
They are building what they want, and if they have a
whim to make a section of their zone not quite like
the rest, that's okay, as long as its fantasy-based.
In a historical zone, that might not work so well,
nor fit quite as neatly.<br><br>And, as Shen said,
nearly all of the ideas that I have seen for zones has
been derived from some work of fiction, be it a book
or television show or tabletop rpg. There are a few
truly original zones, but typically, people find their
inspiration from someone else's work.<br><br>Sorry for the
long post... just wanted to give you a decent answer
or two. :)<br><br>Tigger<br>aka. Dorene
I.<br>Administrator/Head Builder<br>Anywhere But Home

Typically, writing areas that revolve around
fantasy is distinctly easier than historical. Fantasy
settings do not require 'historical' continuity vs the
free reign and open end of a fantasy
setting.<br><br>More fantasy settings are used than historical ones,
due to this fact as well. Historical settings require
research and a certain amount of accuracy, whereas fantasy
settings and areas can overlook many of those aspects and
can stand alone on on just good
creativity.<br><br>Typically ideas come from past literature in the fantasy
setting as ell as existing RPG material. In most cases,
its often already established ideas with a new twist
or a new angle. This is a common occurance to most
muds.<br><br>Shen<br>Administrator - The Arcanum

I'm writing an article for a mudzine and am
looking for input on writing areas that are realistic and
writing areas that are more fantasy like. What's your
opinions? (of course any comments used will be sited with
your name/email or www)<br><br>Possible questions to
answer.<br>Which do you feel is easier?<br>What type of theme
would require one or the other?<br>Which do you feel is
more popular? more used?<br>What are the most popular
fantasy 'themes'? (Where do you get your ideas
from?)<br><br>Thanks,<br>Moonie :0)

Looking for the best area coding tips. Things you had to learn the hard way. :)

Nearly all of mine are all-original ideas, or things that popped into my head
while listening to music... I rarely take ideas from books.

What are most of your areas about? Are they based on original themes and ideas
or are they based on shows or books?

Okay the database is set up. Next week I'll give
you the address to send them too, for now, get
together the following:<br><br>A text based copy of the
area file<br>It's title and level range<br>A SHORT (3
line) description of the area<br>A count of the Rooms,
Mobs and Objects in the area<br>Original author(s) and
an email/www contact<br><br>Moonie :0)

I've been placing the sites into a database.
It'll just take me a few more days to get the kinks
out. Keep sending me the area addresses, sources or
your email contact address. All three are possible
choices in the database.<br><br>Moonie :o)

<a href=http://www.ebola.f2s.com/mudareas.php3
target=new>http://www.ebola.f2s.com/mudareas.php3</a><br>for rom
2.4<br>There's only one area right now, and it's on the small
side (40 rooms); more will be posted as I have the
time to finish them. <br>I'd appreciate any comments,
too, since I'm something of a newbie
builder.<br><br>thanks!<br><br>entusiasmera

I will put a couple up here to get us started. I
would like to SWAP these zones for other, finished
CircleMUD zones. I'd prefer larger-sized ones, as mine are
generally pretty spacious, and I will ask some of my
builders if they would let me post their work too. I'm
sure many of them wouldn't mind.<br><br>I will mention
that these zones are from our highly modified
CircleMUD, and will require some editing before they will be
usable on other MUDs. So be warned. Otherwise, I hope
that you enjoy them. =)<br><br>Zone 241 - about 90
rooms - More Desert<br><br>This zone is a part of our
enormous desert. It is mostly filler, and doesn't have a
lot of mobs in it, but it's a really nice place to
send troublesome people who can't recall. It's kinda
hard to get out of. ;)<br><br>Zone 28 - 100 rooms -
The Woods<br><br>Again, this is mostly filler, but
has a bunch of nice things for lower-level people to
kill, with decent low-level eq on it. Pretty straight
forward zone.<br><br>Zone 24 - 100 rooms - The
Farmstead<br><br>This zone consists of a road, a farm (house, barn,
chicken coop, pastures), and one very tall tree. On our
mud it connects east of Midgaard, and newbies go
there to kill off the farm animals for easy levelling.
A nice little zone for newbies, and one that
they've never seen before. =)<br><br>I will post more
later on. I have tons of zones to swap. If you want
info on them, email me or drop by my
MUD.<br><br>Thanks,<br>Tigger<br>Administrator/Head Builder<br>Anywhere But
Home<br>anywhere.dhs.org
5555<br><a href=http://anywhere.iscool.net
target=new>http://anywhere.iscool.net</a>

Great! Make up a list of their titles or file
names and a sentence description of what they are. I'll
place them on the circle mud area link im creating. :)
Send me your name/email/icq so they can contact you if
they want the areas.<br><br>Moonie

I have lots of original zones for CircleMud. I
would happy to swap with other people for more of the
same. These zones range in size, but are generally
eighty rooms and above. <br><br>Let's make a deal!
=)<br><br>Thanks,<br>Tigger<br>Administrator/Head Builder<br>Anywhere But
Home<br>anywhere.dhs.org
5555

I've throughly updated the MuForum's mud links and made it accessable through
our links link here.<br> <br><a
href=http://clubs.yahoo.com/clubs/warlocksrealm?y
target=new>http://clubs.yahoo.com/clubs/warlocksrealm?y</a><br> <br>Moonstone :)

I am compiling a list of mud area sites for our
links section, but i'm looking for builders with
COMPLETED areas to add to the list.<br><br>Please denote
the Codebase/version it was originally intended for
and whether you were helped by anyone else. Do not
submit partially created or altered mud zones. Original
work only :)<br><br>Moonstone

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