• Imaginary Realities 2001 December Edition

    Summary of December 2001 issue of Imaginary Realities. Imaginary Realities was an ezine dedicated to MUDs.

    Summary of “A Face in the Crowd” by Wes Platt

    Wes Platt (AKA Brody) created OtherSpace MUSH.

    New players on roleplaying MUSH’s will find it easiest to get started, if they join an existing group of active players. Starting a “lone wolf” style character, rarely leads to many roleplaying opportunities.

    On OtherSpace, the following are good organizations to join.

    • The Vanguard military
    • The Demarian Senate
    • Sanctuary’s security force
    • The bounty hunters guild
    • The Boromov crime family
    • The Martian Legions military
    • The Cabrerra crime organization
    • The Nall Clawed Fist Fleet

     

    “If you’re reading this and you run an original-theme game, take heed: Don’t underestimate the power of groups. Give people fairly easy slots to fill – the shallow end of the pool – before throwing them into the deep end. They can dive into murkier water after they learn to swim in your pond.”

    For new players, assign Newbie Helpers, provide group information, make sure groups are welcoming to new players, and give groups activities and quests.

    Summary of “Cartoon – The Mud Slimmer” by Rebecca Handcock

    This cartoon has been lost to the digital void–probably gone forever.

    Summary of “Choosing a Setting” by Delphine T. Lynx

    Choosing a setting is first huge hurdle to overcome when designing a MUD. Start by picking from Fantasy, Historical, Horror, or Science Fiction. All of these genres can be further broken down into subcategories. Historical are the most difficult to prepare for, because factually in accurate descriptions will sour the game for history buffs. Horror is extremely difficult to pull off, because you must pull off the emotional responses (terror, intrigue, and suspense) in you players that make it into horror. Science fiction and fantasy are easier to pull off, and allow for a great deal of flexibility.

    When choosing from the above genres, ask your self:

    • Who is your intended audience?
    • What type of player interaction do you want to see?
    • What excites you, personally?
    • What are the opinions of people you know who you’d like to have play your game?

     

    Here are a break down of possible subcategories of the above genres.

    • Fantasy – Myth & Legend, Society of Magi, Magic as a ‘rumor’, and Every Day Magic
    • Historical – Ancient History, Ancient Greece or Rome, Medieval or Renaissance Europe, and Modern World History
    • Horror – Paranormal, Mystery (with horror themes), Classic (vampires, caves, “evil men with weapons”), Hunted (running from a overwhelming power like a corrupt government)
    • Science Fiction – Science History (“What if King Arthur had the machine gun?”), Classic, Cyberpunk, Espionage/Crime (Jame Bond)

     

    “A last, unmentioned type is one that combines two or more of the above. Excellent examples of this include the Star Wars Trilogy (Rare magic use with classic Science Fiction), The Matrix (a Hunted setting along with manifestations of extraordinary talent) and, perhaps, Final Fantasy, with it’s combination of magic, fantasy and modern inventions.”

    Summary of “Dump Alignment Now” by Ilya

    In most MUDs, evil and good are merely defined by whether you kill “good” or “evil” NPCs. The real world is much more complex than that.

    Alignment systems typically tell you want team a player is on in a global conflict. There’s team Good and Team Evil, and nothing really distinguishes between the two teams.

    “It’s my idea that a more convenient and workable system would endow groups with conflicting goals, dreams, aspirations, etc, while avoiding the good/evil designations altogether. Perhaps even add in some benefits or debilitations based on the accomplishment of these goals.” Motivational goals could be to protect nature, protect resources, or change the use of resources from decorative jewelry to weapons and armor.

    In a goal/motivation based system, there should be some tangible benefit to moving the world closer to the player’s goal. Small rewards should come from each small step toward the bigger goal.

    Summary of “Dweezel’s Guide for the Beginning Thief” by Raven

    Raven was the admin for Dartmud.

    “The successful thief is usually the descendant of past generations of dishonest, but less successful ancestors. You may not be a successful thief, but if you are quiet, observant, and clever, perhaps some day a niece or grandson might distinguish him or herself. You may wish to keep a secret journal of useful information to pass down. This is my journal for those who may come after me. Alas, I fear my line is lost, so I hope you will consider me your adoptive ancestor.”

    Respect the code of “honor among thieves”, but don’t expect other thieves to do the same. If they rob you, learn from the experience. Don’t swear allegiance to any group, unless it gives you a chance to steal their treasure. Never trust a thief that is aligned with any group.

    Don’t get caught with thieves tools.Don’t let anyone know you are a thief. Don’t be seen visiting thieves guild headquarters. Don’t associate with thieves that are stupid enough to do these things.

    Never reveal thief holes, and watch for enemies at thief holes.

    Steal from marks that aren’t there to protect their treasure. If you steal from the young, poor, or defenseless, use it as practice, and return what you stole so others can practice, too.

    Steal from drunk gamblers on winning streaks. They won’t notice it. Bribe their croupiers with a few drinks for their help.

    Don’t steal from healers. They don’t have anything worth stealing, and it isn’t worth the risk.

    Be careful when stealing from nobles. Wedding guest are great targets, if you can get on the guest list.

    Don’t get caught sneaking. Sneak rarely. Avoid lit mages and full moons. Watch your marks from the safety rooftops, if possible.

    Listen to conversations. This can help you find easy marks, or avoid deadly mistakes.

    Bejeweled daggers sell for a lot more than the loose change a noble might have. And remember, a mage that is missing his supplies can’t use them to cast fire at you.

    Don’t leave your takings in your inn room. The landlord will find them.

    “Again, avoid the population centers when practicing sleight of hand. Start on yourself. You must be able to move the largest object you can palm from pack to hand to floor and back without being noticed before you attempt to filch even a farthing from the hoku shi of a sleeping fuzzy.”

    If working as an assassin, never miss on the first shot. If your prey survives, don’t do anything else until you finish the job.

    Summary of “Generalized Design Rules when Implementing Content Systems Driven by Players” by Eric L. Rhea

    Make sure players cannot place objects in an area, unless it makes sense. “If region A is designated as a cornfield and region B is designated as an advanced city zone, it might be curious to your players as to why in the middle of a city a cornfield blossoms.”

    Prevent players from setting up MOB farms.

    Carefully craft how player-placed objects can interact with other players (ie theft, defense, etc.)

    Player placed objects probably shouldn’t interact with MOBs.

    Player placed content can lower the builder’s overhead; be enjoyable to many players; lead to higher player retention; and add more variety to the MUD.

  • Fell into the Dark

    (My journal from solo-playing Ker Nethalas. Slight spoilers ahead.)

    Day 1

    They accused me of Fraud. Yes, my guilt was real. But death!? They hung me! What possessed me to visit this land?

    I woke underneath the city. They threw my body down a well into a cavern full of rotting corpses. My neck wrenched and in pain from the noose they tried to kill me with. I wanted to scream, but my throat hurt too much.

    I sat on the fetid refuse, mostly naked, looking up at the hole in the high ceiling leading to freedom. The one way trip to this ancient catacomb might have an exit, but the one I looked up at wasn’t it.

    Among the corpses, I found a half used torch.

    I tried laughing. That hurt. No more laughing for now.

    Dark vision was one of my few skills, … that and a good set of fists. I couldn’t even use the torch as a club. Not heavy enough.

    I found etchings one the wall that led to a small crack just big enough for me to squeeze through. The crack led into an unknown underground domain. I needed resources, … food, cloths, and a weapon. I had none. My only chance lay in the darkness.

    My eyes adjusted to the dark, far better than a normal human. My ears adjusted to the silence. I moved along a corridor to a carved room.

    Skeletal horrors. Two of them. They saw me, even without a lit torch. I had no choice but to fight.

    Room after room. Corridor after corridor. And a massive water trapped door that nearly washed me away.

    I finally set up camp at deep drop-off. More catacombs existed down there, and maybe an exit to escape from. The drop-off was too steep and crumbly. If I went down there, I’d never come back this way. There were still rooms and corridors worth exploring and scavenging at this level of the catacomb.

    Should I abandon this area and head further into another domain, knowing I could never return to the hole they threw me down?

    Too much. I decided to sleep on it. I hoped nothing attacked me in my sleep.

    Fear.

  • Learning Ker Nethalas

    Ker Nethalas is a solo RPG mega dungeon that you generate as you go. I tried it out earlier this year, but didn’t have time to learn the rules properly. I enjoyed it quite a bit, but got bogged down in constantly tracking down rules to figure out what I was doing. I finally had to move on to another project.

    I’ve just finished reading through the rules of Ker Nethalas for the second time. This time I took lots of notes and added page numbers to the notes. I’m hoping to turn the notes into user friendly lists and/or diagrams to help me play through a few times.

    Below are my VERY rough notes that I’ll be working from. I’m hoping to start a playthrough tomorrow night after work.

     

  • Solo RPGs

    The purpose of this site is to provide a place to play table top role-playing games, … solo. The focus is on solo play for OSR-style games and solo play for ORC licensed Pathfinder/Starfinder games.

    OSR-style RPGs include, but are not limited to: Labyrinth Lord, Old-School Essentials, Castles & Crusades, Shadowdark, X/P, and BECMI.

    This site is not affiliated with any of the games it supports solo play for, or the companies that own rights to those games. We do have an Amazon affiliate account, so links to products listed on Amazon typically are affiliate links.

    I hope you have many years of enjoyable solo RPG fun!