Volume Twelve Issue Seven

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 VOLUME TWELVE, NUMBER SEVEN                           March 29, 2005
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                         TABLE OF CONTENTS

                           The Editor's Note

             A Message to the Mortals from the Implementors

                         NEWS, REPORTS, UPDATES

                     LegendMUD Calendar of Events
                      Did You Know: PK BattleZone
                             Recent Updates
                              Legendites

                               CLAN NEWS

                    Black Hand of Corruption Forms
                      The Disciples Clan Disbands

                             -=-=-=-=-=-=-

                 Mysterious Assassination in Pittsburgh!
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/__|                      The Editor's Note                      |__\
   '-------------------------------------------------------------'

     Hello folks, have you all been voting for Legend at the forums? 
It's a good thing to do and you should continue to do it.  Also, we really 
want to hear your ideas, and the forum is a great place to get those spelled
out for us as well.
     I've gotten one (1) player submission for the LT since the last 
one was released, and I'd love to get more!  So what can I do to increase
player participation in this thing?  Send me a tell or email or mudmail
and let me know.  I am still giving out tokens for people who submit
articles.  Let me have some feedback!  Thanks! -Huma


             A Message to the Mortals from the Implementors
           -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Greetings from the Imps,

It's been a little over a month since we were asked to take the reins on
the Imp positions and Sandra and I have been busy stepping back, taking a
look at things both large and small, trying to figure out where the
troubled spots are, where we're doing thing right and where we could be
doing things better.

We now have a todo list a mile long, and probably 10 times as many
questions as we have answers.


The department heads have been essential in identifying areas they and
their department members see falling into the 'works'/'doesn't
work'/'needs improvement' categories. They have also been extremely vocal
forwarding ideas on from players, the idea file, from conversations and
the Q&A's as well as the new LegendMUD web forums
and the trusty old discussion boards.

We appreciate the input and as we move forward, we will be extending the
opportunities to interface and get these ideas across. Perhaps more
in-game events, more impromptu gatherings, and other methods of
communication.

As we approach this enormous list of 'todo' items, we will undoubtedly
lean more and more on the input of players.

I'm going to be intentionally vague at this point because we're still in
the process of determining what the priority of many of the items are and
what needs to be dealt with now and what needs to be dealt with later.
What I can tell you is that there is a brainstorming enthusiasm going on
in the immortal-sphere, and many of the ideas that are coming out of it
are game-enhancing.

What I can also tell you is that, as we move forward, we may have to make
decisions that may not be the most popular. We have a lot of "broken
windows" so to speak, and in order to do a lot of new and cool things,
we must fix some of these broken windows.

We are also going to carefully consider all of our options and, when
appropriate (which will be most of the time), gather feedback from
the players during the design and implementation stages.

As we are intending to increasingly rely on players for feedback on
all aspects of the game, we would like to remind everyone of the
communication lines that are open:

- The discussion boards (discussion/pk/news/builder/etc.)
- The WWW forums (http://www.legendmud.org/forums)
- Mudmail
- [email protected]
- [email protected] (copies to both Sandra and I)
- idea/bug/typo channels
- Q&A discussions (Thursday night, check the events calendar)
- and the trusty old 'tell'

We look forward to what's cooking in the game realm, and we look
forward to bringing that to the mud while involving all interested
parties.

Thanks,

Rufus and Sandra


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/__|                LegendMUD Calendar of Events                 |__\
   '-------------------------------------------------------------'


                                   April
                          Su Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa
                                          1  2
                           3  4  5  6  7  8  9
                          10 11 12 13 14 15 16
                          17 18 19 20 21 22 23
                          24 25 26 27 28 29 30





Thursday,     March 31st,     7:30 pm      Q&A in the OOC Auditorium 
Friday,       April 1st,           April Fools Day!
Sunday,       April 3rd,      2pm-10pm     PK BattleZone
Thursday,     April 7th,      7:30 pm      Q&A in the OOC Auditorium
Sunday,       April 10th,     2pm-10pm     PK BattleZone
Thursday,     April 14th,     7:30 pm      Q&A in the OOC Auditorium
Sunday,       April 17th,     2pm-10pm     PK BattleZone
Thursday,     April 21st,     7:30 pm      Q&A in the OOC Auditorium
Sunday,       April 24th,     2pm-10pm     PK BattleZone 
Thursday,     April 28th,     7:30 pm      Q&A in the OOC Auditorium


   _____
  /  _  \   DID YOU KNOW: PK BattleZone
 /__/ \  \  This is just a period of time where the population of
      /  /  pke pkillers is higher than normal. Our hope is that by
     /  /   announcing this, that more pkillers will make themselves
    /__/    available to each other and be looking for action.
    __
   /  \     Remember, if you see any good fights of hear of any
   \__/     juicy pkill gossip, write it up and send it to the LT for
            a token!

___                                                               ___
\  |-------------------------------------------------------------|  /
/__|                       Recent Updates                        |__\
   '-------------------------------------------------------------'
                             AREA UPDATES

                       -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Boston: elderly men are a bit tougher despite their age, new item
added.Decrypt this encrypted message for a clue...:
"Dso_cn_eGwr_itgrgisc_khsa."
[Hint: it's NOT a substitution cipher! What you see is what you get.]
Solution will be printed in the Legendary Times (the one AFTER the
one in which this clue appears, mind you!)!

Carnival: Cesare will drag you in like he's supposed to. Carnival poster
is now more usable, and more food is available at the bar and grill.
The problem with the carnival not being open right after an areas reload
has been fixed.

Crusades: Conrad should be a bit easier to find when needed for a 
quest, the Sufi will no longer stockpile as much gold as you give him. A few
assassins had the ability to "insta-repop" during a run -- this has 
been pulled. The ocean gatekeepers should behave themselves correctly now.
Some tools in housing which didn't work are gone now.

Dante's Inferno: Sandra is now maintainer. Mob xp has been improved in
multiple locations. Boat ride experience and other topics of recent
complaint should be improved. Too many small fixes & tweaks to list --
give the Inferno another try and see what you think! Lucifer has some 
new tricks and surprises. Give him another whirl!
More boatride tweaks, too. Travel in style today, visit the Inferno!

Egypt: Huma is now maintainer, more clues added for the flax quest.
French/Indian War: disguise section added to the forest

Greece: Nestor is now maintainer.

Klein: even more clues, tweaks, and flexibilities in the Ritter quest.
The key buildup and duelling gate-locking problem may be solved! Ritter
quest was not working right for male characters, but it should work now.
Thanks to Dak, Sandra, and Rufus for the help (and patience) while this bug 
was figured out!

Melbourne: LadyAce is now maintainer. Mob XP increased in several 
places based on mob vs mob testing. Brick makers should be far
more patient with younger explorers,

OOC: Updates the Expies room. Paris: Many of the mid-level mobs have
been adjusted to keep them from being too difficult. If you have a midlevel
character (20-30ish), please try Paris as an xp source and see what you
think! The doctor has more to offer any visiting medical
students.


Pittsburgh: Wallet will only hold money.

Roman Britain: killing the stunted druid will leave evidence of
your crime

Romania: Disguises should work now.

Typo fixes:  Alaska, Anasazi, Carnival, Carthage, Egypt, Dante's 
Inferno, Pirates' Den, French & Indian War, Malta, Melbourne, Pittsburgh,
Salem, OOC, Romania, Viking.

More Typo fixes: Alaska, generic animals, generic foods, Ancient
Seas, Black Forest, Klein, Malta, Melbourne, Paris Opera.


Areas where non-q5 weapon updates were done: Alaska, Crusades, 
Dreaming, FIWar, Klein, Malta, Melbourne, Paris Opera, Romania,
Savanna.

In-progress areas which had commits this week:
Black Forest, SL2, Tartarus


                             CODE UPDATES

                        -=-=-=-=-=--=-=-=-=-=-

                               GENERAL

o For visible imms, imm names will now show in tells even if
  the receiver is unable to see said imm (due to blindness,
  lack of light etc.)

o Failure to steal from a paralyzed mob will now result in
  less growling.

o You can hear humming items from adjacent rooms in you have
  the right skill.

o Pick lock will now toggle the state of the lock.

o You can now hide while prone or kneeling.

o Now you can douse an object or douse person in water rooms.

o Poison bleeding and acid burn all go off (if your affected
  by them)

o If you are bleeding and poisoned there is also a chance the
  poison length will be reduced.

o Guests will have a title of 'the Visitor'

o You'll have to be slightly more intelligent to use elemental
  words.
o combat moods now work on speech as well as actions.

o Create water spell can now be used to douse a person.

o Surgery averages will be a little higher.

o Hunt lag reduced.

o Item affects will now show up in status.

o Quickdraw, inject, and set trap are now listed under more
  appropriate skill headings.

o Resist fire changed, will have lower impact for the first
  casting but be castable up to twice per target.


                                 BUG

o Housing rent bug fixed where it was possible that proper
  rent charges were not applied.

o Morphine rage message will now go to the victim being
  injected.

o You can no longer make walls in directions that don't exist.

o Aiming will skip the shooter even if you have the same
  keyword.

o Being disguised will no longer stop a description from
  being registered successfully.


o Closing doors now ruins aim.

o Shoot shouldn't work if you don't have line of sight,
  regardless of whether you've aimed successfully.

o Color bleeding from obj attributes (glowing etc) fixed.

o You can no longer use a balm on someone who is already
  balmed.

o If you can't balm someone, it won't extract the balm.

o If you're sleeping when a spell wears off, you no longer
  get a blank return.

o Dispel illusion now reports what the illusion was that is
  being dispelled

o Major illusion now reports the illusion that is being
  created.

o Tainted weapons will no longer keep activating after the
  taint is gone.

o If you are the one splitting the money you will always keep
  your share regardless of how reject gives is set.

o Ditch now looks at characters/mobs following you first.

o AFK won't be set everytime you log in.

o When trying to phase through a door, the failure message
  will now be correct.

o Phasing through a door when surrounded by a ring of fire will
  now remove the ring of fire.

o Iron will parry should work a bit better.

o You can no longer use pick lock to lock containers and doors
  that are not supposed to be lockable.

o Multiple messages will no longer be shown when a spell with
  multiple AFFECTS wears off.


                            TYPO

o When a door is unlocked from the other side the capitalization
  of the name of the door is now correct.

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/__|  LEGENDITES: Information Regarding the People of Our World  |__\
   '-------------------------------------------------------------'

           Lia has reached 200 million experience!

       =o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=

          Asterix has reached 100 million experience!

          Phoenix has reached 100 million experience!

           Rama has reached 100 million experience!


                 St. Patrick Day Casino Game!

               <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>

     The annual St Pat's Casino Game was a huge success this year, which
is rather surprising considering who was running it.  However, it went off
without a hitch.  Dozens of people participated and at least 2 multi-color
strings and several single-colors were eventually given out. The game
seemed to be extra fun on account of the use of colored game tokens
representing (and of course, stereotyping) the Irish as we chose to use
pieces of Lucky Charms such as blue moons, red balloons and the like.
People enjoyed the theme so much that by the end of the night the treat
(a multi-colored bowl of lucky charms) had become a more popular item then
the themed-strings.  Not only that but a large number of players requested
special versions of the tokens to keep as souvenirs.
     A Special set of thanks go out to LadyAce, who helped me with it, 
and Maeldun who inspired the theme!



                      Easter Egg Hunt!

                   /\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

      Due to a quirk in the calendar, we had two of our bigger games 
one right after the other.  For those of you who don't know, the Easter egg
game takes places every year.  What happens is the Easter Bunny hops
around the mud dropping eggs at random locations, anywhere from the 
road in Sherwood, all the way to Inside Calatin's fortress, and the person
who collects the most eggs at the end of the day is the winner (and has a 
very spammy inventory).  This year we had several players go after eggs, but
only a few of the most valiant (or least encumbered by other obligations)
managed to really make a go of it.

Here are the results:

91 - Shai'Hulud
79 - Jupiter
25 - Sakki
13 - Aloysius
8 - Israfel
7 - Ugh
6 - Siachet
4 - Percy, Beauxb
3 - Autumn, Octavio, Spellcaster
2 - Dogbert, Spanish-Flea, Woodrow
1 - Adamar, Calitri, Davarith, Jeffrey, Maeldun, Saiph, Saya,
Solidus, Sara, Violet.

The top 4 winners are awarded a prize and the rest get to keep their 
brand new shiny eggs.



___                                                               ___
\  |-------------------------------------------------------------|  /
/__|                     Clan News                               |__\
   '-------------------------------------------------------------'


      The Black Hand of Corruption Clan formed on March 10, 2005,

                    This Clan is a PK Clan.

"The Black Hand of Corruption is finally more than just a rumor. We 
still shall lurk in the shadows, totally incognito and sworn to secrecy.
Beware however, you may be the next one targeted for assassination!"

                 -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

          On March 27, 2005 the Disciples Clan disbanded.

                    ---------------------


There are currently 17 RP clans and 5 PK clans. This leaves open slots
for ten (10) more clans to form. For more information, read HELP CLAN and
see the clan information list via the CLANS command while logged into 
the game. For a basic handbook and reference guide for players interested
in starting and running a clan, we recommend that before you even type 
FORM, you visit: http://www.legendmud.org/Reference/gm.html.



              _______________________
             /                       \
        o O | Wonder what folks are   |
   \|||/    | doing over at LegendMUD?|
   (o o)     \_______________________/
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            Mystery Surrounds the Assassination of
            last known Don of Criminal Syndicate!

       -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Pittsburgh Press, Senior reporter Skip Williamson:

     Giovoni "The Sandman" Santiago found in a back alley of 
Pittsburgh, shot twice in the back of his head, execution style.

     Sandman, the former mafia Don of the Syndicate, was last seen
strolling his old stomping grounds when shots were heard in the 
distance.

     Later that evening his body was discovered in a back alley. 
No signs of a robbery had taken place, nor a struggle as he was found
hands bound behind his back and was shot in the back of his head
two times.

     Sources say this was not the handy work of the local gangsters.
Big John offered his two cents by saying, "We had nothing to do with 
it,
now get the hell outta my face.". The locals of Pittsburgh would not
even comment on this startling apparent assassination. Though one,
who wished to remain nameless, did finally speak out on this topic, "
Everyone here is afraid to answer any questions, even the gangsters.".
The local added that, "this was an obvious hit by a new organization
trying to show their new muscle, which has all of us afraid for our
own lives."

     Seeing as no eyewitnesses have been found, and the locals living
in fear, the mystery surrounding the apparent assassination of Sandman
will continue as rumors are whispered of a new deadly organization
roaming our city of Pittsburgh.






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