UPDATE 5/13/2012The server is up and running at: thedarkcity.co PORT:5555(there's NOTHING for payers to do right now, we are building)Forums are located at: thedarkcity.co(not happy with the template, needs modification, still has stock logo so ignore that please. Also not much here yet but I am updating it regularly as I write out design docs.)IRC is irc.darkmyst.org #darkcityI do my best to stay in this channel whenever I am at the computer. I am also in the channel when I am not at the computer, but drop in and chat about stuff if you want to.inFAQ:Whats this all about?Right now, this is primarily an exercise in world building, you can see the Basic Design Philosophy Spoiler below for more info about what we are trying to do or see the Setting of Dark City Spoiler for info about, well...the setting.
For players there's nothing to do yet, but if you want to build with CoffeeMUD, I can give you an area or two to toy around with. If you want to get serious and be involved in the world building, lets talk about that, I would love to have more minds working on this.
What MUD engine are you using?I am using CoffeeMUD and its a pretty sweet codebase I think, easy to build and customize and SIMPLE to manage. It is under active development and is surprisingly feature rich. It's written in Java and it has Javascript implemented for deep powerful scripting as well as a separate and much simpler (but very powerful!) scripting system that allows things like complex mob interactions, random generated areas, advanced faction system and legal system, clan conquerable areas, etc.
Theres lots of info about it on the web, unfortunately its kinda scattered around a few different sites. The best I can do is give you the two main sites, most of the info is redundant but maybe different attempts have been made to organize it.
WIKI:
http://coffeemud.wikispaces.com/HOME SITE:
http://www.zimmers.net/home/mud/MUD INFO:Darkness
The Dark City is forever shrouded in night with a starry sky above, where there is an unobstructed view. The native denizens have never known sun but when strangers come from other places, they tells stories of a bright warm ball or sometimes two or more of them, that rises in the sky and warms the day. Day and night are also alien to the natives of The Dark City; without a day to give a name to, why name the eternal night?
While the stars do shine down upon parts of the city, their light is pale and the city would be shrouded in darkness except for the mysterious system of lighting installed throughout the city. Various lanterns mounted into ceilings and walls, lamps on posts in the streets, and sundry other useful and decorative light sources can be found nearly everywhere. Powered by hard crystalline pipes which snake their way back to the depths below the city where they are powered by the crucibles and the captive souls who feed them. The lamps and the light they provide are the backbone of stability and safety in Dark City, for it is in the deepest of darkness that pure destruction prowls.
Artifacts
Besides the lighting, many other useful utilities are still in operation around the city. Nobody really understands how these artifacts work, they are neither mechanical nor magic. Use and repair is usually guess work with a healthy dose of trial and error where sometimes the errors mean fatalities.
Among these artifacts are massive lifts that can bring nearly any load to the tops of the highest towers, a city wide communication system, and chambers which can convert crystals into useful items, and of course the crucibles in which crystals f all sorts can be used. Other artifacts are not functioning and nobody is sure what they would do if brought into operation.
Architecture
As long as anyone can remember, the City has always been here, though it is not always the same. Some say the City itself is alive, shifting and changing under its own will. While the heart of the city tends to remain stable in most ways due to strong wards placed there, it is at the edges and beyond where more dramatic change is bound to happen. The further one goes from the center, the more prepared for surprise one should be.
At the heart of the city, massive buildings in implausible shapes tower over the wide streets below and plazas below. Apparently made of shining glass, stone and steel, their true substance is a black crystalline material called Bitume that when hard, can take on the appearance of nearly any material. Anything not built of Bitume will inevitably be destroyed and the city shifts and changes, even if only slightly as if to shake off an annoyance. The owner of the black crystal may build to their own taste a structure that will not be rejected by the city, just as the body rejects foreign matter when it heals. Bitume is rare and valuable when found outside the city in its raw state, once fused into the whole of the city or into an object, it is only with extreme effort that it can be reduced again into a raw form.
Well of Souls
Below the City lies a massive chamber that houses that various mechanism and power sources as well as the homes of those relegated to operate them. Massive pillars of Bitume span form the chamber floor to the ceiling which is only visible from the tops of some of the higher buildings. Spread around the pillars is a city unto itself, though of a more utilitarian and disheveled tone. A tangled network of pipes erupt from the boxlike structures that house the crucibles and other artifacts and then extend upward to fed the city above.
The wide and dingy streets are populated by a society of captive souls. It is here that the worst criminals and are sent to work and to die for the benefit of the city above. Countless generations have also been born to these depths and there is little hope for escape save for gaining the favor of one of the Overlords and being granted freedom into the Dark City above. Still others choose to try their luck at exploration of the caves which burrow down and around the chamber in hopes of finding enough wealth to buy their way to freedom or perhaps even a tunnel which leads to escape above.
The Well of Souls is also home to the countless dead, both from the locals and the city above. As the remains of the generations are laid to rest in the mausoleum chambers, new chambers must be dug and outfitted to accommodate the ever expanding population of dead. Even though the greatest of care is taken in these operations to ensure the dead are safely locked within the chambers, they continue to rise when the lights go dim and maraud through the streets, unleashing their rage upon anyone foolish enough to remain outside the barricades.
GM Interaction
I want to run this MUD slightly different that usual, but only slightly. I would prefer, if possible, to always have GM and player interaction a central art of play. Of course, the MUD will be up 24/7 and you can always log in to interact with the world as usual, The real fun will start when we all play together. The GMs will breathe life inot the world by setting up special plot and action in front of what the player are doing. Imagine this playing a lot like your local pen and paper game, but with a MUD handling the details of game mechanics.
MUD Synopsis and Philosophy
A small "Role Playing Intensive" (RPI) MUD centered on the core concepts of inter-player and faction conflict, mystery, exploration, intrigue, hardcore perma-death, and survival gameplay in a harsh world. In addition to RPI, we want t be high conflict. This does not mean combat and fighting alone, but intrigue and story based conflict as well. Often, the most influential action you can take will not involve the sword, but when the time comes the sword is always a viable option.
Concise World Design
Because we want as much player interaction as possible, the world will be designed in a concise way around a central hub to encourage frequent character proximity and roleplay. There will be far off places to explore, if you can survive it, but these places are deadly and will require a well equipped party.
Faction, Plot and Conflict
Players are encouraged to join one of the in game factions and push forward that factions agenda. The various factions set up in the game allow plenty of opportunity for conflict and cooperation between players and their factions. It is this conflict which gives rise to some of the best stories and offers up the motivation for various actions such as killing other characters.
Player vs. Player and Death to NPCs
Dark City is a harsh world where death can sometimes come swiftly. Player vs. Player conflict comes in many flavors and does not always mean a fight to the death. However when two players do end up fighting and one or even both die, that death is permanent and almost never can the character be raised, except under very special circumstances. When a player dies to an NPC, be it monster or otherwise, that death may be deemed as a "close call" and not mean the full retirement of that character. In either case, the body will be transported to the Nether, from here you may choose to reenter the world if you died to an NPC. If you were killed by another player, you may not renter unless you are told so by an Archon or staff member.
Low Magic Setting
The world will be low magic: magic items and spells will be precious and powerful and magic will retain a sense of awe, even at what is considered low-level in some worlds; nothing will ever be obsolete.
Experience and Leveling Up
Players are encouraged to explore and adventure, but grinding for experience for the sole sake of leveling up are discouraged. Solo grinding will be all but eliminated by removing experience for killing monsters completely, instead we will reward experience to players for completing quests, many of which will have party size, level ad class requirements. Levels will also be capped (level cap to be determined) to keep the playing field slightly more equal.
What we do want to encourage is tht players get behind the various faction story lines (either established already in the world or player made factions), establish some personal or clan goals and get behind those goals. We want players to roleplay as if they were in fact their character, doing what they would do. Completing personal or clan goals will al be rewarded with experience or other appropriate rewards such as certain powers or items, or even changes to the world.
A Growing World
We want to start the playable space small d grow it as the players push outward into world, players and factions will be building, exploring, and trying to survive in a harsh world. Within reason, the GM team will create within the MUD whatthe players work toward.
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Topic: Dark City MUD (Read 3991 times)