Volume 1
This is the first issue of the semi-occasional AugMUD chronicle. Hopefully this will come out slightly more than semi-occasionally.
Well, here are the policies as I remember them:
No multi-playing is allowed. I hope that I don't have to get strict with you people over that, but if necessary, I'll freeze all players I think are being played by the same person. There is one exception to the rule. Immortals are allowed to play ONE mortal character and ONE immortal character.
Inconveniencing other players is not recommended. Any player caught so doing will be frozen until a trial can be arranged.
Of course, in all matters pertaining to justice, Dantrag will be present at hearings. He is, after all, in charge of justice here on AugMUD.
So you want to be a builder?
If you want to be a builder, I strongly recommend you talk to Lexia. In the event that you find it impossible to contact her, you may talk to me or Toktorill. I don't recommend it, however, since she will not appreciate that.
So you have a suggestion for the MUD?
If you have a suggestion which you feel might be useful to have implemented, please make a note of it on the general board downstairs. If you just wish to complain about AugMUD, please mudmail the implementors directly with your complaint. We like to know what is bothering the players and we cannot fix something if we do not know what the problem is.
Summer is coming!
As you are all no doubt aware, summer is coming. This presents some logistical difficulties in implementing on AugMUD. The computer system we are running on is somewhat termporary at the moment, though over the summer it will be moved to a more permanent location. This will involve AugMUD being down for a short period of time. Should you try to connect and fail, keep trying. I have been informed that the administration of Marcello (the computer which runs AugMUD) is not against having AugMUD running over the summer.
The other logistical difficulty will be at my end. I may not be able to access AugMUD on a regular basis, though it is my hope that I will be able to have similar access to that I have at the moment. I suppose what that confusing statement is supposed to mean is that if you have trouble contacting me over the summer, I will eventually be able to get back to you.
That concludes this issue of the AugMUD Chronicle. Hopefully the next semi-occasional issue will come out fairly quickly.
Editor in Chief, Lost.
Well, it seems that the AugMUD Chronicle will indeed come out on more than a semi-occasional basis. I, Lost, Editor in Chief, have secured employment for the summer with the Augustana and will have relatively unimpeded access to AugMUD for the summer. This also means that I will be able to do some maintenance work on the code over the summer.
I have also heard through the grapvine that Toktorill will be around on a semi-occasional basis as he, too, has secured employment in the Camrose area for the summer. It seems that Justicar Dantrag is still around on an occasional basis as well, though I have not been fortunate enough to make a contact with him since classes ended last month.
Some Important News:
It seems that Marcello (the machine running AugMUD) is crashing fairly regularly. In order to solve this problem, some time over the summer it will be shut down for a period of time in order to rebuild its operating system. In the event that you are unable to access AugMUD for an extended period of time, that will probably be the reason.
The is also the possibility that we will have to relocated AugMUD come fall, but this is just based on tentative possibilities at the moment so don't go and tell everyone that they will have to learn a new address.
In the off chance that you haven't managed to figure it out, I will be making my presence felt relatively solidly. I will try to be on for a few minutes around 8:00 AM MST and will probably be around fairly regularly during the hours from 12:00 PM MST and 1:00 PM MST. Oops, those time zone abbreviations should be MDT, after all, we are on daylight time here. There is also the possibility that I will be available after 5:00 PM MDT but that is not guaranteed. I may also log in sporadically throughout the day. Anytime I am on, feel free to contact me with questions.
I personally would like to completely rewrite the code for AugMUD in something approaching order also, so if nothing new happens in the near future, it is probably because I will be otherwise occupied. Also, we will be working on a major zone reshuffle to make things fit more logically from a geographical perspective. That is, if there is a mountain range to the east of a city, that same mountain range will not also be to the west of the same city. I am not currently aware of any glaring discrepencies in the geography of AugMUD, but feel free to send me mudmail if you think of something which doesn't seem to fit.
Slightly less important news:
If anyone thinks that AugMUD's background story is a little bit too standard, feel free to mudmail me a new one. I will be quite happy to consider using it instead of the current one.
Hopefully, there will be an issue of the AugMUD Chronicle monthly and any time there is a need to get urgent news or really important news out, it will be published. Remember, you can always find the latest edition on the attic bulletin board. Do feel free to check it out.
Editor in Chief, Lost
It doesn't feel like a month since I last published the AugMUD Chronicle, but looking at the dates on previous issues, I see that it is time to write something new.
Well, there is some news. Toktorill and I have started rewriting AugMUD in C++ and are finally making some progress. However, there will be no noticeable changes to AugMUD until we have the new version written. The following are some proposed features:
1. stockmarket - We plan to incorporate a stock market and various other things which may be interesting on the monetary side of things. It will give you people out there something to do with your money. However, don't hold your breath since the stock market is a very ambitious undertaking and it could be quite some time before it is actually implemented.
2. real estate - We also plan to make it possible to own land, pay taxes, own things, and what have you. This will probably come along much sooner than the stock market. A side effect of real estate once the stock market comes up will be the ability to own one's own business.
3. riding things - There will be the ability to ride horses. That's right folks. You will be able to ride a horse (or a dragon or what have you) to get where you are going instead of walking everywhere.
4. picking things/people up - You will also be able to pick each other up (if you are strong enough) and also pick up pets. This adds the interesting side effect of the possibility that your kitten will scratch your eyes out.
5. death - Death is currently too lenient. Please no flames on this board; send them to me via mudmail. The plans in this area are not completely defined, but some ideas include zapping you back to level one with absolutely nothing, taking away half your levels, and deleting characters. I, personally, am in favour of the first and will definitely oppose the last should someone take it upon themselves to champion it.
6. other - If you have any ideas, feel free to mudmail either me (Lost) or Toktorill. Preferably me because I can extract them to files.
Now to less MUD-shattering news.
Well, at this point, there is no less shattering news.
ATTENTION:
If anyone would like to write a column for the AugMUD Chronicle, please get in touch with me (Lost) via mudmail. In the event that you have something which I feel is worth publishing, you will be provided with instructions as to how to get it published in the Chronicle. Examples of material which may be acceptable are: editorials, letters to the editor, and historical writings (of course, based on AugMUD). Note that the preceeding list is not complete.
If you have missed previous issues of the AugMUD chronicle, the entire set (3 in total) is on this board.
Note that if there is a large enough number of submissions, the frequency of publication of the Chronicle could go up. Also, we will pay a _reasonable_ price for submissions.
Until next time,
Lost
Implementor on AugMUD
Editor In Chief
Well, it is time for another edition of the Chronicle. Unfortunately, there is depressingly little news to report. Let me start by saying that I am still accepting submissions for the Chronicle.
There has been progress on the new version of the code, but it is still a long distance in the future. If anything exciting happens there, you lot will be the second to know.
As I said, there is depressingly little to report this time.
At this point, I would like to open up a contest for a new background story. Any ideas should be submitted to mud(at)marcello.augustana.ab.ca using regular email.
On that note, I will end this edition of the Chronicle.
Lost
Editor in Chief
Well, it's time for another of the semi-occasional issues of the Chronicle. As with last time, there's nothing really new to report, though the player base should start picking up now that the school year is starting to get closer. Well, it's not _starting_ to get closer, but it is only a couple weeks before all the Augustana students get back and possible start playing on AugMUD.
Those of you who have faithfully stuck around over the summer will have noticed that there have been absolutely no changes in the code and I don't forsee any in the near future, either. Your implementors are busy working on recoding the game from scratch. In any event, I don't expect much more than maintenance coding will be done in the near future (and, thank the gods, there isn't much of that needed.)
Should anyone wish to write a column for the chronicle, feel free to submit it to Lost at astlw(at)augustana.ab.ca on regular email or mudmail it to me. You might find it easier to email it, though.
Until next time,
Lost
Editor in Chief
Well, it's time for another of the semi-occasional issues of the Chronicle. This issue has some reasonably important news, possibly.
As you may have noticed, there have been some changes in the IMMLists. DragonLady has been promoted to IMP status to facilitate her duties as head builder. Also, you may have noticed that my name does not appear on the list. I am still an Implementor, however.
On the code side of things, nothing has changed all summer, but I plan to make some changes in the code in the next few days to fix a few bugs and maybe to make the "scan" command actually work. It has read "Sorry, this command has not been implemented yet." since we brought the game up. Also, I plan to rewrite some of the Help messages to make them more informative. I have no guarantees that these things will be done in the near future, however.
For those of you who would like to contribute columns or articles to the Chronicle, feel free to mudmail me with ideas and/or actual articles. Remember, the more articles I receive, the more frequently the Chronicle will be published.
This issue is a little thin, but, hey, I'm only one God, and am, therefore, limited in my creativity.
Until next time.
Lost
Editor in Chief
Well, it's time for another semi-occasional issue of the AugMUD Chronicle. There is dismally little to report yet again.
On the code side of things, you may have noticed the new `who' list. Classes are now spelled out in full and the immortals and higher-ups have much more descriptive names. For example, DragonLady now shows as `Head Builder' and I now show as `Head Coder'. Well that is pretty much all that has happened on the code side of things in the past month.
As for the "rewriting" project which has been underway for a while, well, you will be kept posted as soon as any progress actually occurs.
Remember, if you have a submission to be included in the AugMUD Chronicle, please mudmail it to me or send it to mud(at)marcello.augustana.ab.ca. All submissions will be considered.
Until next time,
Lost
Editor in Chief
Well, it's time for another issue of the Chronicle. This time, however, there is some news to report.
It seems that Toktorill has abdicated his post as an Implementor on AugMUD. This leaves DragonLady and Me in charge. We will miss the dynamics Toktorill added to AugMUD.
Most of you may have noticed by now that there is now a `scan' command which works for everyone. It is not implemented as a skill since I figured that anyone can look around and see what is in the next room. Anyway, I hope you all enjoy it.
Some of you old-timers out there may have noticed the number of new players that have been arriving recently. It was determined that AugMUD needed a player base, so it was published at the MUD Connector. Do continue to make these people feel welcome around here.
Just a note about what is in the works for the relatively far future: it is in the plans to eventually rewrite much of the world so that it makes some sense geograhically and to make it more original. There will, however, be plenty of warning before anything of that sort actually becomes reality, and it will not be done all at once.
I would like to advertise again that any submissions for the Chronicle are usually accepted and will appear in the next semi-occasional issue of the Chronicle that is published after the submission is received. Again, either mudmail them to me (Lost) or mail them to mud(at)marcello.augustana.ab.ca.
Well, that's all for this issue. (Note that there will eventually be a system for storing backissues and publishing books and such, but I cannot say how long that will take.)
Lost
Editor in Chief
Well, it has been a somewhat uneventful period since the last Chronicle.
First, I would like to say that it was not our intention to have AugMUD down during the Christmas break, but due to circumstances beyond our control, the computer system running AugMUD went down. It should stay fairly reliable in the near future, however.
I would like to remind everyone that should you have any difficulties which you feel should be addressed, please let me (Lost), DragonLady, or Dantrag know about it and it will investigated (and, hopefully, resolved). Remember, we cannot fix anything unless you tell us what is broken.
If anyone has something they wish to publish in the Chronicle, it can be mudmailed to me (Lost), or emailed to mud(at)marcello.augustana.ab.ca and it will be included if I feel it is fitting.
Some plans for future expansion of AugMUD include the ability to publish books (and whatnot) and (hopefully before the next ice age) the ability to ride horses and such. Unfortunately, the latter may take some time, but I'm sure you all would like to see that.
Well, I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas. Best wishes for 1997.
Lost
Editor in Chief
Well, it seems there have been some interesting developments on the game front recently. Apparently, some strange magical (or not-so0 magical) force was at work during recent days.
First, people found it impossible to even follow a leader; it seems that people would have trouble following someone in even a simple direction such as North. Then, by some coincidence, that stopped almost as suddenly as it started, thanks to the vigilence of DragonLady and Lost, who worked for an hour or so battling this evil magic.
The evil magic, however, would not be vanquished so easily. The next thing we knew, all the mobs were congregating in `clumps'. That is, it seemed that they were conspiring to take over. Obviously, mobs do not have the intelligence to do so, so there must have been some controlling force. Again, a battle ensued. Some time after it started, Lost emerged from the fray with a chokehold on the evil magic and the mobs seem to be behaving normally again.
Unfortunately, the evil magic disappeared out of Lost's grasp (leaving him very mystified by the chain of events). Hopefully it was destroyed, but there are rumours from distant lands that this evil magic has survived and there is even a report of the words "One day when you lower your guard, I'll be back. I'll have my revenge!" echoing through the celestial halls of the Gods.
Who knows; maybe the Gods can handle this evil magic; maybe they can't. Time will tell.
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I would like to thank an anonymous reporter who provided the background information for this story. If anyone has anything they wish to have published in the Chronicle, please send it by email to the administrational account for AugMUD (mud(at)marcello.augustana.ab.ca) or mudmail it to Lost.
Lost
Editor in Chief (and slightly frazzled implementor)
