i'd like the igasho skillset, whatever it is.
race is tsaephai's first loyalty(but don't tell that to the other glomdoring people)

EDIT: that's something i'd forgotten to mention about my idea of the perfect mud, there'd be races and people within a race would have stong cultural connections, but not so high as one has loyalty with to their lord.

I love the idea of a Racial Skillset, that just rocks.

For Westerns, I can think of the following skillsets just off the top of my head. Horse riding
Carrage riding (main difference is ability to bring extra people who can shoot things even if they don't have the riding or carrage skill)
Animal empathy (Herding and stampedes)
Rifle
Revolver
Knife
Explosives
Steam engine stuff.
Card playing
Bartending
Mining
Ranger/Explorer
Fur trapper
Native tribesmen (and all the skills that go with them)
Pyrotechnic
Bank robbing
etc.

As for the Sci-fi stuf... I think Anarchy Online has a good story and doesn't run into many of the issues you were talking about. Instead of "Magic" its "Nano-bots"

hmm, i know, this is a very old thread to be posting on, but this morning on the way to school i got this really stupid idea that is somehow intreaguing.

a bilingual game(i play both spanish and english muds, although, i'm not so good at the spanish ones). where at the begining one chooses to only use spanish or english, where the people who aren't of the same language are considered "spirits" and you cannot see them, although they can move objects and things around. so they can still affect the place, but not the spirits. both of the worlds would think they are the real one and the other ones are spirits. and they'd both inhabit the same world without being able to interact with the other langauge-speaking players.
and you could sometimes communicate with the other realm with different guildskills or get different powers from the other realm.
it could also take on the form of the japanese spirit idea where you must serve the opposite world or they'd get angry. like things designed a certian way to prevent bad spirits. of course, what would be the ultimate point of the game?
stupid idea, yes.

i'd like to see a mud where, for once, the goody two shoes forestal type organisation DOESN'T have such a damn advantage for no other godforsaken reason than because they are forestals

Didn't Sarapis announce that the Riftwar Saga mud was postponed indefinitely?

I'd like to see a Firefly/Serenity based MUD myself.

Oooo yes Firefly would be funky!

I'd like to see a world where people who behaved like total sociopaths would actually stay dead after the lynch mob got through with them, so that a few more players would mind their manners.

I want to see a IRE sci-fi MUD as well. Doesn't have to just be in the Firefly universe (though that would be 1337)...

Oh, and I'd like to see a world where the MOBs would form those lynch mobs themselves when players started declaring open season on supposedly sentient creatures.

That's funny, Exarius. That's where I am.

I'd like to see a mud where races had only an RP value and people actually got the race for the RP and not because it's the favoured race for their city "She is a fearsome orclach and is so similar to an elfen you wouln't be able to think she isn't".

Just a small pet peeve of mine

Also, I love claseless muds with skill restrictions (you can choose skills instead of skillsets, but need to obey certain norms to avoid powergaming) but I understand that might be a bit too complex for a comercial MUD, as people need to know what they're doing instead of just selecting a class.

A science fiction setting with a mystical slant, kind of like Star Wars or Dune. So players would be able to choose between technological and mystic characters. There would be some friction between the groups (The mystics comdemn the creation of thinking machines, some of the technological characters are thinking machines.)

Or a fantasy setting with a renaissance-like tech level and a focus on warfare. So you'd see players manning trebuchets and bombards, or carrying hand cannons. Magic would be suffering from a slow sort of obsolescence; mages used to control the universe, but now that technology advanced enough they don't have control anymore.

Or a fantasy/steampunk setting focused around the conflict between techonology and ancient magic; one side would be laying down railroads while the other side would be tearing it off, since large concentrations of iron interfere with spellcasting.

Or a fantasy setting where all magic ceases to work all of a sudden. So the game would focus on the emergence of new ways of doing things that were done by magic - technology, mental discipline, practice, and so on.

Or a conspirational setting based around players being members of as many orgs as they'd like, and membership being secret. There would be roleplay, classes, and everything we know 'on the surface', but a great part of the game would revolve around taking control of organizations and political power secretly. Nobody would know what your real objective is. Complete paranoia.

So many ideas.

I'd like to see something original and new. If I had to pick a book to base it off, it would be the Rose Compass.

But I really like originality and new things. New stories, new characters, new places, new events. I've played tons of MUDs based off of books, and they get tiresome. Everyone wants to be one of the characters discussed in the book, and every thirteen year old is trying to inflate his pompous ego by PKing everything in sight. ((Realm of Despair A La Carte)) *shudders*

Stick with the new stuff.

psh in a mud like that, good luck lynching me!

Was the Rose Compass the one where they form circles and marry each other, basically forming multiple partners and what not. Exchanging circle bands when someone marries into the circle?

I like the firefly/serenity concept...

Also... I love intrigue... Assassinations, theft, sabotage, espionage... I think those concepts are fairly lacking in all IRE games... Theft is a minor concept in some of them, though not propperly... its more of just an annoyance, and nothing that anyone could be proud of... I rather like the idea of making it so theivery is a rather challenging and thuroughly rewarding method of getting something needed for a rival city... Or personally *Snickers*.

Espionage and assassination is a joke in -all- IRE games. Espionage because spying has nothing to do with real spying... Its all about having alts... which can't really be helped... but it sucks. Assassination, because all the games are so balanced that everyones a warrior or fighter capable person, and there aren't really any classes capable of killing quick and quiet... Outside of maybe Sab's and snakes... Sab's more than snakes in my oppinion... And they're not even at the point I think it should be at... If a persons business is killing quickly and quietly, getting in and out without getting caught... They're going to be able to... Unless countermeasures... SERIOUS countermeasures are taken...

Sabotage... Well, it was on the list because if a place has wars, sabotage of enemy positions, guard emplacements, power reserves, resources, etc... Is going to be a vital stage of any campaign against an enemy nation...

If you think about it... A world self balances if it has everything in it... Assassins are hired to fight assassins, counterinteligence is made to combat spy networks, etc etc... Its always a losing battle when on defense... that how it always is in war, but its much more interesting that way... Offense is what wins wars, not hiding in a hole and hoping the bad men go away.

EDIT:
Oh, and I forgot to add, I don't think people should be identified in this kind of MUD unless ID'd or introduced. Meaning, everyone starts out a stranger. Even fellow commune or city mates, untill they're introduced. Public figures would be recognized by reputation, and enemies would be posted on wanted posters, so they would be recognized. But so long as your never ID'd your never enemied.

That is just pure gold....haha

Yes. That was the Social Structure of the "Civilized" world. If you look at the social structure of many worlds, they coincide with one main stream of thought; the adherance to marriage, gain of wealth/fame/power, and the freedom to persue individual satisfaction, whatever that may be.

The book had several great ideas I liked. Allow me to discuss these, please.

It directed the four major powers of creation to the four cardinal compass points and/or directions. This is definately not a new concept since those four cardinal points are also used in several occult and arcane teachings and practices. Air, fire, water, and earth, which are all major aspects given to the directions of East, South, West, and North. They're even used in Lusternia, though without the cardinal points. We have Geomancers, Aquamancers, eventual Pyromancers and Aeromancers. Earth, Water, Fire, and Air. The theoretical thought, though, was what really intrigued me. The supposed "One" Goddess or the Alpha granted this one woman the power of the Western Point. Which is divination and the ability to know what is unknown. Also know as your average mysteries and harness the "dark" power of latent powerful magics.

Also, the book outlined the social hierarchy of the world very clearly as well as the major religous thoughts and concerns of the given time and places of the world. You don't find that often in many books. It, as well, spoke very clearly of different places of major concern in politics and centering points of each given major and minor civilizations of the book's world. Therefor, if a game were to be made, everything would be laid out very clearly.

I'll continue later, but right now, I'm really tired.

(((To be continued)))

All great ideas, specially the last one. It doesn't really makes sense that we know who everyone else is instantly.

I'd also like to see an IRE game where you get to pick your stats, instead of having them based solely on race. (Are ALL humans exactly average in everything?) This would give people a reason to pick races based on RP, rather than class.

I also would love a game where there are no classes/archetypes, only guilds. Each guild teaches a specific set of skills, but you can pick your skills however you want. So there'd be an 'Assassin' guild who'd teach several stealthy skills, but you can choose among them freely (I always hated the Achaea serpents because I liked Subterfuge, but didn't like Venom). It would be harder to balance than class-based games, of course, but the greater variety would be interesting. Instead of class/archetype restrictions on armour and such, you'd make it impossible to use certain skills while wearing armour. (IE, Elementalism would be difficult to use wearing field plate, and you wouldn't be capable of holding a shield and using Swashbuckling at the same time.)

And what about an IRE game where you get credits for good roleplaying?

No offense, but that sounds alot like the WoT MUD. *shudders and hisses*