I meant more that I am not the most fond of affliction/defence based combat systems which require both extensive scripting and extensive amounts of OOC cash to stand a chance in. It's too much of an emphasis over player cash over player skill. Being able to buy a system like Thorgal's, and then buy lessons to omnitrans yourself basically lets you win most combat in a Rapture game. Or so it seems.

I wasn't saying anything bad about Illyrias, just about the format of such a game in general.

Out of sheer curiosity (and because I'm working on developing the same thing for my own purposes), what would be a better way to handle combat, in a mud?

If it's complicated, it eventually requires a system to compete. If it's simple, there is very little room for skill. I can't think of a way to have both.

The combat system isn't straight affliction/cure, it has more subtlety to it than that. And the equivalent of credits will be able to be mined/some other mechanic in game as well as just being bought OOC. So money is less of a must.

That's interesting - I suppose I may look into it when it is released. At the moment, I'm kinda trying to get into Imperian, since I've heard so many good things about it, but I really don't want to spend the time to get the credits to do anything, and I'm findint really hard to get into. So, I'm just playing Guildwars for now, and holding off on the RP. College is almost in session anyway, which means tabletops and LARPs galore

Since you want RP, this might not be the MUD for you, but you might find it inspirational. It's GodWarsII, written by KaVir, but it's very different from the original GodWars. Still pure-PK though.

It's still beta, albeit open beta, so it's got some bugs. Only four classes, but another four are being discussed (they're going to be coded, they're just deciding what to do with them). That's another point. Player issues and ideas are listened to.

Combat is done in a way I haven't found in another mud, but if you've played something like "Waving Hands" or "Spellcaster" it's similar to that. Basically, you do an action, and they combine to do different things. So rs while wielding a sword would slash with the sword, but rw (which is whirl) then rs would perform a whirling slash attack, which is slightly more powerful. There are also stances, which affect your damage/speed/attack/etc. It's complicated, but you get used to it.

Coordinate based, not room based. Done in the imperial measurements, as it's a bit easier (you have a range of so many feet rather than so many metres and centimetres) and fits in with the setting.

You've still got a bashing grind, but you also bash for better equipment, and you can do maps for a slightly less boring exercise (although no equipment).

They playerbase is helpful, for the most part, as long as you don't annoy us too much.

This is the website, and this is the forums.

Harshlands doesn't need any aliases or triggers or anything to be played enjoyably. I don't have any; I suggest you just go ahead and try it with ZMud or something else.

Imperial measure is the work of DEVIL!


This statement worries me. I might be just overcautious, but I learnt to interpret statements as "game for people who are not afraid of challenges" as "newbies will be shouted at and griefed instead of helped". I hope it's not the case.

EDIT: The combat system looks really nice though.

Ooh.. Godwars.. I used to love VampireWars and Godwars and Dystopia.. but they all went downhill and I could no longer find one with a decent-sized playerbase. I'd play one in a heartbeat if I could find one with 50ish average playerbase.

Edit: Oh, and what's the average playerbase for Harshlands?

Harshlands is a good game for what it is, but if Shorlen wanted more conflict than Lusternia, this is not the MUD for him.

Harshlands is a much, much lower power level; some characters may be nobles or powerful people, but most people are ordinary folk in a realistic medieval world, and even nobles have to live with the consequences of their actions, to the extent that nobles would in a realistic medieval society. Death is permanent, and the biggest limit on your behavior is that there are consequences. There's no "bashing" and there's little combat (and what there is is almost entirely dependent on character skill, not player skill. All there is is pervasive roleplaying, not merely in terms of staying IC, not merely in terms of how your character will act right now, but in terms of how an entire world fits together. It's set in Harn, a published fantasy game that's been in print for 25 years and has, hands down, more detail developed than any other fantasy world ever published. Average player base is about a dozen online at a time.

99% of Lusternia players would find it impossibly boring, dull, uneventful, and tedious, Shorlen (going from his original post) most definitely included.

Feel free to ask me more privately.

I really, really want to get into Harshlands now, just to shove it down Gwylifar's throat.

Shove what, Guido? Don't think you've got anything to shove. In any case, you wouldn't make it through character approval, and if you did, you wouldn't last five minutes, and if you did... how exactly would that be a problem for me? You boring yourself silly... what a punishment! "Don't throw me in that brier patch!"

Heey, if I got into it, anyone can.

Well, it's easier to use feet when measuring range and such - I have a range of eight feet, for example.

And the "not annoy us" thing was because occasionally you get newbs who just come in and start insulting everyone and all that. We don't like it. Once you get to know us, a few friendly jokes are fine.
I have bad memories in relation to some newbies who turn up. As you may have guessed.

And yeah, the combat system is good, once you get the hang of it.

Er, no. Imperial measurements are only convenient for Americans, that have had their brains conditioned to the accursed things from birth, poor sods. They're inherently worse than metric, for all intents and purposes.

Just a little addon regarding combat -

My experience in Combat in Muds that aren't IRE is relatively small - WOTMUD and Armageddon, all in all, but I don't think that the fact that the fighting isn't as intense as IRE's makes it boring - The focus simply shifts. In Armageddon, for example, there are some things you can do in the middle of the battle that are more than the "kill" command to start auto-battling, which, admittedly, is how most battle looks. To make things interesting, a lot of during-battle emotes and RP go on.

If the focus, however, is on Conflict, instead on "How the combat goes", I say Armageddon can definitely win her, by the simple virture that winning in Combat, for example, matters - That guy, you really hated, and finally killed - He WON'T be back, there'll be a -noticable- difference.

I really need some help with harshlands.. Gwylifar.. Veri.. help me.

What are you struggling with Joli?

Feel free to contact me privately. My IM information is in my profile and I'll be happy to help you get started and settled.

Hmm that reminds me, I never went back to Harshlands after my character was approved. Woops.