[MUD-Dev] OT: Books

[coder at ibm.net]

On 12/12/97 at 12:53 AM, Adam Wiggins <nightfall at user1.inficad.com> said:

>Folks mention books on here from time to time, and I usually make a point
>to go check them out.  We've asked what muds are most influential to
>people's creative processes (although, it might be time to ask again as
>it's been a while).  I'd like to know what books people consider
>influential to their mud creation or even mudding style.  Personally I've
>labored to try to get the muds I've worked on to be much more like the
>best books I've read; in particular I like to imagine how scenes from my
>favorite fiction would transpire on my mud.  In some cases such lines of
>thought have lead to me redesigning whole sections of the game...

I read a lot.  Definition of "a lot": For over 10 years I maintained an
average of over 20 novels per week.  My current average is lower, tho the
size of my library doesn't suggest it.

Big influences:  Shekley, Laumer, Heinlein, Herbert, Zelazny, Donaldson,
Anderson, Pohl, Kornbluth, Sturgeon, the recent Russian imports (for get
their names), Pournelle, McAffery, Williams, Saberhagen, Clarke, Asimov,
Michner, Ballard, Vinge, Adams, Benford, Hobson, Vogt, Wells, Miller,
Myers, Le Guin, Silverberg, Blish, Varley, Disckson, Card, May, Maxwell,
Piper, Shaw etc.  As you may see I can't really isolate the key influences
-- there are too many.

>Tolkien's stuff (of course), especially the Silmarilion.  A lavishly
>detailed, complex, and beautiful world.

I love the books, am not fond of the worlds.

>Frank Herbert's Dune.  See Tolkien.

Dune is incredible, and Dune Messiah I find beyond compare.  The rest of
the series is more or less dreck.

>Robert E. Howard - everything.  

Blech.  

>Micheal Moorcock's Elric stories (also of course).  

Nod.

>Orson Scott Card's 'Treason'.  


Nod.

>Dan Simmons' 'Hyperion' and 'the Fall of Hyperion'.  

I'm not very fond of either, tho both work well.

>Larry Niven's ...

Nod.

>Vernor Vinge's 'Fire Upon the Deep'.  

Absolutely.  Also "Neverness" (a wonderful milleau for a MUD), tho I
forget the author.

>Can't think of any more at the moment.  Looking forward to hearing
>everyone else's list.  Oh, honorable mention goes to the anime flic Ninja
>Scroll (which I reference here from time to time) for creative,
>over-the-top combat and foes (the Devils of Kimon, especially).

I'd go for the Japanese import, "Mad Mission 3" for this category.  Tough
to find -- an absolute gem.

>BTW, JC - you mentioned several times "Myer's 'Silverlock'" and I looked
>in a local library as well as several bookstores but found neither any
>books by the title Silverlock and no authors with the last name Myer. Is
>it just out of print, or what?

Look on Amazon.  They have it listed, but its out of print.  Keep hunting. 
You will /never/ regret it.  Were I to pick a dozen books of all the books
I have ever read to take with me on a desert isle, that would be one of
them.

></Off Topic>

Actually this is very on topic.

>> live on the surface of a decayed star which has a number of peculiar
>> characteristics.  One of the oddities is that there are periodic "veil
>> falls".  The general result is that any character can interact with any
>> other character within a dozen or so veil fall layers of them on either
>> side.  Further seperation and they can still _see_ them, but are no longer
>> able to interact (they walk right thru them etc).  The really interesting
>> aspect is that this also applies to the physical universe as well.  A 20
>> veil-fall character may be able to see the freshly landed 0 fall
>> space-ship, but will walk right thru it, the 40 fall character conversely
>> won't even see the ship and visa versa.
>> 
>> This would be paralleled in the game by having characters which are too
>> widely seperated (levels or whatever) not even able to be aware of each
>> other, let alone interact.  Characters on a closer par would be able to
>> detect each other, even communicate with some effort (writing for
>> instance), but not direct physical interaction.  Etc.

>Hum, this runs along the same lines as the game-progression stuff we have
>briefly touched on in the past - character's graduating to a new plane of
>existance, where interaction with the lower plane(s) is fairly limited. 
>Except in this case you wouldn't need to actually have seperate
>locations.

Precisely.  I lessens the work load for much of the same gain.  It also
adds an interesting twist to the previous discussions on the game world
evolving so as to be utterly alien to the initial game world (eg early
players were stone age, current players are post-rennaissance).

>Of course, it also raises a fair share of interaction issues typical of
>such things: what happens when the 0 guy chucks a rock at the 30 guy?

30 sees the rock loft itself towards him with no visible cause.

--
J C Lawrence                               Internet: claw at null.net
----------(*)                              Internet: coder at ibm.net
...Honourary Member of Clan McFud -- Teamer's Avenging Monolith...