[MUD-Dev] Re: [Fwd: Warfare on retromud.org 3000]

[Chris Gray]

[Richard Woolcock/Talien Radisgad:]

 >I'm investigating the implementation of a war system on our MUD
 >(retromud.org 3000) and I was curious how many other MUDs have
 >taken gaming to this level.  That is, do the folks who hack dragons
 >up (or try) and jealously guard their castles find the prospect of
 >waging wars with armies over large terrain an appealing concept or
 >just a nuisance?

Have you ever played the on-line game 'Empire'? It's gone through
several versions over the years, from the original Peter Langston
version through the BSD versions, to whatever it is now. The balance
of using large armies, resources, terrain, etc. got worked out fairly
well, and the game was (is?) quite popular.

I've thought of mixing something like that into a MUD, but its been
very low on the priorities. Some Empire games I've been in had a bit
of RP via the in-game public newspapers, but the nature of the game
prevented more. Perhaps there is room for a merge of Empire with MUDs?

The mechanics could get interesting - you start with the two sets of
rules, that basically cover the two ends of the spectrum, and try
to find something in the middle. Can a player be happy not running
an army, knowing that others are running armies? How do you deal with
players not following orders from those higher up in the chain of
command? How do you present the world to the player? Two different
modes - one the normal text interface, and one the various mapping
and information commands in Empire?

Perhaps the trick would be to start with one game (e.g. the MUD), and
slowly start adding stuff from Empire, and see how it goes.
--
Chris Gray     cg at ami-cg.GraySage.Edmonton.AB.CA