[MUD-Dev] My favorite game systems, what are yours?

[S. Patrick Gallaty]

I didn't see anything like this in the archives, and am interested to see
what people name as their three favorite game systems and the reasons for
it.  I am feeling pretty wide-open here as far as examples.  I'll name my
three, and why I liked them - and hope to hear from other people about which
muds/mporpgs/single player games have had game systems, advancement systems,
interfaces, etc. that they felt were exemplary.

On to my examples and explanations :

Legends of Kesmai : Character Development - Legends of kesmai (now killed by
EA), multiplayer graphic mud derivative of Islands of Kesmai.
Their advancement system I felt had the best balance of exp gain, money
drain, stat caps and class specialization of just about any system I've ever
seen.  Almost any class could learn almost any skill, but if the skill
wasn't base to your class it cost twice to train in it in exp and other
things.  Exp gain in any given skill was use-based, but moderated by the
money drain of keeping the skill 'trained' which was a charge against exp
earned.
30 levels, geometric exp gain, manageable stat caps.

Ultima Underworld 2 : magic system - origin systems, programming by looking
glass studios
magic was created by combinations of runic tiles, each had a syntactical
meaning which describe the spell effect.  Thus "Quas Lor" (illusion, light)
gave you night sight and "In Por Ylem" (create moving matter) gave you a
magic missile.  It was graceful and elegant.

Shattered Worlds Mud : combat and weapon/armor system - Primary author
Dredd, australian mud.
Combat is skill based, takes into account limbloss and different damage
types.  Armor and weapons are comprised of materials, with material tables.
Weapons do Crushing/cutting/piercing damage and armor has
absorption/penetration/toughness based on material and armor type bonus.
Armors are known by the system if they are 'soft' or 'hard' armor, and can
be layered if a 'soft' armor is worn under a 'hard' armor.
Weapons are created by assuming a 'weapon type' from the weaponmaster
object, and the created object can be modified within degrees (quality,
sharpness, condition).  Armor deteriorated, weapons deteriorated.
All in all a simple to play but refreshingly 'realistic' system where the
player had periodic reminders that they were participating in a martial
environment.






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