[MUD-Dev] Logical MUD Areas

[Malcolm Tester]

> From: Ryan P. [mailto:rpfeiffe at niu.edu]
>> At 12:41 AM 5/3/2001 -0700, Scion Altera wrote:

>> As for quests, there plenty of ways to make them only possible to
>> achieve once. It is, however, difficult to make a quest that isn't
>> odd when multiple players all do it once each. My solution is, of
>> course, dynamic quests :)

I'm working on building two types of areas/quests.  Quests created by
Joe Blow Wizard are done by creating a standard theme for the quest
(just like you would anywhere else in the past), but parts that
involving solving a puzzle or something need to be a 'pluggable'
module.  Each puzzle should have a few modules to plug in for it.  The
quest server then determines (randomly) which modules to use for each
player.  Effectively giving a completely different quest to each
person, with only the overall theme staying the same (Rescue the
princess from the orcs!).  Yes, this makes coding a quest a little
more difficult for each wizard because they have to actually _think_
and put a little more effort into what they are doing.  But then
again, I would not have a mud that wasn't worth the effort.

Now, there will also be more global events happening.  I've seen a few
others touch on similar things for this.  These events may or may not
be quests.  Once an event occurs, it doesn't happen again for a couple
of months (real time).  These events should affect the surrounding
areas.  For example, here is a scenario I've been thinking up and will
be the first one I implement once the system is complete.  A warning
goes out to all the villages/towns/whatever in an area.  A mad doctor
in a particular village has come up with a deadly toxin.  The local
constable is looking for an adventurer to go after the mad doctor and
do 3 things: 1) destroy the toxin.  2) destroy the recipe.  3) bring
back the doctor alive or dead (bonus for alive).  So the adventurer
goes for it.  Now, there can be two outcomes to this scenario.  The
player succeeds, and all is well (for 2 months).  Or, the player
fails.  In this case, the mad doctor releases the toxin, the village
is destroyed (and the player in question dies), and anyone wandering
near the village could suffer damage or death.  In 2 months or so, the
toxin has faded away, the village is re-populated by new npcs, and it
starts over.  I may add more randomness to it, but I'm not that far
yet.

I have some other ideas too, but they're not developed enough yet.

Malcolm
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