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Old 02-07-2006, 03:20 PM   #1
Davairus
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Join Date: Jun 2002
Posts: 159
Davairus is an unknown quantity at this point
Abandoned Realms is a unique blend of medieval fantasy. We have a standard line-up of fantasy races - elves, drows, giants.. warriors, thieves, shamans. We also have our fair share of original races, like illithids (evil brain-eating squid-faces) and classes like illusionists, rangers, etc. The levelling system is like this.. you level up to get the new skills for the class, and questing will help hone those skills and pass time. The game is roleplaying enforced, and playerkilling for well-defined roleplaying reasons is *encouraged* (we do not like senseless pking here).

Things that make AR different from most other muds:

1) The complex PK combat system

Unlike most games of this genre, which have simple equations like "quaff this potion" and "wield this weapon your opponent dont learn", or "this weapon hits really hard on this kind of monster" (although AR does have those things) AR has added an additional layer to the gameplay in the form of weapon types and combat styles, so that melee combat is a system of balances:

Weapon types
e.g. Blade weapons (swords/daggers) incur parry penalties on shaft weapons (mace/axe/spear/etc)
* thieves get weapon-based skills that take advantage of this advantage

Combat styles
e.g. Dual wielding (offensive - two weapons at once) beats shield blocking (defensive) by
incurring a dodge penalty
* fighters get style-based skills that take advantage of this advantage
* bows are implemented as a "hard counter" for two-handed vs dual-wield

(Mages also get an "additional layer" in the form of a "weapon ward" skill to keep up which protects them from these problems,sort of like how bash is prevented by protective shields, and trip by flying)


Another example of how we make things more complex. We made a change to dirt kick so that fleeing with this in affect can cause you to stumble, and increases the duration of the dirt a round - up to a certain falling maximum. This gives a new way to lag an opponent, and on the other side of the coin it keeps your victim sitting in the fight to wait it out, granting you an opportunity to use another skill. Quite unlike the dirt-fest causing stock version of this skill you may be used to.

Incidentally training the skills up is deliberately riskier on AR than you'll find in other places. For example, if you have too many levels over a mob it'll limit how much you can learn of a skill with them. And sparring other players has checks on damroll, hitroll etc. Taking some time out to do some of the quests (which also means exploring the world) helps a bit with training skills up.

2) The map lay-out

HUGE maps with lots of vast areas are pretty common in MUDs.. we've made a conscious effort to keep our number of areas smaller than average, because we don't want it to take 30 minutes just to find someone who ran off from a fight on foot. Tracking on Abandoned Realms is usually chasing people through areas until they use a recall or someone runs out of movement - its difficult to just "disappear" any other way. We use large detailed areas so that people need to take time to pass through them.

3) The Immortals

Yes.. has to be mentioned! Every game has unique people at it. Our Immortals are as diverse as any you'll find. Just like our playerbase, we have people who're very pk-focused, and others who are completely RP-focused and don't pk at all, so all the common fields are very well represented. All of our Imms are passionate about the game and are experienced enough to answer questions from the simple to the complex. Presently there are 3 active implementors and 8 other active imms, making it very easy to get experienced help.

Game stats:

~100 areas
~9000 rooms
~2500 unique mobs
~4000 unique objects

~600 unique skills
~1500 helpfiles
~250 socials

Some other less important features I can think of that get praise from our players...

Our auctioning system - we have a mob in the main hometown that allows you to list your objects. On listing, everyone who has the "auction" channel turned on is sent a "tell" that your object just entered the market. The auctioneer then yells the objects on sale in town.

Our gambling system - may of our armor shops sell randomly-generated equipment which has properties that differ from shop to shop. Some of these places are good sources for damroll items, others for spellcaster items, etc.

Our mudschool - whenever players who've been gone a long time come back from an absence they remark how much fun they have doing the lame mudschool quests.

Our pets - we made pets customizable with names and descriptions, and people have been using this to add an extra personal touch to their characters. They are also levellable, and can "third" for a group of 2 to provide better exp, so they're really useful to have around.

Our "nexus" gateway system - this allows people to get around the world via portals. Its much too slow to use to escape pks with, of course, but it takes the pain out of the most frequent and boring walks through the world.

Our website - a number of our players have remarked how useful our website is for checking out things they want to know about the game, like the skills and spells of classes to help them choose what they want to play.

Our surges - these are scheduled double exp/training rate events that run for 2 hours every 40 hrs. Friday night and Sunday afternoon are the most populated ones. This helps ensure people who can't play too often can also get a character to a respectable level and begin having some fun.

Our quests - this has been recieving plenty more praise recently with the addition of quests that are directed at mid-levels instead of all being just for newbies.

Our high level areas - specifically Winter, and the final area for good-aligns. Players have frequently left comments that they were ****ting their pants in fear in those places.

Our "racial legacies" - extra abilities/skills that are inherited due to a race/classes heritage or ancestory. For example, an elf ranger gains a true shot racial legacy that translates into a whopping +10 +10 bonus with bows. These make up for combos that arent entirely worth their exp cost and can use a little shove, and also helping promote certain underused race/class combos we'd like to see more of. Players love these.

Our PK stat posts - each month we post the playerkilling activity so that everyone can see who's getting the most kills, who's the most abused, the one-sided matchups, etc. This feature is so well-liked that the first reminders for the posts occur right after midnight!

Rank #25 on topmudsites! Check us out at
or telnet to abandonedrealms.com 9000

I'll be visible as much as possible for the next few days so if you want to ask more about the game, see you there.
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