Quest Digest 8/5/96 From: ">>-Josh->" <J.P.Gallagher@durham.ac.uk> Date: Wed, 08 May 1996 00:00:00 +0000 ___ _ / _ \ | | | |_| |UEST__| |IGEST \__ | / _ | | |_ | |_| | An e-mail discussion forum for the fantasy |_ / \___/ play by mail game; "Quest". Compiled by Josh Gallagher. J.P.Gallagher@durham.ac.uk o This isn't one of those automatic list thingies, so could all articles be sent clearly marked with paragraphs initalled to me. o If you want off the list, just say! No hassle, no pressure. o All material here is the exclusive property of the author and may not be used elsewhere without their permission. ___ / _ \ Ah, the wonders of exam time. Amazing how many things | __/DITORIAL one can find to do that don't include revision. Like \___| compiling the Quest Digest for example. Thank you again to everyone who has contributed, and welcome to all the new additions to the mailing list. You'll see that a lot has been said this week on the topic of the Monks, but no _definitive_ answers have been given. What powers to each of the different monks have? _Do_ they each have different powers? Your comments are, as always, appreciated. And so, on with the _ / \ / /_\ RTICLES / ___ \ /_/ \_\ -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 3 May 1996 04:30:01 +0100 From: zedzuada@innotts.co.uk (Dave Jones) Re: Matthew Sach and Monks DJ> Recently, my groups in game 14 have engaged monks several times. It appears that +x weapons are ineffectual against them, but weapons augmented by the use of Enchant Weapons I, II and III appear to work. I can also report that Black Void works every time against Monks. DJ> Monks have an annoying habit of casting spells when they're dead. One of my groups mopped up a single Monk of Fleyshur in the missile phase but it still managed to have a "Monster spellcasting" phase in which it inflicted 20-30 HP of damage on each and every one of the fifteen members of the party. Annoying, to say the least. DJ> For your information, Monks of Ythcal have between 110 and 120 hit points and Monks of Fleyshur have an armour class of 4 or 5. If you want a fuller list of HPs and ACs for monsters, I am compiling one - get in touch and I'll let you have a copy. (JPG> Dave sent me the list, and following previous Digest style, I've included it here. Nothing's sacred in these pages, folks... if you want to publish stats, spell numbers, etc., just send them in.) DJ> Best paid Temple Quests to date - 2880gp each for 15 characters for a 16 sector Valkyrie and 2160gp each for 15 characters for a 12 sector Water Elemental. Strangely enough, both of these were number 1083. Code Name AC HP Comments ---- ---- -- -- -------- 810 Dwarf 7-11 A bit dubious 811 Elf 5 812 Goblin 2-3 35-40 813 Gnoll 2 19-20 814 Gnome 1-2 35 815 Halfblood 44-50 816 Hobgoblin 0-3 817 Kobold 2-6 18-20 818 Orc 3 19-20 819 Caveman 0-2 34-50 826 Drake 3-6 834 Bear 111-155 839 Kresh 4 854 Troll 121-150 865 Rat 0-3 866 Roc 3-4 884 Doppelganger 40+ 887 Stinger Plant 2 20 893 Whomper 10-11 250 Ouch 894 Gatherer 9 37-85 899 Sky Ray 4-6 111-150 901 Knight Lore 5 500 Immune to offensive magic 904 Farmer 0-4 908 Monk of Fleyshur 2-5 909 Monk of Ythcal 110-120 Sketchy, I know, but somebody may find it useful. It's being updated all the time as I come across new monsters and get the right combinations of hits on them. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Terry Preece <SMA5TGP@cardiff.ac.uk> Date: Fri, 3 May 1996 10:20:51 GMT TP> Someone asked how to kill Monks after hearing about the battering a group took in game 6. My group in game 8 was offered 1320 or so, gold to kill 7 Monks of Sundonak. Which was rather easily done.... TP> Spells cast before the encounter... none, spells cast in the magic phase... engulfing globe...2, black void...1, lightning blast...1, magic blast...1, slumber..failed, poison cloud....failed, call monster...1 and a call spirit Baldor. TP> I had issued 3 engage orders hoping to kill all 7 with the death spells, but only ONE engage was needed..... TP> It seems that my group killed the remaining 4 monks in 5 rounds of melee, ALL characters hit including a mage using a club! TP> The group recieved 905 exp from the encounter I add also that no enchant weapons spells had been cast by the group in any of their last 10 turns! TP> I have also heard of a group fighting monks of phyloqure and it seems their fighters didn't even touch the monks and had to use three engage orders with death spells ranked... the did however get a few fighters stats increased! Was "I" just lucky when I fought the monks????? -------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: list_s@svhdev.bt.co.uk (Stuart List) Date: Fri, 3 May 1996 14:09:46 +0100 SL> I have never come across any instances where thieves get attacked while they are in action. I know that if they carry out too many robberies they can get the party thrown out of town, but do they ever get attacked by guards or guard dogs in the middle of a robbery? Robbery can be a dangerous pastime! My thieves have kicked boxes etc but have never actually had anybody attempt to catch them. Does this happen? If not, perhaps it could be implemented to counter those who say that robberies are too easy. Just a thought... -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sat, 4 May 96 14:13:33 GMT From: Dave Rees <chaos@thanes.demon.co.uk> > MDS asked about useful tacics against monsters: > USE ENGULFING GLOBE! I have killed evrything from Earth Elementals to Monks > of Sundonak with it, and I have never failed! If your skill is too low, try > Black Void. Works on Dark Oaks, Monks and most other monsters, but isn't as > reliable as EG. DR> Some monsters are resistant to Globe. knight-Lores are a prime example. It took 4 Globes before it was sucked in. > About preset alliances: > What is this? People should be put in an alliance which they can never > leave??? To prevent powerplaying? Computer run alliances is OK, but people > must be able to change their minds later if they want! DR> But what about all the other things that go with being in an alliance, like writing to the leader and a regular alliance newsletter. > About NA groups: > If you have an NA spy in your HQ, tell all your friends in the same city to > do as many B99 table as they can and give all the tables to the NA group... > When he leaves town his energy will drop to zero and we all know how fun > that is... He he... This is the only method I have found to make an NA group > leave your HQ, anyone know a better way? DR> This is the only way, but I prefer torches as they are harder to get rid of. > AH> On alliance costs - I think the 30K to start an alliance is perfectly > fair. If five groups cant get 30K together they wont survive long as an > alliance anyway (except for NA alliances). What does this get you? The > 200gp a turn charge is easily recouped by saving groups the cost of a > sleep. The main advantage is saving the friendly fire nightmares that > some players (I'll mention no names to save Dave Rees the embarasment) and > some alliances (Derek, likewise ;)) were famed for. DR> Remember: The beatings will continue until morale improves. > > AH> The skills are obscene. <Snip> DR> I agree whole heartedly. > Date: Mon, 29 Apr 96 12:33:43 BST > From: Phill Coleman <colemanp@cs.man.ac.uk> > > pjc >> Re undead - I've got the descriptions but I've never fought any. DR> Undead definitely live underground, although I've only seen a Lich briefly on a turn:) > > pjc >> Re. Dragons - I've fought one, but it kept on casting One spell and > then running away, never getting into melee combat. DR> Magic Dart by any chance? > SZ> Maybe a weird question. Have anybody got any success sending KJCGames > a turncard with their new e-mail address?? I mean the orders@KJCGAMES.COM > address. Almost all of my messages (send outside business-hours) doesn't > seem to get through... While when I send it between 09-17 hours > everythings goes as it should be, I think. Really weird. > > SZ> Any Quest 15 players outthere?? > > JPG> I've sent turns to that address over the weekend before, but since > you sent this I've been sending them in off in office hours to be sure! DR> Dunno I'm still using the Compuserve address, that still works. I haven't seen anything on the bottom of my turns that says that KJCGAMES.COM is up and running again. (JPG> A few digests back I got an email from Steve asking if I'd put the gossip@kjcgames.com address back on the mailing list. I did so, and have sent the digest out at some weird times since then, never receiving a bounce message.) > PB>Lastly, everyone seems to be being offered TQs of over 2000gps. > Why isn't my group, the Bloodguard? The most we ever got is a measly > 800gps. DR> Try finding a settlemet that has swamp / mountains or jungle for the better TQ monsters. > JPG> I got a 1260/character for a 9 sectors werewolf, and that's the > biggest I've seen. DR> We're up well into the 5000+/char. Bloody redicularse. JPG> You do seem to be in the minority here though! How often do you get offered these quests? > MS> My question is, do you know how to kill monks? Someone else I know > has complained about similar (though not quite as devastating) results > with Monks of Sundonak. DR> Void works every time, if you want fisty cuffs then Target Illusion and EW III should see you through. > JPG> Do any other non-KJC games have a history written > out for them? Just my idle curiosity.... DR> G14 has now. DR> One of the BKA members recently wrote to Kevin with his thoughts on the NA status. Here's the reply: KJC> 'Following your letter, I printed out a list of all the positions in game 14....looking at all active positions over turn number fifty. There were 54 parties in total but only 16 had the NA option switched on.......Only eight of the NA parties had had over 100 turns. The actual truth is that most parties over turn 50 switch it off.... We're going to be introducing more Quests so that the 'attack monster' will become one of the more interesting ones.....' DR> OK, I've left the interesting bits and cut the chaff. Thirty of the non-NA groups are in the BKA (as we do not allow NA groups in the alliance) leaving 24 other groups over 50 turns old, of which 16 are NA. It looks like the BKA has just about achieved it's aims. I feel sorry for the remaining 8 groups JPG> I say the BKA may be getting just a little too overconfident. Yeah, the stats are impressive, but the taller they come the harder they fall. :) -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 6 May 1996 14:53:43 +0100 (BST) From: Matthew Sach <Matthew.Sach@durham.ac.uk> MS> Hullo all! MS> I have recently had it brought to my attention that unless you have MS> two thieves of good, equal ability, you are better off just keeping the MS> one best one. What to this suggestion say thee of many turns? MS> Also, I have just realised that I am in some precarious position, MS> with respect to two of Paul Burke's groups (in case none of you know, MS> I was party to some rather nefarious goings on in Game 6, involving MS> Paul), and so I would like to point out something to him: MS> "Please don't step out of the city in an attempt to fight my group, MS> as I very much doubt you will get anything out of it, except a MS> momentary feeling of revenge. I have had my group on holiday for MS> nearly six months, and so it is no better than when you met them MS> last. And to confirm your suspicions, that ain't very good at MS> all! I would like to confirm publicly that The Alliance of The MS> Unforgiven (who attempted that foul underhand deception) were MS> made almost solely out of beginners trying to destabilise the MS> current political situation, and gain as much fame or infamy as MS> possible. MS> And we loved every minute of it =). We even made it into the MS> newsletter summary of main events in Kharne 6." MS> If you wish to take this as a snivelling, grovelling debasement, then MS> please do, that is how it is meant! I recognise the fact that my MS> group is puny, but we did so enjoy trying to deflate egos! -------------------------------------------------------------------------- JPG> Well, folks, that's about the lot for the week. Just one other piece of information: The original programmer of Quest, Dave Bolton, has given me permission to publish his email address to those interested. A word of warning though; it has been _many_ years since he finished working on Quest, and a hell of a lot has been added since then (maybe as much as 50% of the present code, I couldn't say), so if you do decide you'd like a chat with him don't bombard him with tough questions to which he won't know the answers! His address is: Dave Bolton <100014.2762@compuserve.com> JPG> I'm not sure whether that's a full-stop or a comma in the number, but I think I'm right in writing that. JPG> A final wish of good luck to those taking exams, being as the student population here is so high. Remember, Quest offers a release from the pressures upon you and hence will help you gain more marks in the end. And if you believe that... >>-Josh-> "You can't always get what you want" - Rolling Stones Up