Monster Island News (Jan) From: warden@mack.rt66.com (Scott Micheel) Date: Fri, 27 Jan 1995 09:55:02 +0000 +-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+ m m mm mm t ee m m m m oo nnn sss t ee rrrr e e m m m o o n n s tttt e e r eeee m m o o n n ssss t eeee r News 01-25-95 e m m o o n n s t e r ee m m oo n n sss tt ee r #31 +-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+ Headlines this time: Keith Speaks! Not once, but three times! Call for Submissions Attention! ABm wants your suggestions! Publication data: eMonster News is published ideally on the 25th of each month. Send all submissions, questions, letters of comment, and subscription information to the email address below. eMonster News is available free for the asking to anyone able to receive it on INTERNET, CompuServe, GEnie, Delphi, America Online, Prodigy, or any other service tied into the net. Press run: 158. To avoid problems with my mailer, I send this out in batches; for a full listing of players on the net, send a note to Scott (below). eMonster News is not affiliated with Adventures By Mail in any way, and nothing in here is necessarily official. We like to think they like us, though. Please copy, post, print, or otherwise distribute this newsletter to as many players as you can; especially if they have email access. We want to promote this here game! Adventures By Mail Bob Cook bob@abm.com Editor & Publisher Scott Micheel warden@rt66.com Keeper of Blurbs Aaron Fuegi fuegi@cs.colostate.edu Group Man Brian Derks normandyknight@cup.portal.com Monster Mapper & MI BBS Jim Wuerch 73234.3410@compuserve.com Capture Creature Captain Larry Barrows lrdbear@aol.com Statmaster Jack Vinson vinson@unagi.cis.upenn.edu Seeker of Demigods Jeff Bates BJ246898@HOPE.CIT.HOPE.EDU Lord of the Hard Sell Tom Richardson salmanila@aol.com List Director Sharyl Leis michael.mackinnon@mwcsinc.muug.mb.ca Q&A Lady Dana Barker jujubunn@aol.com Back issues of eMonster News can be got via anonymous FTP transfer. The site is ftp.erg.sri.com , the directory is /pub/pbm/monster_island/newsletters and all files are in GZIP format; to uncompress them, use GUNZIP. This newsletter is also posted to the Internet newsgroup rec.games.pbm, and usually ends up on the America OnLine boards, as well as Bif's Monster Resort BBS. You are welcome to post this anyplace you wish, but please leave it intact. Aaron Fuegi's MI WWW page: http://www.cs.colostate.edu/~fuegi/monster_www/index.html +-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+ This newsletter is later than normal, merely because there wasn't much going on over the holidays. But there is now! +-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+ From: CasbahCarl@aol.com Date: Thu, 1 Dec 1994 00:34:15 -0500 Subject: MI Gamemaster's Latest Subj: Online Newsletter #3 94-11-29 23:48:52 EST From: BOSTREDSOX (ABMKEITH@aol.com) Hi again all! Welcome to online issue #3 of my Monster Island Newsletter. **New and Exciting News from the Island Shore** 1) Boddens were causing quite a bit of problems in the high jungle for Jack and I. In a truely timely manner, Jack managed to fix the bug now allowing monsters to enter Bodden tree squares that were not previously accessable. It now seems you may be able to enter those certain squares that read: "No vines leading into this square" <thanks Jack> That bug was really getting to bug me. 2) Rumors are flying everywhere about a certain English fellow coming to continue the programming of Monster Island. I've heard them too. As of now, i cannot give any approximate dates or any more info on this. When it becomes known to me, you all will be the *First* to know. 3) Blurb question.."Ensnare Creature". Some of you have it. Some have tried it. If you've tried it...is it working properly? I saw a player recieve the blurb and was waiting to see if he or she would use it, but so far, no luck. 4) Ruby Daggers--- They make lovely treasure for a temple, but they aren't equipable. 5) Can an Iron Stein be substituted for a voodoo couldron? hmm..someone try and let me know. 6) Sorry..only 1 Dust of the Entombed may be carried at one time. 7) To new starting out monsters....Bit coins only seems useless at first. There is a later use for them. (p.s. Don't you older players give away the surprise). :) ---- Well..that looks like a fair amount of info to keep most of you thinking. i'm already thinking about News#4. if there's anything anyone would like me to mention or you have a question you'd like me to answer in the next one, please don't hesitate to drop me an email note. I promise to answer anything sent to me. Till next time....keep your head in the sand and save the last coconut for me! --ABMKeith From: CasbahCarl@aol.com Date: Mon, 19 Dec 1994 10:51:12 -0500 Subject: ABM Keith Speaks Subj: Hi...i'm back! 94-12-17 21:23:41 EST From: BOSTREDSOX Hello all Monster Islander's! ABMKeith returns to add some fun to this forum during this holiday season! <ho! ho! ho!> **ABM Note** by now..a lot of you have heard the rumors floating around that ABM is moving. I've recieved a lot of calls from players asking if this is so? Well..Yes. As of January 1, 1995 Adventure's By Mail, Inc is relocating to a more spacious, larger and much more eye-pleasing spot. :) We will still be in Cohoes (only a mere 2 minutes drive from our old spot). The good news is that Monster Island and Quest ARE coming with us! Yipee!!! The problem has been that our company has just grown too large for it's current restrictions and we needed to expand. I will still be at the helm running MI so there is no need to panic. (I've already seen my space and there's a lot more room for me to stretch out and continue my daily routines more happily and with less stress). So, with that said, look for ABM to become bigger and better in '95! Just for the record, i'm currently into my 11th year with ABM and looking forward to many more! I've been here a long time..I hope many, if not all of you will continue to join me for many years of fun while we get Monster Island back on track! Ok, now onto the game..... To Herb: I think we had a bit of a problem with your last turn? let me know what happened as soon as you find out.. the turn results really worried me. To Duane: Get some sleep buddy! you sound terrible when you call! <g> To Erik G: I'm really trying to get to your stuff as fast as i can. i don't want you to think i'm delaying your turns for any reason.it's just been really hectic lately. To Jeff Bates: I thnk i already replied to you, but if not..here goes. A baby monster picks the mothers' turn and week cycle too. it can't be set back to turn#1 To Chuck "My pal in D.C.": how goes it? i wish everyone could see those awesome faxes you send me.. it's nice to see the MI references on the faxes. it really brightens the day. To Kathy: stick with me Kathy..i'll take good care of your turns. To Paul Moore: nice talking to you friday. I was sorry to see you die in the Shroud's Own massacre. You made a lot of great points and some of them of given me reason to really think.... To "Any Ex-Monster Island players reading this": Why not come back if you want to? I don't kill off any the defunct monsters. I understand if you are mad at me and ABM. but if you miss the game, why stay away? As i told a Shroud's Own member friday..i hold NO hard feelings towards anyone. I would be honored to have all who have left come back and join us again. If you'd rather not, i understand. I just want to air out the fact that i will not refuse anyone to return if they so choose. :) --and finally...I'd like to wish all of you, players or not..a very Merry Christmas! We fight at times..we argue too...but this is a time to be a little more nice to each other and put the differences aside. I hope you and yours have a safe and Happy Christmas and that you get everything you've wished for! This list is going to be long..but here goes! Merry Christmas from: Keith, Mike, Jack, Bob, Sharon, Gari, Shawn-Dana, Michelle, Nicki, Joanne, John, George, Nancy, Ed, Jennifer, Dave, Don, Mike, John, Phil, Jim, Maura and Josh! If i forgot anyone, sorry..there are so many new faces at ABM it's hard to keep track. Best wishes everyone! See you all very Soon! ---Keith From: CasbahCarl@aol.com Date: Mon, 23 Jan 1995 09:42:16 -0500 Subject: AOL/ABM: Keith Speaks Subj: THe scoop from ABMKeith 95-01-21 18:02:45 EST From: BOSTREDSOX hi guys and gals... sorry i've been away for so long but i've been busy moving into a new place, setting up my phone mail system and working on getting the new Monster Island programmer here to do some work on the game. Ok, this is the deal. Jack has said it is now ok to let the cat out of the bag. Steve, from KJC Games in jolly 'ole England will be flying out here 1st or 2nd week in February to take on some Monster Island and Quest programming. As far as details of what will be done, programmed and accomplished while he is here, ...that's strictly up to you. i've already been in contact with Brian Derks to spread the word to as many players as he can to get me things for Steve to fix, program etc.... If it doesn't work, tell me..if you want it...tell me. you know the routine. only one thing i ask. please don't email the stuff to me. Fax it or send it to me c/o of me to the same old PO Box. i would like actual paper ideas to present Steve when he gets here. I've never met Steve, so i can't tell you anything more than i already know. as things get fixed and added, i'll keep you all posted. Now onto the nasty phone-mail stuff. i know most if not all of you hate the new voice mail stuff. i can't say that i am a big fan of it either, but it's here to stay. for awhile, there were some bugs in it allowing me NOT to be able to hear all the messages even though it said i had them. now that i've figured it out, i can hear all of you again. I'll be honest, i'm not the fastest at returning calls. sometimes i get just too busy. if i don't get back to you, i'm sorry. try me again. if i'm on with another player, the mail is set up to shoot you into my mail box. i'm sorry about that. but i can't talk to two people at once, and i don't want any of you to be on hold for minutes at a time. things are still new to me, so if you can't get me....try me later. thanks! :) ok, about the email problems. this is very simple to explain. for about a week, email was just Down...plain and simple. there was absolutely no way for me or Mike to access our email accounts. therefore, they just had to sit there till we could regain access to downloading and reading them again. This sucks, but there was just no way around it. sorry. To my pal Duane and his yelling answer. he is indeed correct that yelling often does build up the vocal chords for later use. <maybe in battle cry's> yell often young monsters..but not twice a turn..or you'll get yelled out... thanks to everyone who've been so patient with me and our rebuliding at ABM. i've tried very hard to make this transition as smooth as possible but looks like i've ruffled a few feathers again. my apologies to those that will accept them. oh, if you have complaints with me or the way things are running with the game, please don't post them in here and rile everyone up. just email or call or send them to me. i'd like to talk to each one of you personally and not have to difuse each complaint personally in this forum. thanks again! --ABMKeith +-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+ From: "Jerry E. Ritchie" <73537.2505@compuserve.com> Date: 03 Dec 94 16:54:44 EST Subject: BMT AWOL? I see the eMonster is still semi-active. So far there are exactly three submissions for the new issue of the Monster Island newsletter. Which, if some people haven't heard, I have taken over from Morgan. I'd like to plead for submissions from all readers of eMonster. *****Scott says: I've got a great idea for an article called 'Shroud: God of Chaos' to give people a different view of our hero, but haven't had time to write it up yet. C'mon people, lets help Jerry out and take back the 'Shroud's Own Newsletter' for the rest of us. +-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+ From: Rui Sousa <ruca@tsg.pt> Date: Tue, 29 Nov 1994 21:48:23 +0100 Subject: Long time no see! *****Scott says; Rui and I were in the same TAKAMO game years ago... How have you been doing? Send some news. Is Monster Island really that good? As I have recently bought a franchise to run some KJC games in Portuguese (I'm currently running Quest) I'm interested to know. Soon (I hope) I'll go to full-time PBM professional. Rui ruca@tsg.pt (Portugal) *****Scott says; I praised MI and sent her the intro piece I occasionally post on the net... Are there any other MI players in Portugal? From: Shdowspwn@aol.com Date: Thu, 1 Dec 1994 19:39:52 -0500 Subject: Tainted Hollows Can anyone tell me definitely if it is possible to get into a Tainted hollow and wander around lost for 40 Action Pts with no other light source than 4 torches (No disciplehood). If so I may have narrowed down the iem search for this area. From: fuegi@CS.ColoState.EDU (Aaron D. Fuegi) Date: Fri, 2 Dec 94 09:52:46 MST Subject: Re: MI/turns This is a brief message as my monsters haven't been doing much lately but my Kabukian, LOKI finally hit his SEVENTH temple. He got a few more spell points and the Ensnare Creature spell (was I the one Keith refers to in his message?) and it said I had completed that part of the quest. Are there other Kabukians who also have 7 temples? (I know of Shroud and Fuvah followers with all of their temples completed but no other Kabukians) From: BJ246898@HOPE.CIT.HOPE.EDU Date: Fri, 02 Dec 1994 13:41:08 -0500 (EST) Subject: Hello? I recently talked to Keith because of a problem with my turn (which was fixed) and got confirmation that new programmer is coming onboard. I also found out that ABM is changing offices soon, so the programmer will come on board after that. He also said that when the demi-gods are completly in place that everyone will have an equal chance to follow one. I wonder how that will be able to be done.. From: CasbahCarl@aol.com Date: Mon, 5 Dec 1994 15:06:58 -0500 Subject: AOL/MI Scoop Here's the latest scoop on the doings at the AOL/MI board: First the really good news--Morgan has been kicked off the board! It seems he and two others (former BSE players) were monopolizing the board with their incessant complaints that AOL took action and forbid their diatribes from the MI board. AOL actually created a separate folder (board) in the ABM area for complaints and prohibited such postings in the MI folder. As you can expect, without an audience Morgan is no longer posting. Morgan and his second-in-command, Glen Fuller, have both quit the game. I don't know what Morgan's done with his monsters, but I know that Glen's have been left at the Odd Terapus. Shroud's Own still exists apparently. Bob Bergles is now the group leader. He runs Ewaipanoma (#2071). Bob's email address is ewop@aol.com *****Scott says: For those who haven't heard, Shroud's Own is *the* bad guy group in the US game, and they have participated in attacks on several other groups (both light and dark) and filled both the official news letter and the AOL boards with propoganda. Morgan then got involved in protesting ABM's lack of progress with the game, and led a 'boycott' of the game by having many SO monsters park at Far Inns and quit playing for awhile. I have confirmed reports from numerous Far Inns in the north that there were SO members at most of them for a month or so -- then they all just vanished. Nobody at ABM has said anything about it, but we suspect the monsters have been removed from the game. Article: 15246 of rec.games.pbm Subject: Any points of interest near FP#505 (MI question) From: Aaron Kothe <akothe@sunflowr.usd.edu> Date: Mon, 5 Dec 1994 21:06:49 GMT Does anybody have know of any cool things near Fillar's Far Post #505. (southern westlands). Locations of prayer stones, relative positions of Far Inns, plants, etc. would be greatly appreciated by a monster on turn #15. From: Gerald Hagedorn <hagedorn@umr.edu> Date: Sat, 10 Dec 1994 19:44:59 -0600 (CST) Subject: New Fuvite temple As of Wed Dec 7 there is another Fuvite temple on monster Island. The temple is 30E and 11N of the Black Swan. From: Gerald Hagedorn <hagedorn@umr.edu> Date: Wed, 14 Dec 1994 13:55:14 -0600 (CST) Subject: Ungrouping As a couple of you may know. I had decided to "disband" the Knight of the Iron fist and join the fire riders. So I called Keith up and asked him how many points were required to get out of a group, He said 117. I got my turn back and nothing happened. I called Keith up and asked him what happened. I kowtowed or 117 and I am still in the group. He had misunderstood me and though I ment change religion. Anyways keith attempted to fix the problem by manualy changing my group number. He said he is not sure wheter this will work or not. Anyways to make a long story longer Keith was unaware that it was even possible to change groups, and I am sure that it is possible. I can only find one reference of how many points it requres (in the B.M.T. in an article by morgan) kowtowing for 113 points. I need to find someone who has switched groups, so that I can confirm that it take 113 points. So if you know of someone who has switched groups please send me there name and address/phone. From: Gerald Hagedorn <hagedorn@umr.edu> Date: Mon, 19 Dec 1994 15:34:05 -0600 (CST) Subject: group Hi I just got a turn back for claggin. It appears that I am now a firerider!!! I was expecting an update for both of my monsters but they did not show up. Claggin kowtowed at his sixth temple to get some new spell and only got Divine monster. I was hoping to also get battle Dex, which he still does not have!!!!! On an other note, Claggin also got his 5th point of skin toughness. bringing his total armor points up to 34. I am curious what happens when I cast my armor spell that gives me an additonal 7 armor points. With the armor spell I would have 41 armor points which would absorb 102.5% of damage done up to 41 points. My question is wheter the percentage stops at 90%, or 95%, or 100%? Also how much benifit is having more than 40 points of armor??? If anybody has any Ideas I would like to hear them. Newsgroups: rec.games.pbm Subject: MI: APts and cash (Was Small Caves) From: thmoe@oleg.hiof.no (THOMAS MOE) Date: Fri, 16 Dec 1994 14:20:35 >I don't think the charges are that outrageous and have nothing else to >spend my money on. ( have you ever bought 44 white lotus leaves at 10 ocs >apiece before - I have as they are the only thing I can spend money on >despite always doing the most expensive inn stays and having every piece of >knowledge money can buy at the far inns I have been to) I don't have the time to go back and forth while hunting for temples. Am currently at the third (just finished constructing it. Now _there's_ a good place to waste extra APts), and will almost immediately head for the fourth. No time to search out and attack Dark Places. Besides, in the Jagged Mor section the only worthwhile targets are Graveyards and Hillocks. >Beyond level 4, though, you are right that no far inns sell training so at >that point I depend on hits and battle and the rare wp's I mentioned above. >Given that with almost no weapon practices, though, my monster is at level 6 >in edged and using his level 5 edged Great Sword I think I do pretty well. He >is at level 4 in almost everything else, most of the levels having been bought >at far inns. Well, that's perhaps what I'll do after visiting temple #4. Anyone got a list of what training levels available at which inns? That would be helpful. From: ilya@ifs.com (Ilya) Date: Thu, 22 Dec 94 16:06:52 EST Subject: Boddens In case you've never fought them, Bodden are much tougher than Knolltir, somewhat weaker than Loggerheads; may take 50-90 damage to kill, but wear very little armor and seem to have low Muscle, judging by how much damage they do in hand-to-hand melee. The worst part about Bodden is that they are always equipped with Blow pipes and Zinki darts. From: warden@rt66.com (Scott Micheel) Date: Wed, 28 Dec 1994 00:02:49 -0700 (MST) Subject: MI/turn Howdy. Another Stompin Rocksoul turn here. Nothing really exciting to report. They still haven't fixed the bug about dug-up Cauldi Plants (after a few Voodoo Cauldrons are dug up, the plant vanishes -- but when you enter the square it still prints a plant symbol on your map, and lists that you found a blank item in your sightings, e.g.; 'X tracks, , deep pit' Loggerheads seemed real tough this turn. I did find that you can fight one particular loggerhead twice; if you flee before the melee phase in your first battle, you will fight the same monster if you LV there later in the turn (not that I could kill him *then* either, but at least I got in two missle rounds at him...) Big Danny actually did some stuff; he visited the Dragon's Tale and collected lots of bounty for knolltir junk, appraised a few items (DT rare buy: good; red bauble @ 9, small lockpick @ 23). Stopped by Wislan's Far Post and sold a buncha junk. Hit the Fort. Got the Fort blurb, but *not* the Fort Orders blurb. Still, it let me use both the Enchance Fort and Guard Fort orders. I'm gonna do a Quest here next turn to see if that's how you get it... I don't *think* I ever got the blurb before... Geez, this fort is pretty empty. I mount a spyglass for my Enhance. Actually, I think I've got a tiny bug here. Both my monsters got it this turn, when they arrived at the fort. See if it sounds like a bug to you. (note, all capitals and punctuation is exact!) You find a FORT (Fort #573). On the heavy wooden door you clearly see totem symbols You note Totem Markings of your Group at the entrance of the Fort. This Fort is owned by your Group. Stompin Rocksoul did the item shuffle... picked up and memorized two scrolls, Detect Plants & Detect Sacrosanct Structures (I cast both just to see how they work... detect a few plants, no structures). Pick up some iron & silver damaged items, use my Repair spells on 'em, and trade all my Iron armor for Silver armor (gonna do some graveyard stuff soon...) I find what may be another bug... In the Zombie Juice blurb, it says you can release the creature, and it won't attack those of your 'race/group'. Well, fellow Black Deather viper Ares did so in our Fort square, and it attacked me! I had to put the thing out of my misery. Now, I *am* a mudwalker, but it did say 'group', and we want our Zombie back! Also, there is a problem in the Sighting portion of my results, right below the map... Here's what it says... Square(....): a Fort, , your Group's Totem markings, and Plodder tracks leading North. From: "Mike Popolizio" <p00661@psilink.com> Date: Wed, 28 Dec 94 15:06:10 -0500 Organization: Adventures By Mail, Inc. Reply-To: mike@abm.com Subject: Re: MI ? > So now that Keith is the official GM, should we send out email turns to > him, or keep sending them to bob@abm.com? Keith@abm.com would be the best email address. *****Scott says; this is of course just as they went off-line for a week, which confused the heck outta me. Another rumor said that Keith can't access the emailed turns himself, he had to wait for them to be printed and delivered to him... Don't know what to think now. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Bob Cook Voice: 518-237-4870 Adventures By Mail, Inc Fax: 518-237-6245 Box 436 Internet: bob@abm.com Cohoes, NY 12047 America OnLine: ABMBob Mail order resellers and distributors of all Wizards of the Coast Products including Magic: The Gathering cards. PBM Moderators of Quest, Monster Island, Beyond the Stellar Empire It's a Crime!, Isle of Crowns, and Capitol II. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ From: ilya@ifs.com (Ilya) Date: Fri, 30 Dec 94 13:32:12 EST Subject: MI It appears that so long as a monster is not dieting, lower health makes him hungrier. Last turn Rauph's healthiness hovered between 41-49%, and he ate 11 food (more than ever before in one turn), gaining 6 health from it. From: hagedorn@umr.edu (hagedorn) Date: Wed, 25 Jan 1995 09:04:28 -0600 Subject: Re: SO updates I talked to Keith this last week and he said that the guy from England had his passport and was okayed to come over. Keith then said two days later that he will be in around the 2nd week in Feb. Keith also would like lists from everyone on what needs to be fixed. Example: rid orders, stone crypts, tomb of mummundus, fireball spell, X'ing two temple treasures, saddle bags, etc. Nothing like king spiked commode. Here is a list of things that need to be added and/or corrected in the game. Please look over the list and make any corrections or additions and mail it back to me. Please list out the item and what the problem/solution is. Once we have a good list I will make sure that it gets to Keith. New Region Opened up-enuff Said!!!! Demigods- Needs implimenting Rid orders-change to allow rid of multiple items Xfer order- change to allow multiple transfers of item both to other monsters and into treasure rooms Stone Crypts-needs implimenting Tomb of Mummundus-needs implimenting Fireball spell-? Saddle bags-needs implimenting Mount vs. Mount player combat- Needs implimenting Wrestling practice for monster between players and at far Inns- Needs implimenting More spells (expecially combat spells)-Needs implimenting Now, I have a question. The dates that my monsters week are suppose to be are being changed/mixed up. Is anyone else having this problem. Norm got a turn 121 processed it said that is next turn could be process in week 122 from jan 13 to jan 24. I sent in a turn and it was process on the 16th of january the turn was 122 but the turn was processed during week 123! I just wanted to see if this happened to anyone else. Please check your turn and let me know. From: Jake Balfour <jb6@keene.edu> Date: Wed, 25 Jan 1995 19:35:09 -0500 (EST) Subject: More ideas for Keith Not all of these are my ideas - some I've heard for a while. Others may be new to you. If you don't agree with them, please let me know. I'm not quite happy with some of them myself, but I'll argue them for the sake of the players who presented them to me. Also, I think discussion on these issues will bring out better ideas, or new ones. * Increase religious descriptions / goals / opportunities. What are the special status positions other than Temple Guardian? Is becoming a Priest the only way to serve the (known) gods? It seems rather two-dimensional to think there's only one way to help out your diety. * More missile types. The more advanced my Monsters get, the less often they throw things. If we continue at this rate, we'll never get anywhere - especially with level 2 and 3 projectiles. Bows, perhaps? How about a better dart? Redo the Fart Bomb (tho' it can't be too powerful for then females would be hindered). One bomb every six turns or so is ridiculous. * Increase tracking capabilities. It's too difficult to try to catch up to those Monsters they've battled. How many times have you heard of a Monster finding someone again? Plus, I've heard of turns where Monsters tracking others wound up tracking in a circle, tracking an older track instead of a new one. Hopefully that's been fixed. How about a track fresh tracks order? Instead of waiting for the turn results, why not track a Monster as soon as you find evidence of them? It would lead to more contacts and more interesting turns. * Permanent snatch order. I'd like my Monsters to at least try to steal stuff from other Monsters when they meet them. Or when they're swinging a weapon at 'em. Or wrestling (the best chance for success, it seems). If it leads to more battles, so be it. Otherwise, the snatch order isn't worth the effort. If you go to the trouble to track someone, why not try to kill them. Why pay $4 just to try to take something (with a good chance of failure)? * Attack on sight orders for Fuvites. It's just not fair that other religions can rack up battles for Priesthood easier. What happened to Fuvah being the god of warriors? ABM's logic works to a point - we aren't mortal enemies with Kabuki and Shroud. How about a fervor for Demigods? They would feel the same against us - only fair. But that depends on how the Demigods are aligned with the big three, if at all. * Increase movement limitations. We only move 8 squares a turn probably because that's all that will fit on a page. So how do we get around that? A second page would do it, but you'd have to join them together. Could it be done without making it look sloppy? How about a teleport spell? Cast at the beginning of the turn (or the end of the turn before, perhaps even with a matching spell at the beginning of the next to discourage all but the very hurried Monster), it would jump the Monster a number of squares in a direction. The spell would be canceled if the Teleport put the Monster through or into certain terrains (Crystal Hills, etc.). * Less emphasis on spell-casting, more on battles. After tracking and trying to kill a target, it gets frustrating to see it result into spell trading and the running away of your prey. While it's more of a problem in the Jagged Mor and Kunbar, if you're a Monster hunter, you're forced to join in the Temple tour just to keep up. Back to the basics, please. How about a spell that roots a Monster to the spot? Or a Defensive Spell that cancels Offensive Spells? * More signs as to what's coming. Ever feel like ABM is barely one step in front of us? They have a master plan of how societies on Monster Island are organized. Yes, at this point we haven't gotten past the beachhead (especially if the Island really is three times the size of Australia!) but all we've seen are lonely outposts of Jossmen and rumors of civilizations ahead. Are we going to see any of this in the new section? Or is it going to be more open space and a few more motels with a few more new bones tossed in? Let us know you're working on some really interesting and creative situations. You don't have to reveal them, but let us know there's thought and excitement coming up. Comments? Jake From: LrdBear@aol.com Date: Thu, 26 Jan 1995 00:27:34 -0500 Subject: MI This list looks good. My only question is the comment about multiple transfers at a Temple. I thoiught the command supported that already. Both the X and B/P commands have a quantity field. As for monster Xfers, remember that the game is currently limited to 3 fields per order (X Monster# Item #) Changing this might involve giving up a lot of other changes. From: Jake Balfour <jb6@keene.edu> Date: Wed, 18 Jan 1995 15:59:24 -0500 (EST) Subject: SO updates Does anyone know approximately how long ABM holds a monster in one location before removing it? When I picked up Hexaquinodi from another player, the computer said he had been in the same square for about 180 days. He had meetings and heard other Monsters well past 150 days. But he was out in the open, not in an Inn. Since he wasn't clogging up a Jossman hut, they might have let him stay on for much longer. I would think that ABM reviews each Monster on a case by case basis. And that it wouldn't be done every day. Perhaps weekly, or whenever they had some spare time (which, with their move and backlog, won't be soon!). *****Scott says: I recently picked up the inactive Moby as my third monster; he had been idle for 142 days. From: Gerald Hagedorn <hagedorn@umr.edu> Date: Wed, 18 Jan 1995 15:44:47 -0600 (CST) Subject: inactive monsters Here is my theory about inactive monsters. Part of it is from experience some of it is conjectior. It would seem that after aproximatly a month monster are removed from an active status on the map. Once a monster is in an inactive state they get reports from meeting with monsters that travel thru the square. I have one monster that I play sporaticly. There is a limit to the amount of info the game keeps about between turn results. After so long the game/gamemaster deletes stuff(I have had this happen). As far as perminant removal from the game I have not heard of anyone that this has happened to. I had a monster that I had no played in over a year and I Have gotten no notice that Keith is going to delete it. From: CasbahCarl@aol.com Date: Thu, 19 Jan 1995 15:05:40 -0500 Subject: Re: SO updates At some point in the last few months, Keith said on the AOL/ABM board that they never remove a monster from the island. This was said in response to a question on whether Morgan Hatrick would be able to begin playing again if he ever wanted to. From: Gerald Hagedorn <hagedorn@umr.edu> Date: Thu, 19 Jan 1995 15:56:39 -0600 (CST) Subject: Re: SO updates While monsters may be saved somehow, they *are* removed from the map. This is to keep us from getting easy kills..... From: Jens Scharnbacher <scharnbacher@mathematik.th-darmstadt.de> Date: Thu, 19 Jan 1995 22:53:48 MEZ Subject: Question on reptron salve I hope you can help me with a question. One of my monsters, a female mudwalker in week 35, almost has its first portion of reptron salve prepared. She has no skin toughness listed in her stats so far. My question is double: first, when does skin toughness appear in a monster's stats; and second, should the reptron salve be used before or after this? None of the monsters in the german game that I asked could help me, but I think that many of the more experienced monsters in America or UK can talk about their experience with reptron salve. I am interested in any information on this subject. May Fuvah guide you to wisdom and victory! *****Scott says: I believe all monster start with a skin toughness of 1, and that they get +1 every 60 turns. The program won't list it at all until it goes above 1, either on turn 60 or when you use a Reptron Salve. (Each Skin Toughness point counts as one point of limb armor, but does not add to encumberance and cannot be taken away.) From: "Sherman, Walter" <SHERMAN@UP.UCHC.EDU> Date: Thu, 19 Jan 95 17:30:00 EST Subject: Monster Island I maintain a FTP server, Which can be reached at necrox.nso.uchc.edu. I will be keeping Monster Island files there. I have recently added files from BIFs BBS there (mainly the mmapper files and databases, as soon as I can connect to one of the other sites I will add all the newsletters from there... (I have been unable to connect to both in the last few days). And feel free to advertise that if anyone else has files to offer, by my guest to add them... +-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+ Final notes from Scott... Noel Coward (1931): Mad dogs and Englishmen Go out in the midday sun. The Japanese don't care to, The Chinese wouldn't dare to, The Hindus and Argentines sleep firmly from twelve to one, But Englighmen detest a siesta. In the Phillipines, there are lovely screens To protect you from the glare; In the Malay states, they have hats like plates Which the Britishers won't wear. At twelve noon, the natives swoon, And no further work is done; But mad dogs and Englishmen go out in the midday sun. Exciting things are happening, eh? I urge you all to get your suggestions in to Keith as soon as possible. I suspect that there will be *far* too much for Steve to finish before he has to go home, so lets get our suggestions in so they can prioritize. I will be happy to forward suggestions sent to me too. Now, I agree that the first priority is to open the new area east of the Starth. Probably getting the Demigods set up should be second. From a player's standpoint, only after that should time be spent on fixing little details... (From a programmer's point, I suspect you'd better get those fixed asap before you go messing about with new stuff.) The point is, the faster you get some tangible changes in there, the happier players will be. These are some little niggling changes that I would love to see in the game... * Delete the Account Number from turn results. We have heard from a number of players who got *other* player's results in their envelope. While we are not aware of any abuse arising from this, the fact is that all you need is a monster number and the correct account number and you can send in a turn for someone else. Most other pbm companies include all account information on a separate sheet of paper, usually printed on a separate printer (and which would provide a back-up check to help prevent those mis-sent turns, since you'd check to see that every turn run also had a separate account statement and vice versa.) * Add a header to each page of the results, a mere single line, like this: ----- MONSTER MAN's travels for turn 25 ----- May 12, 1994 ----- page 1 ----- This would help is keep track of what page belongs with which turn (I know whereof I speak here) and also provide yet another backup check to make sure no turns are mis-sent in the wrong envelope. * Add Rivers to the game. Make some small, some large. Some crossable, some not. Perhaps a Ruined Bridge structure, or Natural Fords that can only be crossed at certain times of the year. Spice up the map a bit. Make a Follow River sub-command, like Follow Trail. * There are rewards from the gods for killing certain enemies of the god. Shouldn't there also be penalties for killing those favored by the god? There are rumors that if you manage to kill your god's favored creature, you'll get zapped by a lightning bolt or something. Shouldn't there be such a mark of disfavor if you attack a co-religionist? * Names for Forts and Temples should be added. Anyone who's ever tried to make a list of Temples will know the reason for this one. Too often a temple is claimed for one side, or started and abandoned, or just mistaken for a nearby rival temple. Plus, wouldn't it be neat if you could name the Temple or Fort yourself? * Creating Wells for Forts -- to be able to slake your thirst at a Fort. Maybe you'd have to dig deeper than ever before, or have others to help out. * Monster Holidays! Holidays are the favorite days of little kids and hard-working grownups, why shouldn't monsters look forward to them too? I envision them working as follows; holidays are set calendar days that no monster knows in advance. If a holiday occurs between turns, a short note is added to his 'Tween turn results. If a monster's turn occurs on a holiday, he is docked 15-20 APs to perform a ceremony or something. Taking this even further, you could even add a few Major holidays where everyone must participate; i.e.: the ABM guys get a day where they don't do any MI turns, and everything is delayed a day. As to the range of types of holidays, here are a few suggestions. Certain holidays would only affect certain monsters; Racial holidays Bignose - Anniversary of the Great White Handkerchief (?) Furrcat - Dead Rodent Festival (carry one in your mouth all day) Monger - Scare your Neighbor Day (make yourself ugly, lower friendly.) Norman - Paint the Town (and yourself) Red Day Fatblob - Feast of the Sacred Pickle (?) Mudwalker Muddy Thursday (roll around it in, need a bath) Viper - Fruit Sucking Day (eat no meat) Jossman - Funny Nose & Glasses Day Knolltir Hide Down Deep Day Religious Holidays Shroud - Winter Solstice (shortest day of the year) Kabuki - Summer Solstice (longest day of the year) S & K - Day of the Midnight Sun (Shroud - bad, Kabuki - good) S & K - Eclipse (Shroud - good, Kabuki - bad) Fuvah - 1st, 2nd, & 3rd Gahambar (tales of mighty warriors maybe) (and all the demigods too, of course) Major Holidays Winterfest - maybe a visit from Father Frost Sun's Day - too hot, take a day-long siesta Adding holidays to the results would spice things up for us players. Well do we remember that one day back in '90 (?) when the storm clouds and rainbows interrupted our rest. I'd be neat to have something happen that happens to everyone at once, but only rarely. +-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+ Up