Monster Island Newsletter (28K) From: warden@mack.einet.com (Scott Micheel) Date: Fri, 27 May 1994 06:35:27 +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 05-25-94 e m m o o n n s t e r ee m m oo n n sss tt ee r #25 +-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+ Headlines this time: Monster Island FAQ begins! Koma Dens Scrutinized Publication data: eMonster News is published ideally on the 25th of each month, come hell or high water. Publisher and Editor is warden@einet.com <Scott Micheel>; send all submissions, questions, letters of comment, and subscription info to that address. eMonster News is distrubted 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. Current press run: 152. 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! Editor & Publisher Scott Micheel warden@einet.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 Ben Vincent bjvincen@mtu.edu Lord of the Hard Sell Tom Richardson salmanila@aol.com List Director Sharyl Leis michael.mackinnon@mwcsinc.muug.mb.ca Hint List & FAQs Dana Barker 73734.1241@compuserve.com +-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+ Late? "I ran out of gas! A got a flat tire! I locked my keys in the car! An old friend came in from out of town! I lost my tux at the cleaners! Someone stole my car! There was an earthquake! A terrible flood! Locusts! It wasn't my FAULT!" +-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+ MONSTER ISLAND DEPARTMENTS From: Dana Barker <73734.1241@CompuServe.COM> Date: 07 May 94 12:34:17 EDT Subject: MI Hints & FAQ: Cool! > We want you! To run the MI Hint List and Frequently Asked Questions. > Sorry to dump it on you without warning, but we'll do anything we can > to help you get things going. Scott, Wow! Thanks! You won't be sorry. However, never feel that you or the staff don't need to help me. I have a file, in q & a format, that I'm doing for the DoL. But I'll accept hints for the hint list from everyone. I do have some ideas, but, as my results sheet stated, when I was forced to do the Ancesteral Ceremony alone,..." no monster is an island unto itself". Here's a sample q & a. I figured on aiming at the newbies. Q: I received a blurb about an ancesteral ceremony. What is it? Can I perform it alone? A: An ancesteral ceremony is a cermeony, performed to show respect for your monster ancestors. It can be performed alone, but full benefits are achieved if at least 1 more member of your race is present. The more monsters there are participating, the greater the benefits. Contact any fellow monsters, (of your monster's race) and coordinate the ceremony. Try to have everyone wait at least 1 full turn in the square it is to be performed in, before the ceremony. If you have access to eMonster, place an ad, asking for others to join the ceremony with you. Had I known the above, Bun would now have a Grumbel Amulet. Oh well! Remember, I'm always open to new info. So, ask for info, if you like. Dana +-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+ KOMA DENS (reprinted with permission from the Kabuki Kronicles newsletter) From: "Jerry E. Ritchie" <73537.2505@CompuServe.COM> Date: 19 May 94 17:06:18 EDT Subject: KK received KOMA DENS Koma Dens are a structure first found in the Kunbar region, consisting of "a strange arrangement of bamboo poles and shoots, rocks, and logs" with "several varieties of snakess slithering around and through it". No torches, shovels, or special equipment are necessary to explore a koma den, but your riskiness must be set to 8 or 9 for you to enter (which is done with the LV order). Once you enter a koma den, you will fight four snakes in a row. Another snake will appear and run away without fighting you. (This adds color to the game, or something.) You then get treasure, and battle a fifth snake on the way out. If you enter a koma den twice in the same turn, you'll fight tougher snakes the second time. (A typical first entry would have you fighting a slither snake, a tawni snake, a jungle rattler, a great trap snake, and a jungle rattler on the way out. A second entry might have you fight a six-headed adder, a tawni snake, a jungle rattler, a six-headed adder, and a goo snake-- if you're lucky.) The table below lists the ten snake types found in koma dens and gives the percentage chance of encountering each on a first entry; on a second entry (in a single turn); the average damage taken by DOL members in battle with the snake type; and the average amount of damage necessary to kill that snake type. Note that weak monsters will probably take even more damage from the tougher snakes than these averages would indicate, because they probably won't be as well armored as the typical DOL member and won't be as likely to kill the snake in one round. Note also that the percentage chances for a second entry are unreliable, based on a small sample size. First Second Avg. Dam. Avg. Dam. entry entry Taken to kill Six-headed Adder 9.0% 45.8% 39.8 81 Great Trap Snake 15.5% --- 16.0 26 Tawni Snake 10.3% 16.7% 8.3 78 Goo Snake 2.6% 12.5% 5.7 32 Jungle Rattler 18.7% 8.3% 4.5 21 Three-Tailed Rattler 11.6% --- 4.9 8 Xanxu Cave Snake 10.3% --- 3.2 15 Slither Snake 4.5% --- 3.0 9 Squeezy Snake 6.5% --- 3.0 8 Funnel Snake 11.0% --- 3.0 7 The following is a complete list of treasures found in koma dens on a first entry. There are only two instances in the data submitted of successful second entries. The treasure collected in these two cases are an Iron Knife, Silver Bauble, and three squzskins; and a Golden Ocular. While a bit better than average, it's hard to draw any conclusion from such limited data about whether second entries tend to yield better treasure. Obviously further research is indicated, which I (with my usual air of noble self-sacrifice) will conduct personally at the first opportunity. - Steven Desjardin Silver-studded Club, eleven Zoingo Copper Coins Silver Bone Necklace Silver Charm, Silver Bauble Damaged Iron Helm, Red Bauble Two Kwando Guilder Coins, Small Lockpick Silver Charm, Golden Ocular Yellow Bauble Silver Amulet, White Bauble, seven Silver-Tipped Darts Damaged Iron Knife, two Zoingo Silver Coins, two Black Balls Damaged Large Iron Shield, Black Ball Damaged Iron Gauntlets, Zoingo Gold Coin, Xanxu Snakehead Silver Charm, Zoingo Silver Coin, seven Ocular Coins, Funnel Snakeskin Iron Helm, Black Ball, two Unreadable Scrolls, Silver Dragon Statue Damaged Iron Knife, Silver Bone Necklace Damaged Iron Greaves, four Zoingo Silver Coins Iron Helm, two Red Baubles, twelve Ocular Coins Damaged Iron Shield, Silver Bauble Iron Knife, White Bauble Black Ball Silver Charm, Silver Bone Necklace, Xanxu Snakehead, two Unreadable Scrolls Damaged Iron Dagger, Unreadable Scroll, three Yellow Baubles Silver-Tipped Spear, three Yellow Baubles Damaged Iron Gauntlets, six Yellow Baubles, Unreadable Scroll Golden Ocular Coin, Xanxu Snakehead, Unreadable Scroll Silver-Tipped Spear, three Zoingo Silver Coins, three Unreadable Scrolls Iron Gauntlets, Silver Bone Necklace Silver Charm, Silver Bauble Dam. Iron Knife, Silver Bone Necklace, 15 Oculars, Funnel Skin, 3 Scrolls Iron Knife, three Zoingo Silver Coins Damaged Iron Dagger, Golden Ocular Coin Zoingo Silver Coin, Xanxu Snakehead [Note: this list does not include snake parts gained from killing the Koma Den inhabitants (i.e. rattler darts, etc.).] +-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+ NOTES FROM ALL OVER From: zbc01@cc.keele.ac.uk (T.J. Sharrock) Newsgroups: rec.games.pbm Article: 12935 of rec.games.pbm Subject: Re: MI: groups in English MI? Date: 25 Apr 1994 09:00:30 GMT Rolf H. Lange (bklange@sus.edu.eur.nl) wrote: > Hi there, > Are there any groups in the English game of MI? The main groups I am aware of are: [Kabuki] Kabuki's Legion of the North White Knights of Kabuki Blinding Dawn [Shroud] The Hand of Shroud Eternal Void [Fuvah] Bad Company [Non-religious] Hulk Hogan's Company There may also be some newer groups, and there are several unofficial groups heading for formation. The "Message in a Bottle" game newsletter with details seems to have stopped... Indeed several of the groups are rather slow at the moment and in the middle of changing leadership (I am about to resign from running KLN, I have been doing so for a couple of Years now, and it is taking too much time, and I still do not get newsletters out on time). If you want more info, email me. From: Greg Lindahl <gl8f@fermi.clas.virginia.edu> Date: Tue, 26 Apr 1994 00:25:20 -0400 Subject: Re: pbm ftp site All available eMonster back issues are now available online via anonymous FTP transfer. The site is ftp.erg.sri.com ; files are in directory /pub/pbm/Monster_Island This is a commerical system, please try to access it during off-peak hours. From: thogek@alumni.caltech.edu (Thomas Kiefer) Date: Tue, 26 Apr 1994 00:19:19 -0700 Subject: Re: MI/sacred creatures About the idea of setting a No Attack order for those Creatures your God favors.... You can't. See rulebook: the No Attack order is "N (Race#, Group# or Monster#)". No place for a Creature# in there. I tried putting one in anyway once and got "You can only specify a Race#, Group# or Monster#. Order fails." Oh, well. From: "g.mcdougall" <wu0gmc@orac.sunderland.ac.uk> Date: Thu, 28 Apr 1994 11:49:41 -562208 (GMT-5623:08) Subject: MI Sacred Creatures Following the 'Sacred Creatures' debate. What happens if a Monster wants (or needs) the items from an allied Creature? (I.e. Tusker tusks). What does the diety do to a follower of his that kills a favoured creature, and is it actually possible (with the A order)? From: "shdowspwn" <shdowspwn@aol.com> Date: Sat, 30 Apr 94 20:31:55 EDT Subject: God Favored Creatures & Boundary Testing Phillip Pectoralis, a Fuvite Disciple passed through a square with King Stag's in it in order to get the Blurb. He ended up killing one even though it's blurb says they "find favor with the omniscient one". He has not encountered them again but maybe the first time you encounter creatures you don't know things like your God doesn't want you to kill them. On the subject of stretching the boundaries. I had heard a rumor that by Kowtowing for 200 Action Pts you could get the Temple Sacrifice Blurb immediately. I tried it with Shadow's Pawn who had only been an Acolyte for about 5 turns and it did not work. So much for that wild hope. From: Ron Blanco <rrblanco@mtu.edu> Date: Wed, 27 Apr 1994 01:06:48 -0400 (EDT) Subject: Points of interest... During the turn, SideKic captured a Killer Koala Bear. At the end of the turn he did a Kill Capture order... (I'm going to ask Jack about the change) It said, as normal, "You kill the Killer Koala Bear. Awww." Then the change appears... I DID NOT get the food and teeth for the kill... RATHER, I found myself BATTLING the Killer Koala Bear! I killed it & received the stuff... So the "You kill... Awww." may not be relavent anymore... I mean we might get this message, but then either the monster or creature might flee after/ during the "battle"... This was in the Crooked Nose Inn's square, AND there haven't been KKBs in the square EVER before during my ten+ (YES, TEN+) visits (I've two monsters, that camped out here A LOT, while learning Pointed Weapon Trainings & ...)... Trapped Pit: Yeah, I finally, ah, er, "stumbled into" one, so to speak... :-) This new addition to the Crooked Nose Inn's square, has appeared since my my last visit (7 turns/8 weeks ago)... There has been a Deep Pit for A LONG time, & I've considered trapping it, but I'm too nice a guy (and I had NO captured snake) :-) Anyway... "Cah-rash! You've just fallen into a TRAPPED PIT. 'Ouch,' you roar. [-12 Health.] Uh, no - there's a Jungle Rattler in this pit! And it wants to eat you. Battle ensues..." Yep, you guessed it, no missile fire in close quarters, like this... 26 damage kills Jungle Rattler... Hits me for 4 damage... (1 food & 2 darts.. KEWEL! I needed the food, I can sell the darts for 6 oculars, I'm Inn Staying, so my health will zap RIGHT back...) This trap could not have been at a better place or time for me... I hope this will ruin the day for whoever set the trap, when they see it helped, rather than hindered the "victim" :-) From: Ulrich Mayring <ulim@CoLi.Uni-SB.DE> Subject: Re: German MI Scott writes: > I'd like to get the address the German MI company, and maybe the turn costs, > so I can direct people how to join. Does your game offer a free rulebook and > free first (setup) turn? Of course, no problem: The setup turn is free, the rulebook too and the turn costs are DM 6.- per turn, plus an additional DM 3.- per issue if you want to receive the "Buschtrommel", which is a zine similar to the Blood Moon Tribune. The address is: Daydream Productions PF 900315 81503 Muenchen Germany *****Scott says: Would somebody mind sending me the same information on the English MI game? I would like to include it all in my infrequent posting on the rec.games.pbm newsgroup. From: ereuss@cs.tufts.edu (R. Eric Reuss) Date: Tue, 3 May 1994 13:50:48 +0500 Subject: Re: MI/Rumors Greatly Exaggerated I don't know where you got the idea that I quit MI (esp since I'm still subscribed to EMonster!!) but I'm still alive & kicking... Could you please post a correction? Thanks! Eric Reuss Leader of the Stark Fist of Fuvah *****Scott says: Oops. We did indeed list you as 'past tense' last issue. We hereby proclaim that you got better. From: eu406@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Mike Davies) Date: Thu, 5 May 1994 14:57:56 -0400 Subject: MI notes When rebuilding ruins, I have noticed that you can get an extra 7 pts free if you break your pts over 13 orders. If you are by yourself, with a mount, you get 25% bonus pts. 13 orders for 2 pts each will amount to 39 pts total, while 1 order for 26 pts will only get you 33 pts total. While this will result in a boring turn, 5 monsters doing this for 5 turns will net a possible 175 pts extra. Not too bad if you think about it. Large caves *can* be cleared out, but I do not think you get any special treasures for doing so. My monster found an empty one near the Odd Terapus quite a while back. From: tec2t@fermi.clas.Virginia.EDU (Timothy Edward Ciciarelli) Newsgroups: rec.games.pbm Article: 13019 of rec.games.pbm Subject: MI fort enhancement Date: Tue, 3 May 1994 17:10:46 GMT I was wondering if anyone had any additions or corrections to the following list of items that can be used to enhance a fort in MI: 1. knives 2. snake traps 3. spider springs, carrion talons 4. spyglass parts I've heard rumors that xanxu leg joints and tar trap parts can also be used, anyone know for sure? email: tec2t@virginia.edu *****Scott says: So far nobody knows any different. But we are hopeful. The current theory (from the Order of the White Rose) goes like this: When you issue the EF order, you *won't* use your Snake Trap unless you've got an extra one. You won't put a spyglass in there unless you have one complete one and all three parts to make a second. So, experiments are being conducted to see what other 'extra' items might possibly be added, that we didn't know about before, because we only had one of them when we tried earlier. Also, the latest bug report fits in here; When adding spyglasses to a Fort, the fort is designed to use up to 4 of 'em, but somehow the counter was not being increased -- the Order of the White Rose had added 8 (!) spyglasses to one Fort before anybody asked Jack about it. Jack corrected the error and offered to return the extra spyglasses to the monsters or leave them in the storeroom. From: fuegi@CS.ColoState.EDU (Aaron D. Fuegi) Date: Sun, 15 May 94 12:07:19 MDT Subject: Re: MI/spells Scott writes, >Once you've set *any* offensive or defensive spell up, >you can *never* say "Don't cast spells, I want to save up spell points." I COMPLETELY agree. This drives me CRAZY. Has anyone complained to Jack about this? It would be so easy to fix. Just say cast like 800 or 899 or somethig to turn off defensive spell and 900 or 999 to turn off offensive spell. I have my offensive spell, for example, set to a really powerful and expensive one in the hope it either won't be cast because of power issues or that I won't have enough SPs to cast it but this is a poor solution as when it is cast I lose a huge amount of SPs. From: Gerald Hagedorn <hagedorn@umr.edu> Date: Sun, 15 May 1994 15:38:12 -0600 (CDT) Subject: Turning off spells You can turn off offensive and defensive spells by just recasting that same spell. I.e.: to turn off light armor issue a C 805 this will turn light armor off and you will have no defensive spell. The same is true for offensive spells. If you read the spell casting blurb carefully it tells you how to do this. *****Scott says: Does this work now? I haven't tried it for almost 6 months now, but it didn't *used* to work, and it drove me (and certain other people I could name) buggy. I'll try it again this turn, but I've looked over the blurbs and can't find a word about it. From: rwx096@btw6x1.oec.uni-bayreuth.de Date: Thu, 19 May 94 16:34:15 MESZ Subject: mi-baby monsters My name is Bonnie and I'm a little nice monster in the german MI-game. As a very unexperienced monster I would like to ask you what are the advantages or disadvantages for my monster to become pregnant? I hope there is somebody out there with some experience in this. From: usvkn7xn@ibmmail.COM <Chris Meyer> Date: Fri, 20 May 94 10:56:37 EDT Subject: Group Mailer by ABM While sitting around today trying to make myself do some work, I had an idea pop into my head concerning Monster Island. This idea is along the lines of the Lotus Leaves & Blood Mood Tribune. What I was thinking about is approching Jack with the idea of assembling a mailer (a one time mailing) that was devoted fully to the groups on the island. This journal would have perhaps a paragraph written by each participating group explaining their group for the newbies on the island. This would essentially be a single flyer that new players (and old too) could get an idea of what groups are available on the island. I would also suggest that a short article be co-written that suggests those considerations that should be made by a player before actually joining a group. Opinion ? *****Scott says: I think this is a great idea! Of course, I am the leader of The Black Death and that might influence my decision. I am concerned that the only exposure most players get to groups is through the BMT, and that is understandibly weighted towards promoting and defending Shroud's Own. I would welcome a chance to let players know that there are other kinds of groups out there. Chris also says, and I agree, that this project should be under the auspices of ABM itself -- any player-run document is bound to suffer from bias, lack of participation, and especially lack of distribution. (Though I would be willing to send such a thing out as an eMonster Special if ABM declines the idea.) What do the rest of you think? From: casbahcarl@aol.com (CasbahCarl) Newsgroups: rec.games.pbm Article: 13127 of rec.games.pbm Subject: Monster Island: BMT #11 Date: 19 May 1994 17:56:04 -0400 In the lastest edition of the American game's player-edited newsletter, the "Blood Moon Tribune," the editor wrote an article on behalf of his group that attempts to create incentives for members of other groups to betray the trust of their fellow group members and of followers of their religion. The following is a copy of my post on the AOL MI board: ------------- Subj: Re:BMT #11 94-05-19 17:47:20 EDT From: CasbahCarl Hi All, I'd like to make a comment regarding Morgan's ad on behalf of Shroud's Own (SO) in the latest BMT. First, though, I'd like to preface my comments that from my experience on this board, I think that SO members Bob (Ewop) and Cathy (Cashew Nut) are decent people. However, it's my personal opinion, humbly stated, that the intent of Morgan's recent communication is a negative one that will serve to lessen the enjoyment of the game for many people. Yes, I know, he'll say that he's merely roleplaying the evil nature of his character and group...blah, blah, blah. However, I don't think anyone can legitimately deny that since the Ryan Gaffuri mess (where an SO member lied to several groups in order to gain confidential information), MI has been slightly less enjoyable because we can't trust other players as easily as we used to. I know this is true for many older and advanced players who've spoken on the same topic to me personally and on Bif's. This ad is just going to reinforce the suspicion and mistrust that was created earlier by one of Shroud's Own. Ultimately, I believe this will have a negative impact on Monster Island. Just my .02 worth, Chuck ----------- Any thoughts from others? Chuck Miro casbahcarl@aol.com From: Gerald Hagedorn <hagedorn@umr.edu> Subject: MOnster Island Date: Wed, 25 May 1994 11:22:03 -0600 (CDT) There have been a lot of complaints lately from many, many people about Monster Island. People are complaining that the turnaround time has slowed and that there does not seem to be anything new to the game. Well, I have not had problems with turnaround times, maybe that has to do with me faxing in my turns. But I would like to see more added to the game. I should say before I go any further that I have been impressed with the aditions that Jack has made to the game, since I started playing over three years ago. I am begining to think though that Monster Island has gotten so big that Jack can no longer handle it by himself. I think that can be seen by the growing list of things Jack has promised will be in the game that we are not seeing. The Question is what can be done about it? My suggestion is that ABM hire someone to do nothing but MI programing. This would allow Jack to concentrate of What and how to add to the game. I may sound like I am telling Jack how to run his business, and that is not my intent. What I want is enjoyment out of the game, and to be honest most of us monsters who started within the first year have explored almost everything there is to do. I am willing to pay a little more for each one of my turns if ABM could see their way to hiring another MI programer. I would like to hear what everyone thinks about it. If there is a large majority of players that feel as I do, I think I could discuss it with Jack. Jerry Hagedorn@umr.edu From: deadboy@leland.Stanford.EDU (Malachi) Subject: Re: MOnster Island Date: Wed, 25 May 1994 12:49:02 -0700 (PDT) > There have been a lot of complaints lately... Although I haven't complained in the past, I also have been disappointed with these issues. Turnaround time in particular has recently been very bad. I've been playing for at least two years now and I also get the sense that there's not much left to be seen. My personal plan for now is just to not send in my turns so promptly, so that I won't be so disappointed with the time-scale of the game. But the problem still exists of getting a very boring set of turn results, causing the attention span to lag. I almost quit the game last year when I had about five dull turns in a row, spanning over two real-time months. When there are no clear goals (and few strong goals exist for anyone on MI) each week almost *has* to bring something new and exciting, or it seems like a waste of time. Of course most *people* I've met through MI have been interesting and fun, to talk with, but the game itself is on the whole lately disappointing. I hope that doesn't sound too negative. I like MI. -Malachi *****Scott says: I too have seen large delays in turnaround time recently, though for me it seems more due to the snailmail service -- the turns I send in through email get back to me much faster. Anyone else notice any delays within the last month or so? Both of my monsters have had a few boring turns, but together they have over 170 turns between them, and they haven't even *begun* to explore the possibilities. Perhaps it's just the way I play, but in all that time I've been devoting my attention to groups and religious affairs. If you're getting bored, you might want to look into these things. From: tec2t@fermi.clas.Virginia.EDU (Timothy Edward Ciciarelli) Newsgroups: rec.games.pbm Article: 13023 of rec.games.pbm Subject: MI: Jolly Ogre Far Inn services Date: Thu, 5 May 1994 21:34:17 GMT O.K. I know nobody has answered any of my posts thus far, but hey, the third time's the charm. Does anyone out there know the services offered by the Jolly Ogre Far Inn. I'm talking about weapons training, knowledge etc. Thanks, Tim Ciciarelli tec2t@virginia.edu *****Scott says: Robert James should have that info. Speaking of whom... From: RobertJ896@aol.com <Robert James> Date: Thu, 26 May 94 23:31:26 EDT Subject: Monster Island Hi, Scott! Just wanted to let you know I had access to the net through America Online. Got all your letters and stuff -- now you can send the email newsletter straight to me here! I've got all the far inns now -- please post my thanks to the email group and pass on my address here if anyone wants to contact me or the Order of the White Rose. Take care - Rob James +-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+ Thus ends another eMonster News. If you have any comments, suggestions, submissions, questions, or articles you would like to see included in the next issue, please send them to warden@einet.com and we'll put them in! Up