<!-- MHonArc v2.4.4 --> <!--X-Subject: [MUD-Dev] Storytelling and Gods (fairly long) --> <!--X-From-R13: [nggurj [vunyl <fnencvfNnpunrn.pbz> --> <!--X-Date: Tue, 2 Mar 1999 17:25:44 -0800 --> <!--X-Message-Id: 199903022339.PAA00895#proxy3,ba.best.com --> <!--X-Content-Type: text/plain --> <!--X-Reference: 11A17AA2B9EAD111BCEA00A0C9B417930210BAF6#forest,origin.ea.com --> <!--X-Head-End--> <!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 3.2//EN"> <html> <head> <title>MUD-Dev message, [MUD-Dev] Storytelling and Gods (fairly long)</title> <!-- meta name="robots" content="noindex,nofollow" --> <link rev="made" href="mailto:sarapis#achaea,com"> </head> <body background="/backgrounds/paperback.gif" bgcolor="#ffffff" text="#000000" link="#0000FF" alink="#FF0000" vlink="#006000"> <font size="+4" color="#804040"> <strong><em>MUD-Dev<br>mailing list archive</em></strong> </font> <br> [ <a href="../">Other Periods</a> | <a href="../../">Other mailing lists</a> | <a href="/search.php3">Search</a> ] <br clear=all><hr> <!--X-Body-Begin--> <!--X-User-Header--> <!--X-User-Header-End--> <!--X-TopPNI--> Date: [ <a href="msg00505.html">Previous</a> | <a href="msg00506.html">Next</a> ] Thread: [ <a href="msg00503.html">Previous</a> | <a href="msg00518.html">Next</a> ] Index: [ <A HREF="author.html#00504">Author</A> | <A HREF="#00504">Date</A> | <A HREF="thread.html#00504">Thread</A> ] <!--X-TopPNI-End--> <!--X-MsgBody--> <!--X-Subject-Header-Begin--> <H1>[MUD-Dev] Storytelling and Gods (fairly long)</H1> <HR> <!--X-Subject-Header-End--> <!--X-Head-of-Message--> <UL> <LI><em>To</em>: <A HREF="mailto:mud-dev#kanga,nu">mud-dev#kanga,nu</A></LI> <LI><em>Subject</em>: [MUD-Dev] Storytelling and Gods (fairly long)</LI> <LI><em>From</em>: Matthew Mihaly <<A HREF="mailto:sarapis#achaea,com">sarapis#achaea,com</A>></LI> <LI><em>Date</em>: Tue, 02 Mar 1999 15:31:51 -0800</LI> <LI><em>Reply-To</em>: <A HREF="mailto:mud-dev#kanga,nu">mud-dev#kanga,nu</A></LI> <LI><em>Sender</em>: <A HREF="mailto:mud-dev-admin#kanga,nu">mud-dev-admin#kanga,nu</A></LI> </UL> <!--X-Head-of-Message-End--> <!--X-Head-Body-Sep-Begin--> <HR> <!--X-Head-Body-Sep-End--> <!--X-Body-of-Message--> <PRE> At 11:40 AM 3/2/99 -0600, Raph wrote: >Lastly, the playerbase is highly resistant to change. This means that in >general, the parameters for both a static narrative construct OR a >simulation tend to be narrowly defined. We can't generally do things like >cause continents to sink, cities to die of the plague, etc etc, because it >scares the bejeezus out of the newbies, horrifies the players who lose their >standing or accumulated possessions, and disturbs those whose sense of >familiarity with the environment is the biggest reason why they still play. I think you are quite wrong, I'm afraid. I'll provide an example below. >Thus, it could be argued that the absolute best tactics for mud storytelling >are: >- encourage players (through the provision of tools for this purpose) to >form groups with conflicting goals (philosophical, territorial, etc) of >*some* sort that are a) significant in impact b) achievable yet c) not >overly destructive of the environment. This is a large design issue which is >in many ways frankly contradictory to basic design principles in many mud >code bases today. > >- assiduously report the "latest news" in conflicts, cast as story and >narrative, with context, embellishment where necessary, and if need be, >presented in such a manner as to encourage ongoing conflict, picking of >sides, etc. > >I don't know of any gaming muds that expressly attempt this in the manner I >describe. We do, and we are most definitely a gaming mud. In fact, we do a) large scale things that have a destructive environmental effect, and b) things to encourage conflict between groups. Furthermore, I tend to write histories of major conflicts and dramatize them up, etc, in order to provide more of a coherent history for Achaea (I'm a stickler that everything must tie in with the over-arching histories and mythologies that I've written). I'll provide two examples of large-scale desctructive acts. First though, I will again say that I vehemently disagree that destructive things cannot be done in a mud, and I think that the reason you think they cannot is that, from what I gather from your previous posts, you don't place a whole lot of store in the idea of Gods. To me, Gods (and I don't mean coders, imps, or wahtever you call them. I mean Gods in the Greek sense of the word...each with agendas of their own as far as the players are concerned) are the factor that allow these things to happen. When something really bad happens, the players can still maintain their faith that their God will not let them down, and that they will be saved through the grace of the Divine. Example #1: The Coming of the Morning Star. I'm including the official "history" of the event below, but briefly, here is what happened: I wanted 3 new player-Gods: God of the Sky, an evil God, and Goddess of Light. After having found suitable candidates to play these roles (not easy), we needed reasons why a) the God of the sky was making a re-appearance (he's mentioned in the mythologies, so we couldn't just "create" him out of nothing), and b) reasons why this new evil God and the Goddess of Light were suddenly popping into existence. The basic story then was that a black hole and a star collided out in the cosmos somewhere and the release of energy created Apollyon, the Malefactor, and Aurora, Goddess of Light. Sadly for the mortals, the release of this energy killed every player (bar one lucky bastard), all mobiles, and all plant life (plant life is crucial to players generally). Afterwards, some other Gods intervened to clean up the lingering radiation, but this didn't solve the problem of the plant life and such being dead. Essentially, the Druids and Sentinels (Sentinels are an off-shoot of the Druidic class) had to go about regrowing the plants to replace them, etc. Did this have a huge, permanent destructive effect? No. I'll agree that huge, permanent destructive events shouldn't be used too often (although I completely disagree that they cannot be used at all). But, it A) provided a lot of excitement in the land, and people talked about what happened for quite awhile, and b) it gave the Druids and Sentinels something very in-role to do to "solve" the problems created by this. Again, the official history is included below if anyone cares to read it. Example #2: The Nature Wars The Nature wars resulted from one of our Gods, Gaia the Earthmother, managing to actually slay Twilight, God of Darkness. This was completely unacceptable from an administration standpoint, as Gods must never be seen to be vulnerable to a single force, lest mortals lose fear and respect for them. So, the person playing Gaia was asked to leave. Gaia was much-loved by players and so Her sudden absence had to be dealt with somehow. What we did was have a few of the other Gods band together to attack and imprison Her essence in the Gaian Tree. This caused a HUGE amoung of outrage among her followers, as they were extremely devoted to her. Some started talking about quitting Achaea, etc etc, for without their Goddess, what was the point in living? (Again, I emphasize that if you do not use Gods in this manner in your games, you are losing out bigtime, and so are your players). At this point, many of Gaia's followers started researching ways to release her. They came up with all sorts of plans to get her out, and sent many offerings of dead things, gold, etc her way, in order to see if that would assist her in getting free. From an ooc point of view, we Gods knew that Gaia had to return, but we had to find a suitable mortal to play her role. Once we found one, the Gods (not me. I tend to stay out of such affairs as I have too much influence over the mortals) had to go into action. Twilight (the one who was originally slain by Gaia) claimed the forests as his own, and I coded it so that the sacred Groves of the druids and sentinels (poor things, they are always getting screwed with...each Druid and Sentinel has a particular forest location for his or her own, and can activate a wide range of powers from there, from calling down lightning on those in the forest, to 'installing' a hive of bees from which they can feed, and from which angry bees can be called to attack enemies of the Grove), were covered in darkness, and were weakened so much that they became nearly useless. Obviously, this caused a lot of outrage, once again, among the mortals. They were furious that Twilight would do this to them (it's funny that almost none or none of them ever thought to say, "Hey, Sarapis (that's me) wouldn't let an entire skill set be destroyed for the sake of role), and they vowed to double their efforts. Wars broke out between pro-Naturists and anti-Naturists, and game usage went way up. The Druids and Sentinels were very unhappy and distraught, but despite all this, they seemed to be enjoying the action immensely. Eventually, through a variety of measures, they were able to assist in the release of their beloved Goddess, and once again life was good. (end of examples) Ok, now I realize that neither of these events is on par with a city becoming plagued out or a continent sinking, but the principles are similar, I think. You CAN completely mess with mortals, but as long as they are given some sort of hope, it acts as a motivator to them. To me, it is the existence of the Gods that provide this hope. Many of the naturists prayed to Aurora during their difficult times, trusting that somehow she wouldn't let them down. I don't see an event like a continent sinking to be any different really, provided that there really IS hope. I could see, in the future, for instance, taking one of our cities and doing something very bad to it for a few months, but allowing some players to find out, via dreams while sleeping or whatever, that there is some difficult, and probably tedious, method to bring the city back. _Every_ mortal with any ambition at all would be higly motivated to be the one that saved the city, etc. Again, I stress that in my opinion, without the presence of role Gods to guide things and provide hope, this sort of thing probably isn't practical, but with them, it is not only practical, but desirable. Of course, as you said, Raph, there's no real way to do this sort of thing regularly (can't keep up coding and design-wise), but doing it regularly also isn't desirable. If some massive event happens every other day, they lose their impact and players start getting ho-hum about things. I know most of you will probably read this and think "He's a loony" but I am generally amazed by the complete lack of role Gods in muds generally (and I've seen nearly no mention of them here aside from things I've written). You only have to look at real life and history to realize the nearly absolute power that religion can have over people. When a horrible event happens, what do people often do? Turn to whatever God they worship to provide hope. <Start of full text of Coming of the Morning Star. Feel free to skip as it's just here for your entertainment value> On the 13th of Lupar, 208 years after the fall of the Empire, the single greatest catastrophe in the history of our world took place. It was an event that was to have far-reaching consequences for Achaea, and one whose effect lingers on even today. It was a day in late summer much like any other. The sun was shining brightly and the birds were twittering their songs of love. But there was a note of unrest, and perhaps the first tastes of fear in the air. For during the previous night, Averroes, the Prophet of Shallam, had dreamed a dream of cosmic destruction; of an event so catastrophic that it would alter the balance of power in the heavens themselves. His warnings were largely ignored, however, and he was mocked by some of the more foolish in the land. When the flash of light came, however, trickles of belief broke through the walls of ignorance in the minds of the populace. "We looked to the sky, and there was a star shining so brightly it could be seen in the full of the afternoon sunlight! Just about all I could see was the sun and that star, because that first flash of light nearly blinded me." --An unnamed citizen of Ashtan "Horribly, the beautiful star began to, well, LEAK, like it was going down some sort of drain. There was a lot of panic, and the pixies were running about in sheer terror, screaming something about the Morning Star." --Vellis, the butterfly collector of Minia Then came the second flash, and pain, and death. All the plantlife on the planet died, and much of the animal life, when Aeon, God of Time intervened. Though a strange God with stranger motivations, he apparently sought to prevent the countless deaths that were about to occur. Stopping, and then reversing time, he turned events backwards. But to his horror, he found that he was unable to prevent events from proceeding just as they had the first time. This is the story of the Coming of the Morning Star. Far away, though not far enough, there was a sun, but not like the sun that illuminates Sapience and provides succor to the cold, and that is the source of all life. No, this sun was far larger than your own, and far more powerful. But the heavens have their celestial dance, and as this sun danced its slow, stately dance across the palette upon which I have painted, it encountered a bottomless pit, called Abaddon, destroyer of worlds. Not sentient, it nevertheless was compelled by its very nature to attack and absorb all into itself. Like a mindless, sightless behemoth, it lumbered and sloughed, consuming all within its path. Until it met with this sun, this shining epitomy of light. Then it had met its match. Attacking it, it began to gorge itself as never before, but the sun was too much. After some of its energy had been eaten away, the sun exploded, as it lacked the energy to hold itself together. Abbadon, the pit, tried to consume this massive outpouring of energy, but failed. It had gorged itself past its limit, and it too exploded, carrying with it energy that was to the first explosion as an ocean is to a drop of water. The energy from this explosion, the winds of the stars, streaked across the heavens, instantly obliterating all in its path. But like all things aside from the Logos, this wind of the stars was finite, and its power began to dim. The world that Sapience is on, however, lay too close. While the world itself was not destroyed, the intense energy killed nearly everything alive on the continent, which happened to be the side of the planet facing the explosion when the star winds arrived. The forests were scourged, the seas purged of life, and the cities became heaped with dead rats and people. The sole survivors were the Mhun who live and work in the lower levels of Moghedu, including the Great Mhunna and his bodyguards. They were deep enough within the earth to survive, while those in Azdun, such as Lachesis, did not fare so well. Strangely, one mortal man, with a strange, foreign-sounding name survived. It is unknown why, but Averroes has theorized that this man was so pure of spirit that somehow the same protections that exist for Gods protected him too. This is, of course, just a theory. Sarapis, the Logos, explained: "To understand this event, mortals, you must first try to grasp the magnitude ofit. This was an event of such power that one of the Elder Gods, Aeon, was not able to prevent it. Such a thing has not been seen since the days of the Chaos Wars. The unnamed sun was one of the largest and most powerful in existence, but even its power was dwarfed by the amount of energy contained in Abaddon. When the sun exploded, causing Abaddon to explode, the power was such that the fabric of reality was wrinkled, twisted, torn, and eventually it found its outlet in the creation of two new sentient beings who embody the forces contained in these explosions: Aurora, Goddess of Light, and Apollyon, the Malefactor." After the apocalyptic wave of deaths that followed in the wake of the star winds, a God not seen since the Chaos Wars appeared, apparently awakened from His slumber by the great energies unleashed in the explosions. He, Vastar, the Skylord, saw his realm polluted by lingering killing energy. Drawing it out of the atmosphere in the same way that water condensences, he drew it all into a shimmering ball of energy high above the continent. "Oh child, 'twas like nothin' these ole eyes have ever seen. I saw the hand of God! I did! It reached out, and it snuffed that deadly energy right out, like it was just slappin' a firefly."--A wandering gypsy woman. Soon after this, Oneiros, God of Peace, and an Elder God, in an effort that must surely have been a sacrifice even for one of his power, restored life to the forests, and grasslands of Achaea. The mortals were, of course, resurrected by Sarapis, after praying extensively to him for succor. What are the lasting results of this, you ask? We are, as of yet, unsure. Perhaps the Logos and the other Divinities have a plan, or perhaps not. We do not and cannot know, unless the Gods choose to tell us, or unless we are blessed with prophetic visions, if the remains of Abaddon and the unnamed sun will plague us in the future. Yet, this historian cannot help but feeling that though our world was blasted and death enveloped her as never before, it is yet a day to be celebrated. For today, we have experienced new communion with the Divine. Though in the future, there is no doubt that some of us will suffer as a result of Aurora or Apollyon's actions and decisions, such is our lot as mortals. We must find joy in the Divine, for it is only through the eyes of God that we can truly see ourselves. Whether our souls sing in harmony with Aurora's goodness, or resonate darkly with the sombre strains of Apollyon's music, we are richer for knowing them. We must also celebrate the return of one who has seen and done so much, Vastar, the Skylord. God of old, he was one of the first created by Ayar-now-Sarapis, and his return is an occassion for celebration by itself. With the new Divinities, and His return, we cannot help but be joyous, and forget about the suffering that our world sustained today. Blessed are we and glory be to the Dwellers of the Garden! _______________________________________________ MUD-Dev maillist - MUD-Dev#kanga,nu <A HREF="http://www.kanga.nu/lists/listinfo/mud-dev">http://www.kanga.nu/lists/listinfo/mud-dev</A> </PRE> <!--X-Body-of-Message-End--> <!--X-MsgBody-End--> <!--X-Follow-Ups--> <HR> <!--X-Follow-Ups-End--> <!--X-References--> <UL><LI><STRONG>References</STRONG>: <UL> <LI><STRONG><A NAME="00500" HREF="msg00500.html">RE: [MUD-Dev] Storytelling vs simulation, AGAIN! was Re: Influential muds</A></STRONG> <UL><LI><EM>From:</EM> "Koster, Raph" <rkoster#origin,ea.com></LI></UL></LI> </UL></LI></UL> <!--X-References-End--> <!--X-BotPNI--> <UL> <LI>Prev by Date: <STRONG><A HREF="msg00505.html">[MUD-Dev] OT: MUSH semantics (was: Re: Influential muds)</A></STRONG> </LI> <LI>Next by Date: <STRONG><A HREF="msg00506.html">RE: [MUD-Dev] Storytelling and Gods (fairly long)</A></STRONG> </LI> <LI>Prev by thread: <STRONG><A HREF="msg00503.html">RE: [MUD-Dev] Storytelling vs simulation, AGAIN! was Re: Influential muds</A></STRONG> </LI> <LI>Next by thread: <STRONG><A HREF="msg00518.html">Re: [MUD-Dev] Storytelling vs simulation, AGAIN! was Re: Influent ial muds</A></STRONG> </LI> <LI>Index(es): <UL> <LI><A HREF="index.html#00504"><STRONG>Date</STRONG></A></LI> <LI><A HREF="thread.html#00504"><STRONG>Thread</STRONG></A></LI> </UL> </LI> </UL> <!--X-BotPNI-End--> <!--X-User-Footer--> <!--X-User-Footer-End--> <ul><li>Thread context: <BLOCKQUOTE><UL> <LI><strong><A NAME="00505" HREF="msg00505.html">[MUD-Dev] OT: MUSH semantics (was: Re: Influential muds)</A></strong>, T. Alexander Popiel <a href="mailto:popiel#snugharbor,com">popiel#snugharbor,com</a>, Wed 03 Mar 1999, 01:25 GMT <LI><strong><A NAME="00500" HREF="msg00500.html">RE: [MUD-Dev] Storytelling vs simulation, AGAIN! was Re: Influential muds</A></strong>, Koster, Raph <a href="mailto:rkoster#origin,ea.com">rkoster#origin,ea.com</a>, Tue 02 Mar 1999, 17:46 GMT <UL> <LI><strong><A NAME="00501" HREF="msg00501.html">Re: [MUD-Dev] Storytelling vs simulation, AGAIN! was Re: Influent ial muds</A></strong>, Mik Clarke <a href="mailto:mikclrk#ibm,net">mikclrk#ibm,net</a>, Tue 02 Mar 1999, 21:05 GMT </LI> <LI><strong><A NAME="00503" HREF="msg00503.html">RE: [MUD-Dev] Storytelling vs simulation, AGAIN! was Re: Influential muds</A></strong>, Eli Stevens (KiZurich) <a href="mailto:c718157#showme,missouri.edu">c718157#showme,missouri.edu</a>, Tue 02 Mar 1999, 22:37 GMT </LI> <LI><strong><A NAME="00504" HREF="msg00504.html">[MUD-Dev] Storytelling and Gods (fairly long)</A></strong>, Matthew Mihaly <a href="mailto:sarapis#achaea,com">sarapis#achaea,com</a>, Wed 03 Mar 1999, 01:25 GMT </LI> <LI><strong><A NAME="00518" HREF="msg00518.html">Re: [MUD-Dev] Storytelling vs simulation, AGAIN! was Re: Influent ial muds</A></strong>, J C Lawrence <a href="mailto:claw#varesearch,com">claw#varesearch,com</a>, Wed 10 Mar 1999, 22:42 GMT <UL> <LI><strong><A NAME="00520" HREF="msg00520.html">Re: [MUD-Dev] Storytelling vs simulation, AGAIN! was Re: Influential muds</A></strong>, Matthew Mihaly <a href="mailto:diablo#best,com">diablo#best,com</a>, Thu 11 Mar 1999, 02:07 GMT <UL> <LI><strong><A NAME="00562" HREF="msg00562.html">Re: [MUD-Dev] Storytelling vs simulation, AGAIN! was Re: Influent ial muds</A></strong>, J C Lawrence <a href="mailto:claw#varesearch,com">claw#varesearch,com</a>, Sat 13 Mar 1999, 02:08 GMT <UL> <LI><strong><A NAME="00564" HREF="msg00564.html">Re: [MUD-Dev] Storytelling vs simulation, AGAIN! was Re: Influential muds</A></strong>, Matthew Mihaly <a href="mailto:diablo#best,com">diablo#best,com</a>, Sat 13 Mar 1999, 08:38 GMT </LI> </UL> </LI> </UL> </LI> </UL> </LI> </UL> </LI> </UL></BLOCKQUOTE> </ul> <hr> <center> [ <a href="../">Other Periods</a> | <a href="../../">Other mailing lists</a> | <a href="/search.php3">Search</a> ] </center> <hr> </body> </html>