<!-- MHonArc v2.4.4 --> <!--X-Subject: Re: [MUD-Dev] Re: The Best Guy on the Mud Thing --> <!--X-From-R13: [vx Qynexr <zvxpyexNvoz.arg> --> <!--X-Date: Sun, 19 Sep 1999 18:21:32 -0700 --> <!--X-Message-Id: 37E3D50B.738EF6B4#ibm,net --> <!--X-Content-Type: text/plain --> <!--X-Reference: yam7929.2038.1720163336#smtp,free4all.co.uk --> <!--X-Reference: wrshQGK00UwH1JRXA0#andrew,cmu.edu --> <!--X-Head-End--> <!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 3.2//EN"> <html> <head> <title>MUD-Dev message, Re: [MUD-Dev] Re: The Best Guy on the Mud Thing</title> <!-- meta name="robots" content="noindex,nofollow" --> <link rev="made" href="mailto:mikclrk#ibm,net"> </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="msg00404.html">Previous</a> | <a href="msg00409.html">Next</a> ] Thread: [ <a href="msg00397.html">Previous</a> | <a href="msg00382.html">Next</a> ] Index: [ <A HREF="author.html#00402">Author</A> | <A HREF="#00402">Date</A> | <A HREF="thread.html#00402">Thread</A> ] <!--X-TopPNI-End--> <!--X-MsgBody--> <!--X-Subject-Header-Begin--> <H1>Re: [MUD-Dev] Re: The Best Guy on the Mud Thing</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>: Re: [MUD-Dev] Re: The Best Guy on the Mud Thing</LI> <LI><em>From</em>: Mik Clarke <<A HREF="mailto:mikclrk#ibm,net">mikclrk#ibm,net</A>></LI> <LI><em>Date</em>: Sat, 18 Sep 1999 17:08:11 +0000</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> Laurel Fan wrote: > > Excerpts from muddev: 17-Sep-99 [MUD-Dev] Re: The Best Guy .. by Robin > Cloutman#free4all, > > I'm trying to work out some way of doing a decent spell system, and this > > does seem good, but the beta testing shows that it doesn't work, therefore > > there needs to be something to stop people just "testing" all the > > combinations in order to find something that works... > > Or, similarly, have many spells that are "close" to actual spells which > are useless or catastrophic... It might make sense that "whip monster > with chains" might be close to "whip monster with peacock feathers", or > that a slightly wrong invocation of "create water" might cause a small > lake to form directly above the caster's head. Firstly, if the character is unable to cast the spell or is lacking in material components, then they probably should not find out what the spell is. This should be very similar (if not identical) to the sequence that occurs when they try to cast an invalid spell. So now searching will only find spells the caster is able to cast. Some spells need a target, and if one isn't specified, the spell will again fail. Then you have to pick a target - difficult when you don't know if the spell is fireball or super-bezerk (one is good for orcs, the other is not). The spell 'change places with very upset red dragon' is also an interesting one in this situation. So now we're down to spells with the right target that the caster can cast (and survive the incidental effects of). Some spells have area affects (all foes in room, everyone in the same area etc...). Finding a safe place to test cast these could be interesting. Returning to town to find everyone singed and upset might not be to the testers benefit. A few spells have a detremental effect upon the caster. Minor varients include damage due to spell feedback and getting caught in the spells effects. Monsters can be summoned, adverse affects can be applied. Feedback damage should probably be reduced as the casters skill increases. The major varients are the suicide spells - a small number of spells which unconditionally kill the caster - thier life is one of the components. One or two of these might cause permanent death (character deletion) and some fairly noticable game effects. For instance, once coded, 'Divine Presence' will open a portal directly from the caster to Azathoth. Azathoth is a sort of living nuclear explosion at the center of the universe, so opening the portal makes something of a mess. The caster is reduced to a blacked shadow and all in the area take some serious damage. Temporary changes to room descriptions are also in order. I think its main usage would be in a quest where the PCs have to stop a mob from casting it. That and for those who want to go out with a bang... You might want to give some thought to spells that have to be cast in sequence (protection, magic circle, summon demon). Finally you could consider randomly varying the rune strings for each character. You might be able to get somewhere by use a simple encryption algorythm to provide the variation. The resulting rune strings have to be suitably non-linear that it is not possible to simply take two characters and use the runes one of to derive the runes of the other (assuming the cracker has access to your mud code). Your code how ever has to be able to figure out the correct sequence for them to enter to get the spell so it can 'teach' it to them. Hmmmm. You could give them each a different seed for a PRN and step it through enough steps to encode the spell and then apply the encoding in reverse. Consider the true runes 'ABC'. Use the PRN to generate transformation sequences for the letters - say reverse, swap alternate, shift up by sequence, shift down by sequence. ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ The PRN is seeded and called to generate a sequence of 5 actions. Thier parameters are generated immedietly after the instruction. Say: reverse shift up sequence 17, 23, 12 swap alternate shift down sequence 5, 19, 13 reverse This is 11 calls to the PRN. As long as you know the seed and the number of actions to apply you can always generate the correct decoding sequence. Apply the actions backwards to the true runes to get the player runes: ABC - CBA - XIN - IXN - ZUA - AUZ The player has to enter AUZ to get spell effect ABC. The string to get effect ABD will probably be completely different and, without knowing each players PRN seed, it is not possible to back figure from one players runes to anothers. You cannot deduce the PRN seed easily because you are chopping a 16 bit number (the PRN output) down to something a lot smaller when you generate the sequence values. This is a simplified version of something I call the drunken cypher which can be found on my home page. Mik _______________________________________________ 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="00385" HREF="msg00385.html">[MUD-Dev] Re: The Best Guy on the Mud Thing</A></STRONG> <UL><LI><EM>From:</EM> Robin Cloutman <rycochet#free4all,co.uk></LI></UL></LI> <LI><STRONG><A NAME="00397" HREF="msg00397.html">Re: [MUD-Dev] Re: The Best Guy on the Mud Thing</A></STRONG> <UL><LI><EM>From:</EM> Laurel Fan <lf25+@andrew.cmu.edu></LI></UL></LI> </UL></LI></UL> <!--X-References-End--> <!--X-BotPNI--> <UL> <LI>Prev by Date: <STRONG><A HREF="msg00404.html">Re: [MUD-Dev] an essay on PK</A></STRONG> </LI> <LI>Next by Date: <STRONG><A HREF="msg00409.html">Re: [MUD-Dev] Re: The Best Guy on the Mud Thing</A></STRONG> </LI> <LI>Prev by thread: <STRONG><A HREF="msg00397.html">Re: [MUD-Dev] Re: The Best Guy on the Mud Thing</A></STRONG> </LI> <LI>Next by thread: <STRONG><A HREF="msg00382.html">Re: [MUD-Dev] The Best Guy on the Mud Thing</A></STRONG> </LI> <LI>Index(es): <UL> <LI><A HREF="index.html#00402"><STRONG>Date</STRONG></A></LI> <LI><A HREF="thread.html#00402"><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>[MUD-Dev] Re: The Best Guy on the Mud Thing</STRONG>, <EM>(continued)</EM> <ul compact> <ul compact> <ul compact> <LI><strong><A NAME="00385" HREF="msg00385.html">[MUD-Dev] Re: The Best Guy on the Mud Thing</A></strong>, Robin Cloutman <a href="mailto:rycochet#free4all,co.uk">rycochet#free4all,co.uk</a>, Fri 17 Sep 1999, 21:20 GMT <UL> <LI><strong><A NAME="00394" HREF="msg00394.html">Re: [MUD-Dev] Re: The Best Guy on the Mud Thing</A></strong>, Adam Wiggins <a href="mailto:adam#angel,com">adam#angel,com</a>, Sat 18 Sep 1999, 02:00 GMT <UL> <LI><strong><A NAME="00418" HREF="msg00418.html">Re: [MUD-Dev] Re: The Best Guy on the Mud Thing</A></strong>, Wes Connell <a href="mailto:wconnell#adhesive,com">wconnell#adhesive,com</a>, Mon 20 Sep 1999, 19:21 GMT </LI> </UL> </LI> <LI><strong><A NAME="00397" HREF="msg00397.html">Re: [MUD-Dev] Re: The Best Guy on the Mud Thing</A></strong>, Laurel Fan <a href="mailto:lf25+@andrew.cmu.edu">lf25+@andrew.cmu.edu</a>, Sat 18 Sep 1999, 02:01 GMT <UL> <LI><strong><A NAME="00402" HREF="msg00402.html">Re: [MUD-Dev] Re: The Best Guy on the Mud Thing</A></strong>, Mik Clarke <a href="mailto:mikclrk#ibm,net">mikclrk#ibm,net</a>, Mon 20 Sep 1999, 01:21 GMT </LI> </UL> </LI> </UL> </LI> <LI><strong><A NAME="00382" HREF="msg00382.html">Re: [MUD-Dev] The Best Guy on the Mud Thing</A></strong>, J C Lawrence <a href="mailto:claw#varesearch,com">claw#varesearch,com</a>, Fri 17 Sep 1999, 22:17 GMT </LI> </ul> <LI><strong><A NAME="00381" HREF="msg00381.html">Re: [MUD-Dev] The Best Guy on the Mud Thing</A></strong>, J C Lawrence <a href="mailto:claw#varesearch,com">claw#varesearch,com</a>, Fri 17 Sep 1999, 22:12 GMT </LI> <LI><strong><A NAME="00384" HREF="msg00384.html">Re: [MUD-Dev] The Best Guy on the Mud Thing</A></strong>, J C Lawrence <a href="mailto:claw#varesearch,com">claw#varesearch,com</a>, Fri 17 Sep 1999, 22:31 GMT </LI> </ul> <LI><strong><A NAME="00353" HREF="msg00353.html">RE: [MUD-Dev] The Best Guy on the Mud Thing</A></strong>, Koster, Raph <a href="mailto:rkoster#origin,ea.com">rkoster#origin,ea.com</a>, Fri 17 Sep 1999, 14:29 GMT </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>