HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: wolfe@wvnvms.wvnet.edu
Newsgroups: rec.games.mud.admin
Subject: Site for a Pern Based MOO wanted.
Date: 18 Dec 92 18:11:15 GMT
Organization: West Virginia Network for Educational Telecomputing


   Hello.  I am searching for a site that would be willing to Host a Pern
   based MOO system.  It is presently under construction, and is shaping
   up very nicely.  And MOO doesn't eat up monstrous amounts of CPU time.
   Please E-mail me if you have a site you'd be willing to share with
   us or if you have any questions. :)

 
 _______________________
| Nicholas E LaFlamme  |
|  Programmer, poet    |  Why, they come for tea, and for supper, and
|  Madman, and Vagrant.|    for you, burgler Baggins.
|______________________|               -Gandalf the Grey
 
Florian@wvnvaxa.wvnet.edu   _______________________
Nlaflamm@nyx.cs.du.edu     { I disclaim nothing! ;)}
G'ran@PernMOO and others. :)
Newsgroups: rec.games.mud.admin
Subject: Re: Skills based systems abuse
From: jamie@kauri.vuw.ac.nz (Jamieson Norrish)
Date: Sun, 13 Dec 1992 01:20:00 GMT
Organization: /u/student/jamie/.organization

In article <1992Dec12.211928.28481@ugle.unit.no>
drevreck@colargol.edb.tih.no (Lars Syrstad) writes:

   : Physical fatigue sounds okay; I'm not sure about mental though - and
   : what does picking locks fall under? I would say neither myself.

   So would I... Lock-picking isn't very fatiguing, really. Some mental
   fatigue from boredom would apply, I guess. (Modified by the character's
   concentration, etc.

Eek! You didn't really mean that, did you? Surely, leaving robots and
abuse aside, doing boring things will affect the player as well as the
character? Meaning that chances are you don't have to bother with
boredom, since that will happen anyway.

   (Btw: Have you ever ridden a horse? I have. Once. And my body ached for
   DAYS afterwards. :-))

I knew someone would say that! Yes, riding a horse was a bad example.

   By those two fatigue-variants, I try to simulate the Real World. You
   are mentally or physically fatigued from time to time. Note that I
   imagine boredom as something that would affect mental fatigue. But
   I see no point in assigning fatigue to something that is not really
   fatiguing. 

Well, if I were a player in this sort of system, I think I would
become bored myself by repeating the same skill over and over again
long before your boredom mechanic kicked in and starting making it
harder for me to succeed. Characters (and players) should have plenty
of better things to be doing than practicing their skills all day.

Which reminds me - some skills take time to use, and equipment. Both
of these factors can limit how often the skill can be performed.
Smithing is a good example - you can't just practice it, you have to
use it to create something, which requires time and materials.

Jamie
From: jamie@kauri.vuw.ac.nz (Jamieson Norrish)
Newsgroups: rec.games.mud.admin
Subject: Character names and memory
Date: 14 Dec 92 04:59:35 GMT
Organization: /u/student/jamie/.organization

Would someone please suggest a feasibly way of restricting character
knowledge, particularly in regards to the names of other characters?
As most MU*s stand (although I've heard of exceptions), every
character knows every other character's name on sight (or even worse,
straight from the who list). This is easy, and ludicrous. Better is
having a function for each character which specifies names they know -
when a character meets another, they can swap something which alerts
the the code that that character's name is known. This is kludgy and
artificial.

What is better and still feasible? Have a player give out his dbref
with a name, so that various names could be given to different people,
all of whom will recognize her by their own particular name? Or allow
players to assign any name they like to the dbref - they are likely to
choose the name that they first hear being used, but not necessarily.
I quite like this idea, the more I think about it - every character
would write a short description which would be used for those players
who haven't assigned a name to that character's dbref.

The first problem I see is that it would slow everything down by a
considerable amount, since every character (object, even?) has its own
name for every other character. However, there would be some
uniformity for most characters - if someone is only ever called Jack,
and refers to himself as Jack, most people aren't likely to label him
Peter. :-)

Any comments/criticisms/suggestions?

Jamie
Newsgroups: rec.games.mud.admin
From: jamie@kauri.vuw.ac.nz (Jamieson Norrish)
Subject: Re: Character names and memory
Organization: /u/student/jamie/.organization
Date: Wed, 16 Dec 1992 07:48:52 GMT

In article <BzB5vn.44K@brunel.ac.uk> ee89psw@brunel.ac.uk (Paul S
Wain) writes:

   My first though on this was, hey yeah, great idea, but then I thought, ok
   so I connect to say a MU* and I type:

   WHO

   What response would I get? 0 players? "No-one you know"? A list of
   28 entries all reading 'a player'?

Actually, you'd type WHO, and it would go "Huh?  (Type "help" for
help.)" since the WHO function (for players at least) simply would not
exist. 

   Also what when someone walks into a room? "Someone has arrived"

Every character has a short (one line max) description which is used
when no name has been assigned to them. This would be used in this
case. Each description of this sort would be different, of course.

   In principle it is a good idea, BUT it has far too many associated
   problems. You are unlikely to get "newbies" at any site like that,
   and yes the success of a mu* does I feel depend on newbies and how
   readily they are accepted. There is also too much of an opertunity
   to spoof...

I think that if newbies are latched onto quickly (and with the system
I am thinking of, this would be guaranteed to happen immediately) and
have the situation explained to them, they will not encounter more
than a little culture-shock. Also, true newbies who have not played a
MU* before will encounter no problems, and they won't have to unlearn
anything. Newbies would be taken in hand, not only by the wizards, but
also by the other players.

As for spoof, I don't see how this is any more dangerous when names
are assigned by players than when they aren't.

Jamie
From: ee89psw@brunel.ac.uk (Paul S Wain)
Newsgroups: rec.games.mud.admin
Subject: Re: Character names and memory
Date: 15 Dec 92 16:02:10 GMT
Organization: Brunel University, Uxbridge, UK
X-Newsreader: TIN [version 1.1 PL8]

Jamieson Norrish (jamie@kauri.vuw.ac.nz) wrote:
: Would someone please suggest a feasibly way of restricting character
: knowledge, particularly in regards to the names of other characters?

[bits deleted to shorten inclusion, but key bits left, as if you need them!]

: The first problem I see is that it would slow everything down by a
: considerable amount, since every character (object, even?) has its own
: name for every other character. However, there would be some
: uniformity for most characters - if someone is only ever called Jack,
: and refers to himself as Jack, most people aren't likely to label him
: Peter. :-)

: Any comments/criticisms/suggestions?

My first though on this was, hey yeah, great idea, but then I thought, ok
so I connect to say a MU* and I type:

WHO

What response would I get? 0 players? "No-one you know"? A list of 28 entries
all reading 'a player'? Also what when someone walks into a room? "Someone has
arrived"

In principle it is a good idea, BUT it has far too many associated problems. You
are unlikely to get "newbies" at any site like that, and yes the success of a
mu* does I feel depend on newbies and how readily they are accepted. There is
also too much of an opertunity to spoof...

Ohwell, as they asay on brunel.general (my local site news group of course), 
either 'just adding my 100,000 liras worth' or my '0.1 pf worth'

Paul
-- 
.signature 'narrowed' by popular demand:
****************************************************************************
**  Paul Wain, (studentsoft supervisor), MESD 4, Dept. of Electrical and  **
**Electronic Eng., Brunel University, UXBRIDGE, Middlesex UB8 3PH, ENGLAND**
**        E-MAIL: ee89psw@brunel.ac.uk or studentsoft@brunel.ac.uk        **
****************************************************************************
Newsgroups: rec.games.mud,rec.games.mud.misc,rec.games.mud.tiny,rec.games.mud.lp,rec.games.mud.diku,alt.mud
From: wetmore@titan.ucc.umass.edu (Patrick J. Wetmore)
Subject: CI version 1.0.2 released
Organization: University of Massachusetts, Amherst
Date: Tue, 15 Dec 1992 06:40:46 GMT

ANNOUNCEMENT:

CI version 1.0.2 is now up for ftp on ftp.math.okstate.edu
You can get it from the directory /pub/muds/incoming
it's named ci-1.0.2.tar.Z

CI stands for 'c interpreter'

what is it? well, its like a cross between LPMud and TinyMUCK,
kind of... it uses CI-C (a lot like LP-C, fairly easy to learn)
instead of MUF, and has alarm calls.

This version fixes a few minor bugs in the list command in the editor,
you could occasionally crash the mud in save_db() if your config.h
file was busted, there are all kinds of new command-line options,
and config.h doesn't have to be edited to all hell and back if you
want to run it.

Why run CI? because Grod says it's better than CoolMUD.

I'm going on christmas break soon, so while the server is a fairly
bug-free monster, it will be a while before a nice happy mudlib is
around.  Please send all question bugs etc to wetmore@titan.ucc.umass.edu

pat.
Xref: sparky rec.games.int-fiction:1077 rec.arts.int-fiction:1119
From: ptd2@po.CWRU.Edu (Palmer T. Davis)
Newsgroups: rec.games.int-fiction,rec.arts.int-fiction
Subject: Re: Totally helpless
Date: 20 Dec 1992 08:14:07 GMT
Organization: Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH (USA)
Reply-To: ptd2@po.CWRU.Edu (Palmer T. Davis)
NNTP-Posting-Host: thor.ins.cwru.edu


In a previous article, ci983@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Jim Munroe) says:
>
>2) Where could I get a program (and manual) that would allow me 
>to create my own int-fic on my Amiga?
>
>5) Has anyone out there ever dreamed about being an int-fic 
>author?  Is it even remotly feasable?

It sounds like the group you want is rec.arts.int-fiction.  r.a.i-f
is about issues involved in writing IF games, as opposed to playing
them (which is what r.g.i-f is for).  The FAQ list, which is still 
lying around in the news spool here, should answer most questions
that you might have.

Two popular choices for IF development systems are TADS and ADVSYS.
TADS is shareware, and has attracted a great deal of attention; I don't
remember whether the most recent version has an Amiga port or not.
ADVSYS is free, and is distributed in portable C source.  Both systems 
can be obtained via anonymous FTP from ftp.gmd.de in the 
/if-archive/programming directory.  (Since you're a community Freenet
user, you presumably don't have FTP access; let me know if you want
either, and I'll ups a copy to you.)

-- PTD --

(And if you're interested in working with ADVSYS, the system is long
overdue for an overhaul, which I plan to give it at some point in the
next couple weeks, after I finish the sample adventure and standard
library that I'm working on now.  I'll need to find someone with an
Amiga on which to build the Amiga version once the new version is
ready for release....)


-- 
Palmer T. Davis      ___
<ptd2@po.cwru.edu>   \X/   cthread.  cthread_fork().  Fork, thread, fork!
Newsgroups: rec.games.int-fiction,comp.sys.ibm.pc.games
From: blasius@gmd.de (Volker Blasius)
Subject: Re: T-Zero hint.dat file
Organization: GMD, Sankt Augustin, Germany
Date: Mon, 14 Dec 1992 19:21:07 GMT

The copy on ftp.gmd.de has been updated (and repackaged from tzero.zoo to 
tzero.zip). Thanks, Nathan!

(I thought it was left out on purpose, because when you typed "hint" in the 
game, it answered something like "register and you will receive the hints".)

Volker

---
Volker Blasius
Senior Doorstop, Gesellschaft fuer Mathematik und Datenverarbeitung
---
Origin: a maze of twisty little passages, all different (2:243/50.37)
Newsgroups: rec.games.int-fiction
From: andy@extro.ucc.su.OZ.AU (Andrew Miehs)
Subject: Re: A Mind Forever Voyaging - Thanx
Organization: Sydney University Computing Service, Sydney, NSW, Australia
Date: Mon, 14 Dec 1992 01:22:18 GMT

Thankyou to those people who responded to my request for info about the AMFV
decoder. To set your consciences at rest, I _do_ have a legitimate (legal)
copy of the game, but it _doesn't_ have the manual or other info.

Which makes me wonder: Is there any other important info in the manual which
I might need to know to play the game?


-- 
+-------------------------------+---------------------------------------------+
| Andrew Miehs                  |                                             |
| Mail: andy@extro.ucc.su.oz.au |       $$$ THIS SPACE FOR RENT $$$           |
| NB:   Don't call me andy!     |                                             |
From: HC61@lafibm.lafayette.edu (HC61000)
Newsgroups: rec.games.int-fiction
Subject: S201 help
Date: 17 Dec 92 03:27:25 GMT
Organization: Lafayette College
Originator: news@lafcol

Would someone be so kind as to post a walkthrough of s201?
I have been stuck in the same general area for 3 months.
Newsgroups: rec.games.int-fiction
From: eur@dutncp2.tn.tudelft.nl (Eur van Andel)
Subject: Re: Police Quest (1?)
Organisation: TU Delft, The Netherlands
Organization: Delft University of Technology
Date: Fri, 11 Dec 1992 15:05:35 GMT

In <9DEC199219544383@pavo.concordia.ca> m_rheau@pavo.concordia.ca writes:


>Okay, not the most appropriate game to post a question for,
>but none the less, it's got me stumped (and that very rarely 
>happens).

>I guess it's PQ 1, I haven't played it in months? years? since
>I tried everything at the following point:

>The bikers in the seedy-run-down bar.  The cafe next door called
>to complain that the motorcycles are bad for business ... something
>about taking up too much parking space or something.

>Anyhoo, going into the biker bar, if you advance beyond a certain 
>point, the bikers gang up on you and beat you to death. It's really
>frustrating. Can somebody who remembers please email me the answer?
>What the hell can you do?


Take your nightstick with you. :-)


-- 
eur  eur@dutncp8.tn.tudelft.nl
--
eur  eur@dutncp8.tn.tudelft.nl
Newsgroups: rec.games.int-fiction
From: fxmlk@acad3.alaska.edu (KIENENBERGER MIKE L)
Subject: ITF 4.01 patched source available (ftp site wanted)
News-Software: VAX/VMS VNEWS 1.41.UAC
Organization: University of Alaska - Fairbanks
Date: Sat, 19 Dec 1992 23:06:00 GMT

Well, after two months (or has it been longer?), I've finally got around to
installing the itf interpreter patches for the Infocom interpreter.
It seems to run fine on my NeXT (compiled with bsd_curses).

Surprising, it doesn't seem like anyone else has made available a patched
version of the source code anywhere. So I've got the patched source.  If
anyone wants to point me to ftp sites interested in the patched source (I'm
calling it itf4.01-pl2-src since it has both of the patches made available
by the ITF team installed in it), I'll be happy to upload it to those sites.

Please don't ask me for the source since I don't have time (I can't be on
much during the break and I'm at 1200 baud with no terminal emulation) or
ability to distribute it.  When the source is available at fine ftp sites
everywhere, I'm positive either someone else or myself will announce where
you can aquire it.

=============================================================================
-Mike Kienenberger                       FXMLK@ALASKA           (BITNet)
 Academic Computing                      FXMLK@acad3.alaska.edu (Internet)
 University of Alaska-Fairbanks
 "I'm a computer programmer....<link><link><kludge><kludge> say-no-more!"
From: michaelm@cse.fau.edu (Michael Marcus)
Newsgroups: rec.games.int-fiction
Subject: Spellcasting 301--HELP!!!
Date: 18 Dec 92 09:38:09 GMT
Organization: Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton, FL, USA

The latest in the saga of Ernie Eaglebeak is now out from Legend, and I'm 
finding it a little harder than the first one because of its comparative
non-linearity.  Although I've found lots of the first steps to puzzles, I'm
a bit at a loss as how to solve many of them.

Primarily, though, I'm hoping someone out there has answers to the following
questions:

1)  How do I get some women to show up at the frat party?
2)  What are the card-rules for Blockjock?
3)  How do I get the light bulb repaired?

and

4)  Where the hell can I find a light source?

Thanks in advance for your help...  Perhaps I can provide some help in return,
either on this game or some other.


Mike Marcus
From: djohnson@cs.ucsd.edu (Darin Johnson)
Newsgroups: rec.games.int-fiction
Subject: Deadline guidance wanted
Date: 11 Dec 92 21:00:03 GMT


I need some guidance (not hints) for Deadline.  I don't seem to
be making any headway.  The things I want to logically ask about
don't register (ask Baxter about yesterday's appointment and that
sort of thing).

So what are the sorts of things I should be doing?  I asked everyone
about everyone else and found out a couple of things.  Is the mystery
a "soft" or "hard" mystery - that is, do you conclusively determine
who did it, or instead like most mysteries get circumstancial evidence
and hope the culprit caves in and confesses on the stand?  Do I have
to prove there was a murder, or only that it could have been murder.
(is it possible to ever listen in on the phone conversation?)

(and what day is it, and what day did the murder take place?  Was it
a Wednesday the 8th?  The manual is extremely vague about this)

-- 
Darin Johnson
djohnson@ucsd.edu
    This is the first time I've ever eaten a patient -- Northern Exposure
Newsgroups: rec.games.int-fiction
From: andy@extro.ucc.su.OZ.AU (Andrew Miehs)
Subject: A Mind Forever Voyaging - Help Needed
Organization: Sydney University Computing Service, Sydney, NSW, Australia
Date: Sun, 13 Dec 1992 06:10:06 GMT

A few years ago I heard about the Infocom game AMFV, and I was fascinated.
Now, at last I have got my hands on it - only to find that I am missing an
all important decoder, so I can't do anything in the game. Alas, to get so
near, and yet be so far away!

Can anyone help me? Could someone email me the details of the decoder, or
point me to an appropriate ftp site if there is one?

Thanx in advance.
Andrew
-- 
+-------------------------------+---------------------------------------------+
| Andrew Miehs                  |                                             |
| Mail: andy@extro.ucc.su.oz.au |       $$$ THIS SPACE FOR RENT $$$           |
| NB:   Don't call me andy!     |                                             |
Newsgroups: rec.games.int-fiction
From: brady@ucsu.Colorado.EDU (Sucks To Be Me)
Subject: Problems with InfocomTaskForce reader on Ultrix
Organization: University of Colorado, Boulder
Date: Sat, 12 Dec 1992 17:56:50 GMT

I have fixed the problem with the calls being in the wrong order already and
the interpreter seems to be reading the file just fine, but I get the [MORE]
after every line, instead of every page, and the lines only go halfway down
the screen. I've asked the HELP line here and they seem to think it might be 
something wired into the program that gives a certain page length. Any ideas??

	Thanx,
		Sucks

-- 
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
			    |If you ever fall off the Sears Tower, just go real
Sucks to be Me  	    | limp, because maybe you'll look like a dummy and
                            | people will try to catch you because, hey,
Newsgroups: rec.games.int-fiction
From: dovecote@yoyo.cc.monash.edu.au (Simon Sherrin)
Subject: kyrandia - help needed
Organization: Monash University, Melb., Australia.
Date: Sun, 13 Dec 1992 23:53:19 GMT

Is there any one who can help me with the following problems in Legend of
Kyrandia. I have three pieces of the amulet, and I am trying to find the
correct ingredients for Zanthia's potion. Also, how do you get the chalice
from the little pan creature ? General hints would be welcome. If people
need help with earlier section, post to me and I will help if I can.
-- 
=============================================================================
From Simon Sherrin              = I'm an Engineer, not a Dictionary !
dovecote@yoyo.cc.monash.edu.au  = 
=============================================================================
Xref: sparky rec.games.int-fiction:1071 comp.sys.ibm.pc.games:26844
From: magnus@thep.lu.se (Magnus Olsson)
Newsgroups: rec.games.int-fiction,comp.sys.ibm.pc.games
Subject: Re: T-Zero hint.dat file
Date: 15 Dec 92 11:31:57 GMT
Organization: Theoretical Physics, Lund University, Sweden

In article <blasius.113.724360867@gmd.de> blasius@gmd.de (Volker Blasius) writes:
>The copy on ftp.gmd.de has been updated (and repackaged from tzero.zoo to 
>tzero.zip). Thanks, Nathan!

I've added the hint file to pub/Misc/tzero.zoo at leif.thep.lu.se
[130.235.92.55] as well.  

              Magnus Olsson                | \e+      /_
    Department of Theoretical Physics      |  \  Z   / q
        University of Lund, Sweden         |   >----<           
 magnus@thep.lu.se, thepmo@seldc52.bitnet  |  /      \===== g
PGP key available via finger or on request | /e-      \q
Newsgroups: rec.games.int-fiction
From: wsherman@ncsa.uiuc.edu (William Sherman -Visualization)
Subject: Re: InfoTaskForce Infocom parser dumps on a SunSparc
Organization: National Center for Supercomputing Applications
Distribution: na
Date: Fri, 11 Dec 1992 23:32:19 GMT

Yes, it gave a Segmentation Fault on an SGI too.  I spent a few hours
debugging it, and I think I found the problem.  It now seems to work for
me, but I haven't thouroughly tested it.  After doing all this, I found
a note that I had saved that gave the solution, so while this confirmed
my change, it also meant I wasted several hours.

Anyway, in infocom.c (lines 90,91 & 101,102,103) the order of the calls
to various initialization routines is wrong.  The routine that does the
malloc "init()" needs to be before "init_script()", and the note that
was posted last month says that "INIT_IO()" needs to be before "init()",
though I left it after "init_script()", and it is working fine so far.

The odd thing was that two games that used the level 4 infocom interpreter
seemed to work before the bug was fixed, though I suspect they would have
crashed had I played them longer.  Those games are "Beyond Zork" and
"Hitchhickers Guide to the Galaxy."

	Bill

/************************************************************************/
/* Bill Sherman								*/
/* National Center for Supercomputing Applications			*/
/* University of Illinois						*/
/* Champaign-Urbana							*/
/*									*/
/* Internet: wsherman@ncsa.uiuc.edu					*/
/*									*/
/*   "You want to do mankind a real service?  Tell funnier jokes."	*/
/* 		Og							*/
/************************************************************************/
From: mkim@dcdsv0 (Michael Kim)
Newsgroups: rec.games.int-fiction
Subject: Re: Problems with InfocomTaskForce reader on Ultrix
Date: 13 Dec 1992 05:48:03 GMT
Organization: Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, Batavia IL
NNTP-Posting-Host: dcdsv0.fnal.gov
X-Newsreader: Tin 1.1 PL4

I had the same problem, EXCEPT when I compiled for curses.  So I use that one.

Mike

+-------------------------------------------mkim@imsa.edu::IMSAMUG----------+
|Michael Kim, 1505 W. Sullivan Rd, Aurora, IL, 60506-1039  Ph:(708) 801-6529|
+---------------------------------------------------------------------------+
     "This footnote has the sole purpose to confuse the reader." --E. Teller