From: jfurr@polaris.async.vt.edu (Joel K. Furr)
Newsgroups: rec.games.mud.misc,rec.games.mud.tiny
Subject: Re: WHY? (Moorcock, Car Wars etc)
Date: 19 Dec 92 22:34:59 GMT
Organization: Escape from Blacksburg, VA

In article <batemanc.724681108@p4.cs.man.ac.uk> batemanc@p4.cs.man.ac.uk (Mad Chris) writes:
>Up till now, I've been reasonably content with the two MUG's I play,

Note: Use of the British term MUG to mean MUD or MU* is liable to
introduce confusion into the discussion.  Netrek is a MUG.  Net-Diplomacy
is a MUG.  MUG is *not* a term that most readers of rec.games.mud.* are
going to interpret as meaning "multi-user game such as lp, diku, or
TinyMUCK".  Hey, after all, the group is named rec.games.mud.*, not
rec.games.mug.*. 

>UglyMUG and TrekMUSE. But with the recent opening of a BattleTech MUSE,
>I wondered if there are people out there interested in a Car Wars MUSE?
>Now, I admit that I don't actually have a machine to run it on at this
>time, but I'd STILL like to know if there is any interest in this. It'd
>be kind of like GURPS Autoduel, as I see it. Ideas? Opinions?

Having a younger brother who used to shoplift Car Wars stuff from the
Hobby Shop, I'm vaguely familiar with the game.  Yeah, it would make a
decent MUSE.  Save up money to put a brace of grenade launchers on the
hood, go out and fight people to get experience, go back and buy some
armor.  It's at least as intellectual an experience as HotTubsMUCK... er,
I mean, GoldenShowersMUCK... no wait, what is it?  Oh, right, FurryMUCK. 
Yup, yup.  No, anyway, yeah, you could probably get a MUSE going on this
subject.  You might want to 1) wonder how closely you want to stick to
"Car Wars" without getting the manufacturer on your butt, and 2) post more
details about how the game concept would work.  Some people may not know
much about Car Wars or GURPS Autoduel.  (Now, GURPS Bunnies 'n' Burrows is
another matter.)

>Also, I'm really disappointed in the lack of Moorcock material present 
>in MUG's. Does any know of any area anywhere in any MUG with a Moorcock
>theme? This strikes me as particularly odd, really. Just considering the
>fantasy fraction of his work (approx. 35% of his total output) - which
>is perhaps the most well known fraction - this has been read (and 
>presumably enjoyed) by more people than any of tolkin's (sic) and Fritz
>Leiber's works combined (1), and yet both of the latter have their own
>MUGs! And the superb Dancers at the End of Time sequence is so perfectly
>suited to MUD convertion (anyone who's read them will know what I mean)!

I own just about every Eternal Champion book written.  The difference, I
feel, between Moorcock's stuff and, say, Leiber or Tolkien, is that
Moorcock's adventures were set up around ONE person being the whole reason
for the adventure existing.  It was Elric|Corum|Hawkmoon|Erekose|
-Bastable|Carnelian|Cornelius|Arflane|Urlik's destiny to get into hot
water, and anyone else around tended to meet a bad end.  Now, Leiber and
Tolkien created mythi where LOTS of people could have important roles. 
Several adventures going on at once.  Everyone could be as important as
they were capable of reaching for.  Kinda hard to make a MoorcockMUSE and
not deviate from Moorcock _quickly_.  If you stuck to the theme, everyone
on the MUSE would sit around waiting for Elric to wander through and kill
them all (with sadness and much despair, true, but dead with your soul
ripped out is still dead with your soul ripped out).  

Plus, I *really* don't think you want people describing areas and people
with the same sort of convoluted language Moorcock used.  The
three-screens-worth-of-nipples-'n'-fur descriptions that Furries like to
use would soon pale next to a properly described Elric... and be MUCH
easier to read.