Trials and Tribulations of being a Lord on Discworld III - The Sequel
A Lord on Discworld 3 is equivilent to being an Arch wizard on a more
conventional LPMud. A lord is expected to holda domain together. A Lord is
required to make sure that the creators who work on the domain do the right
things and don't go off on their own tangent. Also, it is up to the Lord to
ensure that all areas that are opened to the player, conform to the general
quality/rules of the domain and mud. Whether the lord takes this upon themself,
or whether they decide that some of the creators in the domain are experienced
enough to spot things that are wrong, and ask for them to be fixed.
Commonly Asked Questions.
How do I make a new creator:
promote . This will make them a creator, give them a directory in
/w and then you have to edit your /d/domain/master.c. It is up to you to then
make sure that the creator is up to scratch on the sort of things that your
domain and the mud in general expects of them. There are prerequisites for
becoming a creator that are unclear at this point. Do not be afraid of taking
someone who has no knowledge of LPC, or has not been a wizard before. Just make
sure that they are interested, show promise, and have played the mud a lot so
that they will know what the mud is like. They will also have a good idea of
what sort of things are considered acceptable on this mud. We want to make a
mud that is fun to play. A sort of communal project, not a chance for the
wizards to joyride because they can.
What directory structure should I use for my domain:
The directory structure is basically a heirarchial one. What is recommended
is you have a series of gradual refinement of your area into directories. Try
to allocate a directory to a creator or 2 to let them work on a small area.
You may want to change your error logging function smart_log() on your master
object to do some intelligent logging and put stuff into the directory that
the error is in as well.
How flexible can my domain be:
Your domain will have a scope that will be defined (most likely) by the
geography of Discworld. ie, the Ankh Morpork domain will most likely be a
highly developed domain in terms of resolution, whereas the Ramtops will be
the same number of rooms, but the area consumed will be far greater. If you
have a domain, you are free to expand it within the realms of its geographical
location. You are encouraged to find other domains around you and create as
many connections to them as possible. This increases the feel of a world over
the single entry castle scheme of most lpmuds.
What about non-discworld parts of my castle:
You are to make all of your domain in theme with discworld to the best of your
ability. You are not to have portals to other worlds, unless they fit in with
the theme of discworld. ie the Dungeon Dimensions. But if you do, be
reasonable about it. It must be obscure and hard to find/use, or protected by
someone as it is a powerful magic tool. People must be able to come back
through it from the other side. If it is to a future world, all the future
weapons must do appropriate amounts of damage and must obey all conceivable
sensabilities. ie guns must require bullets, and the person who has the gun
must use it against you (until he runs out of bullets) when you are fighting
him.
While there is a lot of information in the books, it is hard to beleive that a
large mud could survive on that amount of information. Feel free to allow
creators to create small areas that fit in with discworld. Try to get them to
draw a small map of a village or something and then make the village with some
strange and discworldish quirk, (like the grapes that give you the hangover
before you drink them)
Please however try your very hardest to keep things in spirit of discworld.
You can have things like cameras, just do them the same way as Twoflowers
camera was done in "The colour of Magic".
How can I discipline creators:
Take away their creator priviledges.
Can I appoint Higher level people in my domain:
You are free to manage the power structure in your domain. However, we do want
the concept of being able to read/write almost anything in your domain at
any level. This will lead to better code faster, as new creators have decent
code to look at, and lots of it. We also don't want the usual power struggles,
so if possible, just take long-standing and good creators and let them help you
with the approval of objects/areas before they are opened to players. Just put
them at the level of being able to say yes/no, but if there is any doubt about
the no's, then you are to have it refered to you.
What powers do I have in other Domains:
You are a Lord, and consequently, one of the highest level people on the mud.
Short of being a god, you are in control. Because of this, it is you and your
peers who will have to do most of the maintainence of the mud. It is up to you
to make sure that areas are equal. In order for this to happen, you should
voice any concerns about other domains to the lord of that domain, and listen
to any complaints from other lords. Do not be afraid of causing a fuss, but
do not go out of your way to make one if people complain about things in your
domain.
Similarly, before you go and introduce any wildly new concept into the mud,
you should discuss it with the other lords and gods to make sure that it isn't
going to cause a big fight when you open it.
