Posted by Cathoir on July 7, 2000 at 15:18:33:
The most travelled and (next to cabals) most common battlefield in Thera are its cities. Cf has long been becoming a far more heavy roleplay mud than it used to be. Some changes i've liked, some I haven't... but the same is prolly true for everyone. With all of this in mind, I think the next step should be drastically altering the cities in a more meaningful way than just changing their appearance. It was mentioned in the thread below that each city should have its different laws and not every guard should assist against chaotics etc... I mostly agree with this. The each city having its own laws may be suspect, but I think each citie's guards should assist against a char according to how the city is being run. Tar Valon, for example should have cityguards assisting against evils, and so on. I was very happy when I learned about the fact that everything attacks paladins in Udgaard. New areas and such are always being done, but most are rarely travelled, even the better ones such as Whistlewood swamp. I think that this energy should be turned in upon changing the cities. Like in many fantasy novels, I think that many of the cities (not all of course) should have some sort of theme going through them. Such themes as lawlessness, hatred of good/evil, a strong will to remain neutral, worshipping a particular god, etc... I don't really know anything about coding so I can't make any concrete suggestions. One of the happiest times on the mud, that I remember, was being in the old shrine of Shokai. It was fairly roomy, no evils could enter, it had an altar where you could leave and enter the realms, and it was fairly annoying to get to. There would usually be a few paladins or other good characters around, some spare stuff lying at the altar. Outside was a popular place to summon/rank, a few evils would ocassionally gate in or try to summon kill one of us and people would spill out of the temple in a battle. This sort of spirit was great, and I miss it. I think the towns should sort of be arranged like this. To get the more true roleplaying on the mud I feel that people have to be spread out more. It would be nice to have a hometown where there was usually at least around 4 or 5 people in it, especially if they choose it for the advantages it offered them (ie. guards assisting against those they usually fight, maybe a few things scattered about that are agressive to certain types of characters.) Like the temple of Shokai, you'd be able to meet others of your same alignment, or others who just share the same goals as you. Galadon would no longer be the only hub of activity (which is a fairly poorly done city as far as i'm concerned). Hell, maybe go so far as to have people who choose the hometown be advantaged over those who don't (cityguards favoring them and such). It would also be nice to have places to deposit spare equipment where you know it probably wont be snatched up by those who might eventually be your enemies (inner chamber in galadon is a good example of this). The new revision of New Thalos I think is both great and very poor. The city design is vaguely confusing and not very ordered. Yes, this is a small thing to pick at, but the name of things are long and very arabic which make them quite hard to remember, especially when trying to get your bearings (mostly a personal problem I s'pose). I don't like how all the guilds are shoved into one place (Seantryn will always be my favorite city, both for guild and street design.) I've always kind of better liked the idea of distinct neighborhoods with their own fitting guilds in them. I love, however, how the city is designed around worship and those universal tells within the city say it's time for prayer. The new additions that are coming also sound very intriguing and will add flavor to the city that will make it unique (one of the main aspects i'm looking for in a city.) The gates can be a little annoying, but it's fine by me as long as one can go around the city. Errr, I don't feel like proofreading this so I apologize for any grammar, spelling, etc... that would make it difficult to read. Any Imm response is especially welcomed, I also would especially enjoy any response from people who are knowledgable in coding and can tell me how much of this is actually possible.
-Cathoir