Oh, God, where to start?

Undead Puppets
One of my first assignment coming on staff was to make objects and NPCs for Halaster's necomancer guild. They golems were as follows:


The Scorpkings
Usiku asked me to create a dungeon where Kastor and possibly the other Valika heirs could find a vault of lost artifacts. At the same time, I was taking over the Byn and realyzing they were OP AF so needed to create some new threats for them.  I built a dungeon under the old Tor for that was a hang out for a Band of raiders about 50% more powerful than our other simraiders and all were beast tamers.  There was even a big fight where one of their bosses were kitted out in full Tor gear and weapons to drop the hint.

Tor Fort Dungeon Run

Scorpkings

A Social Revolution in a Very Unlikely Place
100% player driven plot in and around the Byn that was moving waaaay faster than we could react to in an appropriate way.  Ended up writing about half a dozen NPCs (including a mage that got hired in as a runner and passed fairly well as a PC that would have been captured and/or killed at a later time by my umanifested Nilazi trooper leading to a likely war within the byn (ala Gangs of New York).

I could not tell my players this, but their efforts would have likely led to a senate vote on whether or not to recognize gemmers as commoner citizens who could hold rank/power/accents.  We even worked out where all of our noble animated Noble NPCs and the houses at large stood and would stand on the issue.  The players really seemed to feel like I was working against them, but that wasn't true, I just couldn't share "the good stuff" because that was all future spoilers and IC secrets of other N/PCs.

Moby Dick Arrives on Gilligan's Island
I hyjacked what would have been a normal byn contract (if there is such a thing) with the intent of shipwrecking the Byn on a deserted island for several RL days. I had even made them a shelter, water source and added some... interesting things to the forage tables in a few rooms on the island. But my plans were thwarted by their EFFICIENCY as they were able to get someone else to rescue them a few hours later.

Here was moby since you all never got to see him up close:
Each of his tentacles were as strong as a normal horror since the Byn were so OP.

Quote[48204] an ancient, ashen-white silt horror - Moby horror ancient ashen-white silt [unique] [s1] [apex_horror] [archery]
[48207] a gargantuan, ashen-white tentacle - Mobys tentacle gargantuan ashen-white silt [moby's_tentacles] [s1] [apex_horror] [archery]

l horror
   This gargantuan silt horror dwarfs its common kin, a living relic of
untold centuries.  Its bulbous outer shell has paled to a ghostly, ashen-
white hue, like bone bleached by countless eons beneath the sun.  Its
barbed, immensely-strong tentacles, each as big around as a half-giant and
several times as long, move as if with a mind of their own.  Rows of jagged
teeth line its gaping maw, dulled but no less dangerous, and a sluggish,
serpentine appendage flickers from within its mouth, tasting the air like
some ancient predator, all its own, surveying a world it once ruled.  Every
movement is slow and deliberate, as if time itself bends to the creature's
will, and its mere presence suffocating the air, causing the very silt
trembles beneath its terrible majesty. 
An ancient, ashen-white silt horror is in excellent condition.

It is carrying:
nothing obvious

For folks who want to know how stuff works:

Metalworking design doc and staff training slides. Not everything came out exactly as planned, but pretty close so far.

tbh it was too much detail to put into something that only (some) heavy crafters would use, but it was also a learning project.

Necromancy

The code was probably 90% done, but we were going to introduce Necromancy as a new 'branch' of magick.  It was essentially a sub-set of sorcery as they were defilers who would only be able to gather land.  All those undead related spells that were removed from Nilaz would be under their tree.

Here's the wiki article.  What you see below was already coded and in the game.  The remaining work was going over the old spells like Animate Dead and making sure they were working how we wanted.


Introduction and Lore

Zalanthas has no afterlife and living beings have no such thing as a soul. Rather, practically all sentient beings have a presence on the Way and can make use of it for psionic abilities. Very rare individuals have a latent psionic ability that causes their mind to linger on the Way for some time after their death. This is what is attributed to spirits or ghosts. This ability is more common among dwarves, and in rare cases when a dwarf dies without having fulfilled their focus, the intense emotional regret causes their mind to manifest after death in what is known as a Banshee.

Over time this lingering mind of a deceased being will fade, as their presence on the Way diminishes, often rather rapidly. Their memories quickly fade and they become unresponsive and disoriented, causing many societies of Zalanthas to refer to them as lost souls.

Necromancy is using magick to manipulate and control the complex organic systems of lifeless flesh, causing a dead body to become animated with a corrupted, grotesque mockery of what was once alive. Masters of this art can manipulate bodies in various ways, even able to transfer their mind into the body of a dead being.


Corruption

As a necromancer uses their powers, their lifeforce will slowly become corrupted by the unnatural abilities they wield. This will be represented by a skill called Corruption. The necromancer will start with the skill at 1, and it will max at 100. Over time this will slowly fade back down, requiring the necromancer to continue efforts to keep their Corruption high (if they chose to). Each time they gain a corruption point, it has a gain timer like any other skill.

How to gain Corruption

    Casting of Necromancer-specific spells - most spells give 1 point per casting
    Using the Gather Corpse ability - each use gives 1 point

How to lose Corruption

    Naturally decays over time. The rate is set using the global variable GLOBAL_CORRUPTION_DECAY. Default is 14400 which means about once every 8 hours of time played

Corruption Affects and Abilities

Slowed Metabolism - Requires a minimum Corruption of 20. Slows down the loss of hunger/thirst.
- When Corruption reaches 50, the Necromancer no longer needs food or water. Appends their main description (and assess) with "appears a bit haggard and pale".
- When it reaches 75 they are immune to poison and the following spells: paralyze, sleep, insomnia, parch, firebreather, intoxicate, blindness, deafness. Appends their main description (and assess) with "'s body appears gaunt with dry, ashen skin".
- When Corruption reaches 95 the Necromancer no longer ages. Appends their main description (and assess) with "appears deathly gaunt with cracked, peeling skin".

Gather Corpse - An ability of the necromancer to type "gather corpse" and get some healing from a dead body. The amount healed is equal to the corpse's size, capped at the necromancer's gather skill. So if the size of the dead body is 250 but the necromancer's gather skill is 100 (maxed), then the most they'll heal is 100. This ability has a 30 minute cooldown before it can be used again, and it changes the body to "a withered husk" instead of "a body". Once a body has been drained like this, it can not be animated using Animate Dead, nor can it be gathered from again.  Essentially this means a body can either be used to heal OR used animated, but never both.

Sense Death - Allows the necromancer to sense recent deaths in a room, or be alerts when a death happens nearby.
- Active: When the necromancer types "sniff death" they will be shown a list of racial types that have died recently in that room. The room holds up to 10 deaths, and the necromancer can sense 1 per 10 points of Corruption.
- Passive: When something dies near a necromancer, they will automatically sense that it happened, and in what direction. They can sense it up to 1 room away per 20 corruption.



Future Plans

We were working on them having the ability to have Necromancer-specific crafting recipes.  For example, only they would be able to skill certain things, and then use those skinned body parts as components unique to them.



Skill Tree

  animate dead   (st=30, max=90, min_mana=7, go on=80, st_pow=wek, mx_pow=mon)
  . pseudo death   (st=30, max=90, min_mana=20, go on=80, st_pow=wek, mx_pow=mon)
  . . dead speak   (st=30, max=90, min_mana=33, go on=80, st_pow=wek, mx_pow=mon)
  . . . possess corpse   (st=30, max=90, min_mana=50, go on=80, st_pow=wek, mx_pow=mon)
  . . . disembody   (st=30, max=90, min_mana=33, go on=80, st_pow=wek, mx_pow=mon)
  contact   (st=80, max=80, go on=70)
  barrier   (st=80, max=80, go on=70)
  . expel   (st=5, max=80, go on=70)
  health drain   (st=30, max=90, min_mana=16, go on=80, st_pow=wek, mx_pow=mon)
  . rot items   (st=30, max=90, min_mana=12, go on=80, st_pow=wek, mx_pow=mon)
  . . healing mud   (st=30, max=90, min_mana=20, go on=80, st_pow=wek, mx_pow=mon)
  . . still form   (st=30, max=90, min_mana=20, go on=80, st_pow=wek, mx_pow=mon)
  . . . wither   (st=30, max=90, min_mana=20, go on=80, st_pow=wek, mx_pow=mon)
  dual wield   (st=5, max=25, go on=15)
  shield use   (st=5, max=25, go on=15)
  skinning   (st=30, max=95, go on=65)
  . bandage   (st=20, max=80, go on=60)
  . . bandagemaking   (st=20, max=80, go on=70)
  . leather working   (st=30, max=80, go on=70)
  forage   (st=10, max=70, go on=40)
  component crafting   (st=40, max=90, go on=80)
  cooking   (st=5, max=70, go on=60)
  analyze   (st=10, max=90, go on=80)
  two handed   (st=5, max=25, go on=15)
  imbue totem   (st=30, max=90, min_mana=33, go on=80, st_pow=wek, mx_pow=mon)
  . detect magick   (st=30, max=90, min_mana=7, go on=80, st_pow=wek, mx_pow=mon)
  . . dispel magick   (st=30, max=90, min_mana=7, go on=80, st_pow=wek, mx_pow=mon)
  . golem   (st=30, max=90, min_mana=50, go on=80, st_pow=wek, mx_pow=mon)
  . . mount   (st=30, max=90, min_mana=20, go on=80, st_pow=wek, mx_pow=mon)
  . identify   (st=30, max=90, min_mana=7, go on=80, st_pow=wek, mx_pow=mon)
  corruption   (st=1, max=100, go on=90)
  corpse snare   (st=30, max=90, min_mana=10, go on=80, st_pow=wek, mx_pow=mon)
  . cure disease   (st=30, max=90, go on=80)
  . cause disease   (st=30, max=90, min_mana=20, go on=80, st_pow=wek, mx_pow=mon)
  . banshee beacon   (st=30, max=90, min_mana=20, go on=80, st_pow=wek, mx_pow=mon)
  . . vampiric blade   (st=30, max=90, min_mana=25, go on=80, st_pow=wek, mx_pow=mon)

Season plot working file: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1eAmOHXOnCzFO0Ey-LEWqgfi1oYPlKJm7FP8LjZ7Jpxc/edit?usp=sharing

Last minute Valika/Art Heist planning: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1A31cw2JKaxHEs6XXTZljfVJsc799dyUXsAKWJY_b5zo/edit?usp=sharing

Archives doc: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1acqLfF6GH9nrMb8sqMh3iLtHMccoAKNuthFzYBncK7c/edit?usp=sharing

Staff can feel free to post spoilers about what they were working on or planning here.

I'll go first with Elemental Transformation.

Elemental Transformation was the ability of Full Guild Elementalsts (only) to slowly transform into an elemental being.  We setup code so that as they maxed their spelltree (all spells at mon, % didn't matter), they began the process.  It would be a long process where they gained additional reaches, powers and eventually turn into an elemental being.

What they turned into would be unique per person, but would be something related to their element.  So a fire mage might turn into some creature with flames emanating from their body, causing heat in an area.  This would be their equivalent of turning into a Red Robe.  The final transformation that really gained all the powers would mean they'd have to eventually store, but they'd be able to play for a while.

The beginning phases involved someone getting personal echos about enhanced bonds with their element.  We had about 4 or 5 players already in this stage.

Then they would start getting additional reaches for specific spells over time.  Eventually they would start gaining other powers, their stats would start going up, their mana regen would increase.  We had a hidden "skill" on each full guild elementalist that somewhat tracked the progress of this.  Each time they cast a spell, there was a small chance that skill would go up, and that's how we tracked it.

There has been no satisfactory conclusion to the issue of a staff leak that led to us turning off the game.  Therefore, it is with a sad heart that we have decided to shutdown ArmageddonMUD permanently.

Eurynomos will be posting more information about an "in memoriam" project for the game for players to submit to.  Also, you can view all of your character biographies here:  https://armageddon.org/bios/list.php .  While we will keep the website up for a while, you should save these off locally somehow, such as Print to PDF or the like.

On behalf of the ArmageddonMUD team, past and present, thank you to the players of our game that shared their time and passion with ArmageddonMUD.  As we close the final chapter of this beloved world of bone swords we built together over 32 years, when we think back we're filled with wonderful memories.  Together, this community has shared epic battles, forged lifelong friendships, and lived countless stories.  May these memories live in the hearts of all who walked the sands of Zalanthas.

Shade and Water

- Eurynomos, Usiku, Halaster - Producers of ArmageddonMUD

Quick update:  there is no update, really.  We've so far not received any information nor has anyone come forward.

On the chance that the person might be worried about the community eviscerating them over it, we'll say this:  if you do come forward so that we can have some closure to this and feel satisfied these leaks will stop, your identity will not be shared to anyone outside the Producer Team, and all that will happen is you'll be asked to leave staff.

The deadline is 9am Server Time Tuesday October 29, 2024.  The game will remain closed until then.  If at that time there is no resolution to this, the game will be permanently shuttered.

ArmageddonMUD is closing

It is with profound sadness and a heavy heart that we are announcing the temporary but indefinite shutdown of ArmageddonMUD in 24 hours, effective Tuesday October 22, 2024. This decision comes after careful consideration and countless conversations wrestling with the reality of our situation.

It has become abundantly clear that we have a number of bad actors in our community and even on our staff who are freely sharing privileged information including request tool correspondence, account information/notes, and 'who plays who' in order to effectively belittle and bully others on alternative forums and in private discord channels.

These leaks are a constant source of morale damage to staff and players alike, and their actions and posts have also taken hundreds of man-hours from the senior leadership team to investigate.  This has consumed an enormous amount of time and energy that should have been spent adding to the game, driving plots and making Seasons a success.

It is impossible for us to continue our efforts with an incredible staffing team while knowing that someone on our team is breaching internal agreements and betraying our trust. This person is sharing privileged information and providing ammunition to those who attack us. This in itself leaves us reeling, unable to commit to the creative process and unable to enjoy what should be an incredible and fun journey for those working on it. Additionally, a leak from within the staffing team represents a very real privacy concern that we cannot ignore. We cannot continue to put players' privacy at risk by allowing their communications and information to be shared in this way. And we cannot operate the game without having those communications and that information, so it is vital that we have an entirely trustworthy team.

It is disheartening to see each leak, each breach of trust, each celebration of our community's pain as it strikes at the heart of what made ArmageddonMUD special: our shared commitment to creating something meaningful together.

We addressed our team internally recently, making it absolutely clear that if the leaks continued we would be forced to close, and heartbreakingly, the leaks have continued. This is not a decision we have made lightly. But we cannot maintain the integrity of our world and the community we have built, and cannot honestly call ourselves stewards of this game or its legacy, while these breaches of trust continue.

If the leak (or leaks) come forward and identify themselves to the Producers, then we will be able to have a conversation about reopening the game. Is it likely the player base will be damaged by this temporary shutdown regardless? Absolutely. Is there a chance we cannot recover from this even if we are able to reopen the game? Absolutely. So we really hope that the people responsible are ready to be honest with themselves about their part in this and ready to shoulder the weight of ruining something so important to so many people.


To Our Staff

To our dedicated staff members who have poured their hearts into this world: we share your pain, frustration and confusion. Your countless hours of creativity, your late-night coding sessions, your carefully crafted plots and events have all helped shape thousands of lives, including our own. The actions of a few should not diminish the incredible impact you have had on so many.

To those involved in the leaks: your actions have not just compromised data, they have attacked a community that has been a sanctuary and third place for countless people. A place where many of us found ourselves, found our confidence and found lifelong friends. We remain open to dialogue, but the damage you have caused extends far beyond game mechanics or leaked information.


A Final Word

To everyone who has been part of the ArmageddonMUD family: your stories matter. Your experiences matter. The friendships you have forged, the characters you have brought to life, the growth you have achieved are real and valuable, regardless of what others might say. The world we built together has shaped careers, changed lives, helped people to discover themselves and fostered connections that will last long after the last mantis head.

Whatever comes next, know that the legacy of ArmageddonMUD lives on in the lives it has touched and the stories we have told together. No amount of malice can erase the impact this community has had on so many lives, including our own.

Until such a time that Producers are confident leaks from staff have been firmly addressed and bad actors in our community involved with these leaks identified, the game will be indefinitely closed. If no one comes forward, or we are unable to repair the damage, then the game as it has been known will be forever closed. 

The GDB is now read only, but we will be leaving the Discord open for as long as it remains civil and the moderators are willing to remain. We are so unbelievably sorry it has come to this.

Those with information pertaining to these leaks can email producers directly:

producers@armageddon.org

CC:

usiku@armageddon.org
halaster@armageddon.org
eurynomos@armageddon.org

With enduring gratitude to all the members of the community who have made positive contributions to the game,

Eurynomos, Usiku, Halaster - Producers of ArmageddonMUD

Ooc of the game now has me on the fence and heavily leaning to leave.  I can see in game it's actions all way to shadow boards as proof by certain things such as time and date stamps of posts there telling what is coming next from the game.

October 20, 2024 (Sunday)

Zorkbob the Infamous
- made it easier for staff to set flags on sentinel npcs so that they can still be shot with arrows.