Discworld MUD
Discworld MUD is a free Multi-User Dungeon set in the Discworld as depicted in the Discworld series of books by Terry Pratchett. It is based on the LPMud codebase.
Overview
The MUD was founded in 1991 and opened to the public in 1992. The world has developed over time to the huge size it is today. It consists of several big cities (Ankh-Morpork, Bes Pelargic, Genua and Djelibeybi) on two continents, many smaller towns scattered around, and more than a million rooms which form the land between the cities and towns. Many of the Discworld characters wander around on the disc. At any time, there are usually between 100 and 200 players online. The MUD is based on a custom mudlib and uses its own LPMud driver.
Over 500 soul commands allow refined roleplaying, from crying to hopping around in circles. All is possible, but roleplaying is not compulsory and many players choose to play in a purely social role, performing valuable services, moderating legal disputes or writing plays, or the other extreme, "numberchasing" - advancing their own skills as quickly as possible. Combat and theft between players is only possible for those who opt for "player killer" status. All other players are protected from other players (but not from the NPCs that can cause enough trouble for the unwary).
An interesting feature of the MUD is that your prowess at various activities is based upon your skills' "bonuses", which are based upon your level in the skill and the various stats (such as strength, dexterity, and wisdom) that affect that skill, forming a weighted logarithmic relationship. Advancement is unlimited, but the higher your 'level' in a skill, the less effect gaining another level will have.
Guilds
The majority of players join one of the six basic guilds - organisations that handle training and career advancement, and are usually the first port of call for social interaction. These six guilds are the guilds of assassins, priests, thieves, warriors, witches and wizards. They are loosely based on the Discworld novels, although there are differences - in the novels, for example, warriors, wizards and witches are not considered to be Guilds in Ankh-Morpork.
Someone who has not joined a guild is said to be an adventurer. Adventurers lack the cheap advancement and social structure provided by guilds, and so most players join a guild as quickly as possible. However, a few players choose to remain outside the guild structure and play as adventurers.
Many of the guilds have specialisations - further choices that need to be made concerning the player's role in the guild. Each guild has a refined set of special commands and abilities. Some guilds are "player-run" - that is, operated, within limits, by leaders who are elected from within the playerbase.
Assassins
The Guild of Assassins is generally considered the most "difficult" of guilds in the MUD, mostly because all graduates of the Guild become PK (player-killers) upon graduation. Assassins are generally specialised in the covert and fighting skill trees, and advance much like thieves.
Four separate but similar assassin guilds exist: the Ankh-Morpork Assassins' Guild; the Hashishim, based in Djelibeybi; the Mano Rossa, based in Genua; and the Ninja, based in Bes Pelargic on the Counterweight Continent.
The signature ability of assassins is the inhume. Inhumation is the act of instantly killing a contracted target in a number of ways, including with a musical instrument. Only Assassins may inhume targets (both player and NPC), but any playerkiller may take out a contract on a fellow playerkiller. Only graduated assassins are allowed to attempt playerkiller contracts and each guild has it's own graduation test: the Run in Ankh-Morpork, the Trials for the Hashishim, the Oath for the Mano Rossa, and the Ru Noperi for the Ninja.
As detailed in the published Assassins' Guild Diary by Terry Pratchett himself, the Ankh-Morpork Guild of Assassins is split into six academic houses; Viper, Cobra, Scorpion, Tree Frog, Raven and Black Widow House. This is after the style of notable English public schools such as Eton College. Black Widow House is an entirely female house, and since its introduction in 2002, all new female assassins have automatically been assigned to it. Male assassins are randomly assigned to one of the other five houses, although these houses are not entirely male. The guild is led by a player guildmaster, elected from the body of the guild by its membership. Each House also has its own housemaster, who is elected in the same fashion and may have belonged to any House in the past. However, ultimate authority resides with the guildmaster.
Analogous positions exist for each of the three other assassin guilds. The guildmasters are Lord of the Mountain (Hashishim), The Don (Mano Rossa), and the Sensei (Ninja). Positions similar to Housemasters are Malik Iman (Hashishim, one), Tenente (Mano Rossa, two), and Mentors (Ninja, one male, one female). Unlike the Ankh-Morporkian guild, these positions are appointed by the respective guildmaster.
Priests
The Priests' Guild is a the MUDs only faith based guild, it's members perform rituals as their main ability. Discworld MUD currently has a pantheon of 7 gods: Fish, Gapp, Gufnork, Hat, Pishe, Sandelfon and Sek. Each deity essencially represents a seperate guild with its own leadership and ritual set, although most share generic rituals. Non-priest players also have the abilty to follow deitys, with the exception of Pishe, for 2 basic rituals.
Essentially, the main building for the guild as a whole is the Temple of Small Gods, in Ankh-Morpork, also the only city with a temple for every god, although most have their single major temple in another city. The deity's major temple, church or chatheddral houses the guild's admin, the High Priest, an elected postion voted for by the priests and followers of the particular deity and Ministers, who are appointed by the High Priest. The High Priest has the power manage the deity point pool, a method of sharing rituals to followers and priests who follow other deitys and the ability to block their priests, followers and rituals from the deity point system.
Thieves
The The Guild of Thieves, Burglars and Allied Trades (or simply the Thieves' Guild) is a covert guild specialising in theft. It is split into five specialisations: cutpurses, muggers, prowlers, safecrackers and smugglers. All joining thieves start as a prowler and must specialise before they reach a certain level if they wish to do so.
The guild's main building is located in Ankh-Morpork, which houses most of the guild facilities and the guild's admin. The admin consists of a Guildmaster, who can either be elected or appointed by the previous Guildmaster, the Assistant Guildmaster, who is appointed by the Guildmaster. There are also 5 monitors representing each specialisation who are elected by those they represent. Each member of the admin has the power to sanction any other player to varying degrees.
The Thieves' Guild has several specialist commands, including: filch, backstab, rifle and abscond.
Warriors
The Warriors' Guild has no parallel in the books. Since the guild was split into ten smaller subguilds in 2004, there has also been no in-game institution known as the "Warriors' Guild", although the name persists at several levels of the game and is used as a catch-all term for the warrior groups.
The warriors' guild specialisations all share a number of common factors: they each have multiple weapon and defence skills, various combat improvement skills, and a few skills that are there for in-character reasons (Calligraphy for the samurai, musical skills for the Musketeers, etc). The current warrior specialisations are:
- Ankh-Morpork Palace Guard
- Weapon Masters' Court
- Djelian Guard
- Klatchian Foreign Legion
- Hublandish Barbarians
- Hunters
- Lancre Highland Regiment
- Imperial Guard
- Samurai
- Duchess Saturday's Musketeers
Warriors are considered an easy guild to play: their specialist commands are mainly more powerful combat moves, although they can also restrict entry/exit from rooms, enter a "berserk" state (with 1000 extra hit points and more attacks per round, but no combat defence or specials) and open combat with a warcry to slightly weaken the opponent. The latest warrior only command is Track, which allows you to track a player or named NPC.
The old institution was run by an elected guildmaster and assistant guildmaster. Three warriors were appointed to the rank of Squire to assist with the operation of the guild. However, since the guild was split there has been no player administration.
Witches
The witches are an all-female magical guild, centred around Granny Weatherwax in the village of Bad Ass (Although there is also a branch in Bes Pelargic, with its own teacher NPC's). They often specialise in trade- and service-related skills, although a lot of witches are trying to move away from this generalization.
The most immediate thing one notices is of course the warts. As a Witch gains levels, they gain an amount of warts. The higher in power a witch, the more warts.
This is a distinct difference from the books, where warts were definitely not a requirement to be a Witch in the Discworld, and in fact in the books the only Witch to have warts was Nanny Ogg and some "evil" (gingerbread-cottage type) witches, such as Black Aliss.
Sample text from game: "You cannot help but notice that Lucy has 23 warts."
To many this is a barrier to playing a Witch character, as they may want to play a Witch without warts - Witches when they are younger can often look very beautiful and are no less likely to be so than anyone else, in the Discworld - for example, the case of Goodie Hamstring.
Their skills are generally more social than offensive: they have the ability to brew a number of special teas with various magical effects (such as healing, poison antidote, and cold cure), create magical crystals with even more special effects, enchant items and rename items. This last service of renaming items is known as "deluding", and it is a very popular request amongst other players. It allows them to customise their inventory to a higher degree, and requires higher-level skills on the part of the witch. Witches are able to get around the disc rapidly by flying using broomsticks, and also have a few combat spells. As a result of their generally high magic skills, they can also usually use scrolls prepared by wizards more effectively than other guilds.
Their signature ability is probably creating "Tricks". These are fake magic spells that attempt to fool viewers into thinking something has happened, but in reality are only good for special effects and the advancement of their magic skills. They are looked upon as something of an art form, and (roughly) yearly contests, known as the trials, are held to see who can create the second best trick - behind Granny Weatherwax, of course. These are organised by players; traditionally, whoever is first to say "When were the last trials? Must have been a while ago..." is given the honour of running them. They are one of the game's most popular social activities, with many witches engaging in the friendly competition and many members of other guilds turning up to spectate or judge.
The witches guild has no formal political structure: its members are all equals because there are no rank distinctions amongst witches and students of the various NPC witches around the disc. There are also no formal guild organizations for offering services. Many witches prefer to offer their services to friends and acquaintances, or not at all if they choose to pursue combat abilities or other skills, however, so there is no stigma attached to witches who choose not to offer services.
- Alongside Black Widow House (one of the Ankh-Morporkian assassin houses) they are the only gender-restricted guild. Male characters are unable to join, alhough gender changing facilities are available in some areas.
- They are the only guild without specialisations; the Bes Pelargic guild is simply another way of joining, for people who don't speak the morporkian language, and witches may advance and train freely at both.
- They are also the only guild with only one title. Unlike other guilds, where characters get increasingly powerful-sounding names as they advance, witches always remain "the Witch".
These things are seen by some players as being un-witchlike, and heated discussion results whenever they are suggested.
Wizards
The Wizards' Guild is based on the Unseen University from the Discworld novels. The Institute of Illusory Learning is a secondary institution based in Djelibeybi, which has no parallel in the books. There are also hedge wizards, who are associated with neither institution. The IIL and the hedge wizards have no political structure.
The Wizards Guild is far from easy and great patience is required as it can take a long time to master the more powerful spells. Once you are established however, wizardry is the most versatile guild around, full of fireballs, illusions, wyre lights, lightning dragons and Food.
The UU and IIL have a level system where First Level is awarded when you chose to join an order which can be done at Guild Level 40, Second at 60, Third at 80 and Fourth at 100. After that there is competition amongst members of an Order for that Order's allocation of Fifth, Sixth and Seventh level wizards, with Rating (an assessment of your general rank based on quests completed, age and guild level) and time since last death being the factors considered.
Each order has eight Fifth Level Wizards, four Sixth Level Wizards, two Seventh Level Wizards and one Eighth Level or Senior Wizard. Before you join an order you can only advance to level 50 in the guild, upon graduation you will be able to advance your order primaries to 300.
Senior Wizard (sometimes unofficially known as Eighth Level) is an elected position in the UU Orders that brings with it access to the Senior's Bedroom, which contains a wardrobe that functions similarly to a vault and a bed. The position also enables the player holding it to use the "discipline" command which becomes more powerful the more often the player is disciplined. Just a warning at first it later passes through unconsciousness, broken legs and being nailed to a bridge pylon with your inventory gone. The punishment can only be triggered by walking into the Great Hall from outside.
For Unseen University wizards there are two simple rules to remember. No Running In The Great Hall! and Do Not Kill The University NPCs.
Oh and always wear your hat. "A wizard without a hat is just a rather sad man with a suspicious taste in clothes."
The Orders
There are eight orders of wizardry at UU and three at IIL which all have their own primary focuses, however, any wizard can cast any spell which he choses to remember and has the skills for. The orders allow easier advancement within a specific field and give a sense of identity but they will not cut you off from other options.
The Unseen University orders are:
- The Ancient and Truly Original Sages of the Unbroken Circle - elemental magic (including some of the stronger offensive spells)
- The Ancient and Truly Original Brothers of the Silver Star - Magical Artifacts
- Mrs. Widgery's Lodgers - Magical Lore (aka. general magic)
- The Order of Midnight - Necromancy
- The Sages of the Unknown Shadow - Demonology
- The Venerable Council of Seers - Scrying
- The Hoodwinkers - Illusions
- The Last Order - The Playerkiller order. (Must go PK to progress beyond level 100)
The Institute of Illusory Learning orders are:
- The Ancient Order of Djinn Diviners
- The Ancient Order of the Dynastic Crescent
- The Ancient Order of the Scintillating Scarab
These three orders all have the same primaries which are focused on general magic. The IIL is currently not accepting new entrants due to extensive ongoing renovations.
Hedge Wizards mirror the UU orders but have no rank or title, merely a colour denoting their focus.
- Circle - White
- Star - Brown
- Lodgers - Red
- Midnight - Grey
- Shadow - Black
- Seers - Green
- Hoodwinkers - Blue
- Last - Octarine
There are several other Wizarding Institutions scattered around the Disc and while they do not have their own orders, they do have advancement facilities.
Skund Forest has a small house with an advancement room for Hedge Wizards and an apparatus for raising the dead.
Bes Pelargic has an extensive guild with a library containing spells, several magical billiards rooms, a magical duelling arena, clothiers and more.
The House of Magic in Creel Springs has a component shop and advancement area.
Generation Hex in Sto Lat has a library and an advancement area.
Spells
Wizard spells come from books and books are generally found in libraries. There are several dozen spells available. From Toy spells which have no practical use other than fun, to the more useful miscellaneous spells of enchanting and Portaling to the combat oriented offensive and defensive spells which range from weak to devastating in their effects. The student level spells are located in the Gymnasium at UU, IIL and the Bes Pelargic Guild, however for the more powerful spells you will have to either beg a scroll off another wizard or venture into the Library where getting lost is a par for the course. To an experienced wizard however, spell recovery is relatively simple.
Spells can be scribed onto pieces of paper which then become magical scrolls. These scrolls can be explosive if gathered together but are of great use for when you lack memory or want spare copies.
Player councils
The game world is divided and sub-divided into several political regions. The cities of Ankh-Morpork and Djelibeybi are run by councils of elected player magistrates. Despite an effort by the Djelibeybi council (usually referred to as the Klatch council, after the Discworld continent and coding area in which Djelibeybi is located) to seize control over those areas with no player council, it is generally held that there are no written player laws which apply to these areas, and that only the game's acceptable use policy, invariably referred to as "the rules", applies.
Ankh-Morpork has seven magistrates, while the Klatch council has five. Elections are held every six months. The council system is based on the game Nomic.
The Agatean Empire has a non-player council, with no elected magistrates.
See also
External links