Mallos

The Roguelike Celebration is an online conference celebrating roguelikes and similar games, with talks given both my game creators and players. Last year's conference was held in an interactive online space styled after a MUD. It was designed for the conference but open-sourced for similar events: https://github.com/lazerwalker/azure-mud.
Sharing here for two reasons:
Current MD players might enjoy attending the event (will take place October 16th & 17th). Seems like something that would appeal to a lot of you, and you might come back with some ideas to add to MagicDuel. They currently have a call for proposals open for new talks. If there's an aspect of MagicDuel you find particularly intriguing, you should consider submitting a proposal by June 25. Speakers are paid, and you might even attract a few new players to MagicDuel. You can also talks from last year here: https://roguelike.club/event2020.html
If you're thinking about submitting a talk proposal, consider sharing it here for feedback from your fellow MagicDuel adventurers. Also feel free to throw out some ideas for talks you think might fit the CFP but aren't something you personally feel qualified to talk about; maybe someone else will pick up the torch.

Today I have added in the structure and code to create upgradeable buildings in MagicDuel. These will allow players to pay resources towards a project which will, over time, grow and provide additional functionality. An example of this is a treasury that if properly maintained will grow and allow more items and creatures to be stored.
There is a wide range of possibilities with this that I plan to expand this to encompass and I am sure the A25 team can come up with ideas that I have not even considered! Some examples include contributing resources to your lands armoury to provide bonuses, charging fees at land boundaries (if protected!), and even the ability to blockade scenes and other areas in a "war footing". Or you could have a community shed which, is improved would allow a wider range of items to be grown, and tools to be used. The ability to "upgrade" a scene using this framework is pretty wide so I am open to ideas about how you could create an upgradable building.
The start of this however is the humble building, a framework that allows contribution towards resources in MagicDuel. For the moment the underlying code and tables are in place and I plan to continue the work to make it more functional.
I will detail more information once I have the first instance implemented and I can demonstrate how it works within MD. A25 members are welcome to ask my questions on our PM thread beforehand however as the (read only interface) is currently up. Please note nothing you see below is currently fixed. 
 
 Example A25 Interface for viewing building templates 

 
 

I can only express my discontent at not one but two Caretakers attempting to engage in such irresponsible actions

I can only express my discontent at not one but two Caretakers attempting to engage in such irresponsible actions

I'm trying to develop this scene (Coord: 3_3x-3_1) as a meeting place for role players, and a help-spot for newbies. 
I am currently operating a lost-and-found/free table/prop box using the hanging mug rack clickie on the tree.  You could use this art, especially if there was an option to still use it as a clickie, or create a new bit of art (Aia did a good job activating as much as she could here for me).  I am at this moment the only user of this clickie and can recreate the info thereon as needed.
I would like to automate this process using a "Treasury".  Title should be something like "Hung on Tree (Props / Lost & Found / Free Stuff)
I'd also move the "job needed" advertisement for young creatures that no veteran wants here, and some consumables.
Storage size 500/50 would be ample.  This would be for Legend Speakers business, of course.
I consider this a semi-altruistic way to help the realm, so am asking if a single silver a week could keep it open.  Free would be better.

June 20 all day long, to recognize the fulfillment of spring's promise, and the beginning of summer.  Come to the GoE and present -- whatever you want, to honor the occasion.  You can present a ceremony, a dance, a literary work, a song, a game, a vaudeville act, or whatever you wish.  Use in-chat links to present artwork etc.  There will also be minor events and activities all day long.  Please join in and host some games yourself - I can't be in the realm all 24 hours.
Everything I (or anybody) can capture on the AR, or you post in a reply below (especially for prepared works) will be given time for judging by up-arrows (let's say end of June).  (Of course, these are forum votes, not alts).  The entry with the most up-arrows (minus its down-arrows) will get a wishpoint (provided it gets at least 12 up-arrows) OR AT YOUR OPTION, A RUSTY (donated by lashtal)!!!  Smaller prizes may be awarded at my option, and if you see something you really like, feel free to donate to that participant yourself!
Let's join together as a community and make the beginning of summer something special.

If you could pay something to reduce your heat, what would you consider an acceptable cost and what amount of heat would it take off you?
This question relates to a new feature I am working on.

I agree and I have edited his post with a spoiler to compensate

I agree and I have edited his post with a spoiler to compensate

I will be opening treasuries up to more than just Marind Bell with some notable changes. A treasury can be used to store items and creatures and allowing for alternative storage or a collaborative pool to be used. Taking items/creatures in and out of a storage has no penalty which confers several benefits to totemizing (although should not be used for trading penalty-less).
Treasuries will however (going forward) require a maintenance fee to be paid weekly.
If you have any questions about what treasuries are, please feel free to ask them on this topic.

If you are a land leader, group leader (official or unofficial), etc, and would like a treasury please post below stating:
What group/land you represent in your request:
Amount of Storage wanted (items):
Amount of Storage wanted (creatures):
How much you would pay (weekly) for this: (Nothing is an acceptable answer although might mean you can't afford it. Payment could be resources, items, etc...)
Location you would put your treasury: (Scene coordinates and name)
 
I will review all requests and consider them for the work I am doing, Once I have the new "building" code in I will speak to you individually about the requests.

I disagree that these ideas are reasonable as they are just increasing the effects of the death and agitating the player, losing things like age hurts the opportunity cost of actions like training creatures, although the ideas give more soft functionality to kill tools such as harming a players creatures before a contest.
If death needs to be a bit more "painful" then it should be in a way that disconnects you from a sense of your living account. The dead player should need to do more to resume their position of being alive, through rites of passage or similar rituals/quests or through obvious markers of activity that should be unusual to a typical "dead" player.

I do personally agree their should be more downsides to being a murderer, if only because making death a harsher experience can then be justified.
I don't see anything to stop a King preventing any known murderer entering their land, could even rally their citizens to expel them, I think those heatvein things still work? The fact murder is not a social stigma in MD says enough for me as-is
How would people feel about being able to kill or jail a murderer, through fightcause within a short timeframe after the event, things like that?

Killing and revival tools are reserved to a small portion of the player base as of now. I see plenty of potential for abuse and bullying as is, let alone when there's even more punishment to the weaker player.
If killing is to carry a stronger power, make it so vengeance can be carried out more directly. Either that or buy back/remove all killing tools that isn't being owned for RP purposes, and hand out killing tools only under defined circumstances only. Like how Necrovion tool behaves: to handle trespassers only.

lashtal about Else
~ Day: 273 Year: 15 ~ Found trespassing in Necrovion. ~ Day: 82 Year: 16 ~ Note to self: kill on sight. ~ Day: 144 Year: 16 ~ Necrovion guest for one week.

Day: 145 Year: 16
: Murder! Granos murders Else
Granos: Lash Sends his regards...
___________________________________________
  Else was murdered in invisible blood at the GoE. Will we see who really was responsible for this?

haven't seen everyone in a long while  but get as many as you can of those black roses, 'cuz you never know! 
Congrats, Ailith
 

So, I'm challenging everybody to a foot race, from the Howling Gate to the GoE.  One scene away, you ask?  No, you can plot your own course but you must hit the following scenes along the way:

Paper Cabin
Top of Mt Kelle'tha
Ravenhold
In front of the MDA building
In front of Sage's Keep
Inside the Temple of the Void
(We're starting at Howling Gate because Necrovion is closed)
So, I did it in 14 minutes, 17 seconds.  Can you do better?  Don't bother posting your screenshot proof with time stamps until you're nominated for a prize - but do save the proof!  (You're going to need 8 screenshots).
Anything goes - teleport, pickles, friends to beat down the viscosity, secret thingies.  I will NOT give out pickles for the express purpose of running this race, but please note you can win pickles by solving riddles on my quest doc or the sign in front of Wind's - you just have to LOOK at it.
Anybody who goes a week without being bested gets a gold coin.  Anybody who goes a month without being bested gets a wish point, and closes the contest.
On your mark, get set, go!
 
 
 

It seems I hold a K-Doc for Community Gardens, now 8 years stale.  Rumi started and abandoned some plans here.  Phantom Orchid left some stories.  We three are the only members.
If you are interested in using this tool in some fashion moving forward, talk to me.  If nobody is interested, I may convert this to some other purpose.

I have uploaded a map for realm 4 (the indoor portion of the MD Archives).

I have also made note of the coordinates of each room's location in realm 4 - they are within the spoiler-tag below; @Chewett or @Muratus del Mur may I have these uploaded? They will need to replace the previous map-marker locations for the same spots (as the map were now different).
 
 

My oldest forum PM is to Mur, it's my application to run for king of Marind Bell, back when rulers were first being introduced (unless there were some secret earlier land rulers) eleven and a half years ago (2009)
Results are here and a small excerpt from my message here:
 

July 12, 2012.

Mallos  366
Started conversation: July 31, 2011
  Stephen King is awesome. Best books I have ever read were the Dark Tower series. 

__________     Message to Burns from 9 years ago. The most pertinent topic to MD, certainly. I admit I also haven't read too many books.

Hello everyone!
This quest is about a proclamation the King and Grand Duke, Chewett made. I will post where and how to start this quest once registration closes. There will be infantile MDScript involved, so if something doesn't work, please let me know (though I'm on a phone and therefore not much use in changing it)
Once you have read the introduction section of the quest (there's 5 parts), then it will tell you to come back here. Then post here which route you choose.
This quest has 3 different pathways: 
A) Artistic: where you create your own ritual of transforming the creature-must start quest to get guidelines 
 B) Basic clickie: Where you follow in darkraptor's footsteps using his journal to make the transformation occur (has basic riddles to make you find next location---some clickies were created for this quest, so you'll have to examine scenes with care as new clickies may be there-or defunct clickies turned to mdscript) and
C) Cipher: Where you take the final page of darkraptor's journal and decrypt what it says and follow its instructions
Once you choose a specific route, you will need to declare it here. Once you declare, the path that you chose must be the path that you finish with. For obvious reasons, I will be looking at timestamps, if you complete the survey within 20 minutes of my posting here, then I know that you probably didn't read whatever was in the boxes or had somehow got a headstart. (I timed it myself several times). Your time will automatically be changed to 30 minutes from posting or whatever won't let you win. (so yeah, don't test me :P)
The first person to complete will receive an elu &2GC, 2nd & 3rd will receive 1 old, old crit from me or a just-released crit, and 4th&5th will receive 2 random spellstones and 2SC each. All participants will receive plushies as always. If someone is particularly fast, or particularly over-and-above in their entry, there may be further rewards...  
For each route, to get further guidance on how to proceed, you must go to the location of the hint [Elu3] and try to "discover" what to do next.
Alts are allowed, provided they complete a different route from your main character. 
 
Timeline: Registration opens NOW and closes 4/23 @ 23:00 ST. Again, you will need to pick your route and declare in your response in this thread, declaring your route counts as your registration. You cannot change routes, besides to see what else there is to see. The race will start about 19:00 ST 4/24. Now there may be an old survey link in the last stage of the this quest in the clickie. I can't access my script to see what it says, but if there's an issue, PM me ASAP so there's a timestamp, thanks. PM when you finish as well.

Mallos  366
Started conversation: July 31, 2011
  Stephen King is awesome. Best books I have ever read were the Dark Tower series. 

__________     Message to Burns from 9 years ago. The most pertinent topic to MD, certainly. I admit I also haven't read too many books.

You're right, there's a big difference.
Though I'm not convinced the blatant copying you mention is that all-encompassing and mainstream, some of the specific pieces you mentioned seemed more inspired by rather than copied (samurai jack for instance), but maybe I'm wrong. 
 
Just to clarify, I'm not defending Hollywood, I just like try to add more perspectives to the table: so what if we have copied movies? If we are not aware of the original, in our perspective we are seeing something new? 
If people weren't seeing them as new they wouldn't watch and such movies wouldn't bring money and Hollywood wouldn't shoot them. So it's not a waste, as long as it's a copy of a good movie
The important thing at the end of the day, if you enjoyed a copy-movie, is not to idealize people behind it, but that should be the case with anything,people are never perfect, geniuses that are wonderful human beings etc, there's always some uncanny detail lying somewhere. 
I liked Samurai Jack, I don't necessarily think it's the most brillitant piece made by unbelievably creative and original people

Even when you look at 'the original', there's a good chance it's a retelling as well. 
I mean look at The Bible/Christianity. Revolutionary religion that swallowed a big chunk of the known world, but its concepts were all already present in other religions. 
It's how stuff always worked, as Newton said we are dwarves standing on the shoulders of giants, or standing on the shoulders of dwarves which are standing on the shoulders of other dwarves... (pardon my poor rephrasing, maybe Newton said it somehow differently)