You can also return to the MI Index or to the main Last Homely House.
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m m
mm mm t
ee m m m m oo nnn sss t ee rrrr
e e m m m o o n n s tttt e e r
eeee m m o o n n ssss t eeee r News 9-25-93
e m m o o n n s t e r
ee m m oo n n sss tt ee r #17
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Welcome to another fun-filled issue of the Monster Island eMail
newsletter! This forum is designed to be of practical knowledge to the
everyday monster, and a place for players both old and new to ask questions
of a huge audience of subscribers. Unlike a certain other newsletter, we will
try to keep both group and racial propoganda to a minimum here.
Headlines this time: Jack the GM at GenCon: Lots of News
Many corrections to the Capture List
Publication data:
eMonster News is published ideally on the 25th of each month, come hell or
high water. Publisher and Editor is warden@triton.unm.edu ;
send all submissions, questions, letters of comment, and subscription info
to that address. eMonster News is distrubted free for the asking to anyone
able to receive it on INTERNET, CompuServe, GEnie, or any other service
tied into the net. Current press run: 76. To avoid problems with my mailer,
I send this out in three batches of addresses. For a full listing of players on the net, send a note to the address below. Please copy, post, print, or
otherwise distribute this newsletter to as many players as you can; especially
if they have email access. We want to promote this here game!
Editor & Publisher Scott Micheel warden@triton.unm.edu
Keeper of Blurbs Aaron Fuegi fuegi@cs.colostate.edu
Lister of Groups & Cries Brian Derks normandyknight@cup.portal.com
Monster Mapper & MI BBS Jim Wuerch 71203.255@compuserve.com (?)
Weapons/Armor List Shawn Bilodeau imaginos@imagesys.com
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
Updated Capture List
There have been 15 corrections so far, and I expect more to come. I would
like somebody to volunteer to take over the Capture List, for I don't really
have time to maintain it with all the other stuff I do.
Some creatures can be captured, and others cannot be captured, but the
majority cannot be captured and travelled with. These should be
distinguished on the "Captured Creatures List". A Barkrute cannot be
captured, while a Zombie or a Scatamunga Beast cannot be captured and
travelled with. This implies that there might be something you don't have
that will enable you to capture the beast.
It is not possible to Capture within a Cave [probably any Dark Place].
This would eliminate the roof rat, sneaky cave leaper, xansu cave spider and
snake, flash bat, cave-pecker, blood mite, and mummies. The pummel bear has
been seen outside a cave. I suspect that Creatures found only in Graveyards
are the same: tomb leech, cemetary creeper, and carrion crow. I have not
placed these on the 'No' list yet, but I think they should be.
Contributors to this list, and I thank them:
michael.mackinnon@mwcsinc.muug.mb.ca (Michael Mackinnon)
salmanila@aol.com
mms@mustang.sc.ti.com (Michael Schulz)
skspoidn@reading.ac.uk
73537.2505@compuserve.com
Capture List (F:Fuvah, K:Kabuki, S:Shroud)
-------------------- ----- ------- --------------- ---
Creature No# Capture Item Needed God
great trap snake (101) No . .
wild boar (108) No . .
dragonbat (109) Yes None .
dactyl (116) No . .
smite (127) No . .
myrrh dove (132) Yes Bird Trap K
cheesmo (137) Yes Deep Pit .
fork-tailed scorpion (141) Yes Deep Pit .
spring spider (152) Yes None .
clakk snakkar (169) No . .
tusker (180) No . F
wolfcur (188) ? . S
kabamongoose (191) No . .
hilldog (192) Yes Swarth Net .
king stag (194) No . F
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
Jack the GM speaks at GenCon (to several folks)
From: Robert Kazmierczak
He hasn't put the higher mount levels (Fair, Advanced,...) into the game
yet. The reason, I asked? No need, he replied, since he hasn't put in
the more powerful mounts in yet (although he boasted that the mounts he
has prepared have some of the most kick-butt blurbs in the game.) However,
before all of you who have been TWing for umpteen-odd turns scream bloody
murder, he said that he has been keeping track of how much practice you've
been getting in so it's not wasted time. Don't be surprised if in the next
4-6 months or so more that 100 monsters suddenly hit Fair level in the same
turn when he finally puts the program in.
Also Jack said that he's put in a few really high-powered kick-butt spells
in the game. Expect to recieve them on your fourth or fifth temple kowtow.
From: JHAGEDORN@VAX1.UMKC.EDU
A monster near the black swan has a dragonbone sword, which is rumored to
be a class 6 edged weapon. I have also heard that 300 muscle is no longer
the max for muscle (several monsters already have 300+). Another thing
that is more than a rumor is that there is going to be between 1 and 2
dozen demigods. Jack is quoted as saying that several of the demigods are
going to be closely related to the major religons.
I have also heard of two of the second level spells that you can get for 4+
temples. They are armor spell and divine monster. The first is like the light
armor spell except that it gives you 7 armor instead of 4. The divine
monster spell will give the location of a monster that is with in 40
squares. The spell will also tell you how much health and spell points the
monster has. I have also gotten a confirmation that thermadon rex wings are
a neccesary item to get across the crystal hills. I also found out that
jack is looking for more spells and creatures for the new area.
You might rember a mail I sent out a few weeks ago complaining about how hard it is to find talismans. I asked jack about it he says that it is designed
to be that difficult. He also said that talismans will be more common in the
new region.
I talked to jack this morning about allowing saddle bags for mounts. He
said that he was open to the Idea but they would have to work something
like this. You would have to issue and SB (item #) (Quanity) to put things
in the saddle bags. Anything that is in your saddle bags would be unuseable,
in order to do anything with that item(s) you would have to remove it from
your saddle bags with an order similar to the above. It does have its restritions but, items like rope and traps that you rarely use could be put
in saddle bags allowing you to carry more items you need. If this sounds like
something you would like pass the word around and let jack know that you
want it. Jack will put it in if enough people request it.
From: fuegi@cs.colostate.edu (Aaron D. Fuegi)
To all who hate the limited item carrying rules,
Well, I have two suggestions which I'd like everyone to write to Jack
in support of who agrees with them. The first is actually Brian Derks' idea
and is Saddle Bags where you can store stuff. It would take a lot of orders
since you'd have one order to put stuff in and another to get it out and you
couldn't use anything while actually in a saddle bag but at least you could
store away the stuff you don't use very much.
My own suggestion is to add a new order, tentatively called
Permanently Rid(PR) item #. This order would not just drop that useless
bloated onion you've been wasting a spot with but would also make it so that
you would hever again pick up that item # if you see it. It could be cancelled
by reissuing the same order with the same item #. This seems to me to be a
fairly easily implemented order for Jack and makes lots of logical sense. Once
you know an item is of no use to you, why would you continue to keep picking
it up just to drop it again. Jack's system of not having you pick up lower
class weapons is already a start on this but I'd like it applicable to all
types of items and totally player-controlled.
I have not yet suggested my plan to Jack but plan to send a writeup
of it in tomorrow when I send in a turn and hope it is considered seriously.
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
Notes and Questions from our Readers:
From: e.shchneider@genie.geis.com
Is there any one in the filtons far post or the cracked skull far
inn area looking for members ?
From: jmh@anubis.network.com (Joel Halpern)
An associate found a Tower Ruin this turn. This is obviously not news,
since it is already in the Monster Mapper. However, what happens
if you rebuild one? I know about rebuilding forts and temples, but I
had not even heard of Towers before.
From: "JERRY E. RITCHIE" <73537.2505@compuserve.com>
James R. Boegman asked about getting back issues: All back
issues of the internet MI newsletter are available online
at Bif's Monster Resort BBS (317) 962-BIFS 8N1. By the way that
is a new number.
Also concerning the efficiency gains of addition group members/
plodders when rebuilding Far Forts/Temples. In the last six months
senior members of the DOL have rebuild a fort and a temple and
achieved 1.9 points of rebuilding for every 1 action point
spent. At the squares were 8 or 9 nine senior monsters (e.g.
muscle 175+) all with plodders.
From: Sarah Skovronsky
Hi Scott. :) The newsletter is looking great. Unfortunately, I have to
ask to be taken off the mailing list because I don't have enough time to
run my Furrcat, Nekoman, anymore. Nekoman will be run in the future by my
father, Tom Skovronsky, who also runs Maralj the Slice and Mungogerrie.
As long as he's on the mailing list, we'll both get the information. :)
From: mac@ihlpf.att.com
I am glad to see someone has taken over the newsletter.
I still have all the old newsletters on line. If you want me
to send them to you so you can have a complete set, I can.
Although I haven't run any of my characters since last
february I haven't asked for a refund yet. Unless there have
been major changes (jack getting around to programming the
more advanced interesting stuff) I can't see rejoining. I do
enjoy the newsletter you are putting out and would like to
remain on your mailing list.
*****Editor Replies: Cheryl put out the ten MI eMail newsletters previous
to mine and was the one who really got things going here on the net. We
are glad to hear from her, and will keep trying to convince her to rejoin.
From: Jens-Michael Krumm
I'm the editor of the MI newsletter of the german version of MI. I'm very
interested in all stuff about MI for I want to write a little bit about the
game, story (if there should be one) etc.
From: ulim@coli.uni-sb.de (Ulrich Mayring)
I am a registered German user of the Monster Mapper (i.e. I paid DM 40),
but it appears that it was shipped to me incomplete.
I have tried to reach Jim Wuerch at his CompuServe address repeatedly, but
in vain. I have also written to the European supporter of the Monster
Mapper, Martin Popp, also in vain.
So my last chance appears to be to appeal to the friendliness of the
newsletter audience. The problem is this:
According to the documentation of the Monster Mapper there is a tool 'to
recenter the map coordinates' supplied with it. I did not find such a tool
in my version, although I have indeed received all the other files, that
are only included with the fully registrated version. The problem now is
that I can't without these utilities import map data from player Foo,
because the Monster Mapper will print data imported from Foo on Foo's
coordinates, so it will be in all the wrong places on my map. Consequently
Foo would need a tool to recenter his map to my coordinates before
exporting his map. Then, when I import the data, it will be on my
coordinates. Now, here's my request:
Please someone uuencode this tool (it's probably a small thingie) and mail
it to me at ulim@coli.uni-sb.de
If for some reason this cannot be done, please someone notify Jim Wuerch
of this. Thanks a lot in advance.
*****Editor Replies: Bif Monster Resort BBS is now at 317-962-2437. I have
had no luck contacting Jim W. over Internet or CompuServe, and have had
no reply as yet on the BBS. I have the cheap version from ABM, but I have
not been able to find out where Jim W. is these days to send him money for
a real version. Can anyone help?
From: "James R. Boegman" <71232.2567@compuserve.com>
- Responding to Joel Halpern from a couple of issues ago, when I
became a Follower of Kabuki, I gained 18 Health, 22 Badness, and 5 Muscle.
I think the amount of Health gained may be limited by your current
Healthiness (the 18 brought me just over 100%).
- Responding to JHAGEDORN@VAX1.UMKC.EDU (again a couple of issues
back), I have been Jazzing quite a bit since arriving on the Island, and I
have found that the amount of Muscle gained is dependant on how much you
have. When I first got here, I could gain 1 Muscle by Jazzing as little
as 5 APs. Now I have to average approx 25 APs to get 1 Muscle. I also
believe different races gain Muscle at different rates, although I don't
have any data to back up that feeling. I do know that when starting out,
it's better to Jazz for a small amount three or four times rather than the
same number of points in one session (I could gain 4 Muscle by Jazzing for
5 pts four times, but only 1 Muscle for Jazzing 20).
- Responding to Mark Capron, I also LV'd a Shroud Obelisk, but
instead of being blinded, I was thrown 24 hands into the air and landed
with a resounding thud (-11 Health).
- Responding to Aaron D. Fuegi, I have heard that a mount will
also allow you to see smaller structures with your Spyglass. I'm not
exactly sure what falls into the category of "smaller structures",
although I think small caves may be one example that was used.
- Responding to Joel Halpern in the latest newsletter, our group
(small g) found a Tuvian Plant near the border of Central Gwardon and
Jagged Mor Midlands (12S and 29W of Drokorn's Stead).
- Question: Does anyone know the effects of drinking more than
one Brawn Elixir? Do these effects occur with the second drought, or is
there a chance for each additional potion that something bad will occur?
- Question: Does anyone know how the Battle Cries work? I've
recently begun using my God's Battle Cry, but although the Blurb mentions
causing the enemy to loose an attack, that doesn't seem to be happening.
Is there only a certain chance that you will succeed at stopping the first
attack?
- Question: Where do you find Limes? We've heard of or seen most
of the other ingredients for Voodoo Elixir's we know about, but not Limes.
*****Editor Replies: The only question I can answer is that Lime Trees are
merely uncommon. Both my monsters have found only one or two in a total
of 140 turns. Limes are a Voodoo ingredient (Lime Elixir- Cures Thirst) and
finding a Lime Tree learns you a new Yell (26- Put the Lime in the Coconut
and you feel better).
From: skspoidn@reading.ac.uk
re From: JHAGEDORN@VAX1.UMKC.EDU..Lots of things are talismans, not just
the wooden statues and the mantle. I have delivered a Golden Dragon Statue
as a talisman, and I am pretty sure things like spikes will serve as well.
some questions....
You mentioned in the last letter a tuvian plant near the
Illuminated Torch. In the hope that the Uk and USA games
have the same DB, could you please tell me which square
exactly? I happen to be at the Illuminated torch at the moment :)
Does anyone know anything about the vampyre god?
Is there a way to increase your spell point maximum?
How do I get a waterskin from a Clakk Snakkar?
*****Editor Replies: Oops. That Tuvian Plant was just East of the Odd
Terepus, back in the first line of Far Inns to the west of the Illuminated
Torch. Every time you visit a new Temple you get a new set
of spells and increase your number of spell points. It has been hinted
that a temple filled with certain treasures will increase your spell points
as well.
From: Mike Davies in Seattle
I recently hit a Sunken Graveyard. Sadly, I didn't find much treasure,
mostly occulars and kwando guilder coins. But I did find Item #351, the
Jade Snake Ring -- which is sacred to Yasmin el Boa, the Snake Demigoddess.
Worse, I had my first encounter with a Shifting Wraith. In the blurb, it
says "Finally an undead that you have to respect!" Silver or Magic Weapons
are reccomended. I had never encountered it before, but still I automatically
switched to a Silver Knife. I cast Battle Dexterity to improve my fighting
ability, and threw a Fireball at it (doing 28). It hit me twice for 23, and
then three times for 50. Ouch! Luckily I only encountered the one.
From: jkim21@aol.com
(E-mail sent to Aaron Fuegi, courtesy copy to Scott Micheel)
Item # 390 : DRAGONBONE NECKLACE
This rare, magical necklace is made from 30 or so odd pieces of Dragonbone.
It's strung together with willonot and each bone fragment is knotted on
both sides securely. Dragonbone is the petrified remains of an ancient
dragon. Most of the demigods acknowledge this necklace as a talisman of
theirs. Lla Lla Na, the Wyrm demigoddess, values it as a great treasure.
This bone-gray necklace also provides some magical protection, particularly
against other Dragonbone items. You can carry 4.
Sounds like this may be another religious talisman that can be used to
complete a priesthood quest. So there's probably a lot (some?) more
talismans out there that people haven't found, making priesthood not as
difficult as some speculated in the last newsletter.
From: Robert Kazmierczak
You have to learn the secrets of Shingle Poison at a Far Inn.
The only one in the Northern area that sells the secret is
The Black Swan, SE of the Illuminated Torch.
*****Editor Replies: Thanks, Rob. My Stompin Rocksoul is looking for just
such an equilizer. I have since learned that the Lion's Fill also offers
the secret. Anybody else know where to find it?
From: cfjones@phoenix.Princeton.EDU (jonesey)
A recommendation for the newsletter: the stinkin' group list is getting
rather long. I think you should send it along with the Makeing a Living
and Capture List under separate cover. That way the interesting stuff is
in one letter and the routine stuff is in another.
Another thing about tuvian plants is that they get used up when someone makes
a shovel (non-renewable resources).
*****Editor Replies: I am amazed at the amount of information generated in
a months time for the newsletter. I agree that the whole thing needs to be
kept to a reasonable length. So I plan to only include such lists about
once or twice a year, or when some significant change occurs. As an aside,
it was mentioned a while ago that some players can only receive files of
25K or smaller. If this is the case with you, just tell me and I will add
you to the 'split letter' list. And the Tuvian plant I mentioned above near
the Odd Terepus has provided Tuvian Shovels for at least three monster --
so it is not a one-shot plant like a Cauldi Plant. Does anyone know if
they *do* run out, say after 1d6 uses?
From: Erik Seilnacht
The SIX HUNDREAD'S office has moved.
Andy Holms address is still the same. Erik Seilnacht has moved to:
10296 Alpine Dr. #B, Cupertino, CA 95014-0911. Voice phone (408) 732-3075.
Alan Hutton Has moved to the same address.
From: Michael Powell <74146.2211@CompuServe.COM>
Hi! I run a monster island character named Durante (three
guesses what race!). I used to read your newsletters on BIf's
BBS. Now the BBS is moved and I don't know the new number
(anyone know?).
*****Editor Replies: Bifs Monster Island BBS is now at 317-962-2437 (that's
317-962-BIFS.)
From: "Robert Kazmierczak"
A turn report of interest to all:
Akien's claim to excitment was that he tried out a dose of Reptron Salve.
Jumping into the Geyser he passed out but gained +1 skin toughness at the
expense of 9 health points.
Sith Mandrake had a turn which is proving him to be one of the more powerful
members of the Island this time. He gained his second point of Skin
Toughness naturally (turn 120, guys).
Remember, guys, keep your monster in the saddle, and your Plodder directly
below it.
*****Editor Replies: You get your first free Skin Toughness point on
turn 60. Anyone reached turn 180 yet?
From: jmh@anubis.network.com (Joel Halpern)
Does my yelling every turn actually contribute towards the eventual
effectiveness of my battle cry, or anything else?
*****Editor Replies: I too yell every turn I have a free action, in hopes
that it will mean something. It hasn't done me any good yet. I do yell
my God's yell, hoping that if I yell it enough times, he will hear me and
grant me a boon. But I have no evidence that this is so.
From: JHAGEDORN@VAX1.UMKC.EDU
Just thought that I would mention this again to any one who will listen. I
am trying to get a group of monsters together to clean out a loggerhead camp
near the black swan if you are intrested or know of anyone in the area that
is intrested let me know. I have between 10 and 15 monsters who are moving
toward the area and I would like to see if I can get about 5 more.
I have heard a rumor that someone has cleaned out a loggerhead camp, has
any one heard anything about it?
Jerry Hagedorn
1100 s 22nd st
Blue Springs MO, 64015
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
From: "JERRY E. RITCHIE" <73537.2505@compuserve.com>
Here is an article I am going to run in the next issue of the
Kabuki Kronicles.
Monster Island Coordinate Nomenclature
So you have a monster or two wandering around the vast expanse known
as monster island. It's pretty exciting exploring the unknown, mapping
the island turn by turn. But it doesn't take long before your monster
crosses paths with another. This monster's friendly, and he sends you
a note that includes "there's a Far Inn four north and three west of the
square where we met". Great! Off you go to the Far Inn. There you meet
some cool dudes that have a cool group that you join. Awesome! You recenter
your coordinates to make them the same as the groups. The cool dudes send you a
copy of the group's master map. All right! Then you get a call from the guy
who sent you to the Far Inn in the first place. He says "I met these really
radical guys who have a really radical group that I joined, and now I have
this complete list of all the Far Inns on the island. Would you like a copy?"
Fantastic!
Sure! The letter arrives in the mail. There's a list of Far Inns and for
each a set of coordinates - but what the heck do coordinates mean? And
how can you convert them to your groups map?
The solution is a common nomenclature. The Disciples of Light (DOL) have
been using a standard notation that seems to be working well. The
generalized form is AAA (Bx,Cy) where AAA is a three letter
acronym for the name of the group's coordinate system that is being
used, B is the X-Axis coordinate (horizontal or east-west), and C is the
Y-Axis coordinate (vertical or north-south). Some examples follow:
The Fire Riders rebuild a new Fuvah temple at FIR (123x,-12y).
The Happy Junglemon Far Inn is at DOL (37x,14y).
The Guardians of Fuvah found a Geyser at GOF (-12x,-23y).
There is one unusual or non-standard thing about this system - ABM does
NOT place the X coordinate first and Y coordinate second when printing
the map section of a monster's turn. The reason this notation swaps
the coordinates are twofold: 1) Standard Cartesian algebraic notation
dictates that the X coordinate ALWAYS comes first, and 2) that's the way
the Monster Mapper programs works. Why ABM did this backwards - nobody
knows.
So in the case of the first example, FIR is the three letter acronym that
indicates the coordinate is from the Fire Rider's standard coordinate
system. The letters x and y are use to reaffirm the fact that we are
using a standard algebraic system and that the person writing the
coordinate knows what he/she is doing.
With a system in place a standard set of three acronym with a list
of standard conversions from one major coordinate system to another
can be published. For example:
WTC -> FIR (22x,-56y)
To convert from a White Tiger Clan coordinate to a Fire Rider coordinate
add 22 to the X coordinate and -56 to the Y coordinate. The reverse,
subract 22 from the X and -56 from Y, would convert from a Fire Rider
to White Tiger Clan coordinate. Note: these are only hypothetical
number for examples only.
Overall a relatively standard nomenclature will aid in keeping the
lines of communication between groups clear - particularly as there
are several newsletter around that often publish locations of various
things about the island.
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
That's it for now -- Keep those letters, questions, and stories coming!