You can also return to the MI Index or to the main Last Homely House.
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
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 04-25-94
e m m o o n n s t e r
ee m m oo n n sss tt ee r #24
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Headlines this time: New Blurbs (tease)
Group List update
Publication data:
eMonster News is published ideally on the 25th of each month, come hell or
high water. Publisher and Editor is warden@einet.com ;
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, Delphi, America Online,
Prodigy, or any other service tied into the net. Current press run: 147.
To avoid problems with my mailer, I send this out in batches; for a full
listing of players on the net, send a note to Scott (below). eMonster News
is not affiliated with Adventures By Mail in any way, and nothing in here is
necessarily official. We like to think they like us, though. 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@einet.com
Keeper of Blurbs Aaron Fuegi fuegi@cs.colostate.edu
Group Man Brian Derks normandyknight@cup.portal.com
Monster Mapper & MI BBS Jim Wuerch 73234.3410@compuserve.com
Capture Creature Captain Larry Barrows lrdbear@aol.com
Statmaster Jack Vinson vinson@unagi.cis.upenn.edu
Seeker of Demigods Ben Vincent bjvincen@mtu.edu
Lord of the Hard Sell Tom Richardson salmanila@aol.com
List Director Sharyl Leis michael.mackinnon@mwcsinc.muug.mb.ca
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
Howdy. It was remarked that there is a lot of information covered in the
newsletter that would be better served by creating a hint list for new
players. I have seen such hint lists from the Diciples of Light and the Order
of the White Rose, and we have an old one here (jonesey says it hasn't been
updated in two years or so though).
I think it would be a great idea to create such a list. It would help new
players immensely, and cut down on some of the simple questions here in the
newsletter. Anyone want to volunteer to work on it? I envision a short
entry on just about everything (a line, perhaps up to a paragraph.)
Anyone want to volunteer for it?
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
Welcome to new subscribers this month: Welcome to the MI net!
Bruggeman Todd Alle (alle@uhunix.hawaii.edu)
Craig Barstow (x46467g3@usma13.usma.edu)
Holger Hoffmann (holger.hoffmann@math.uni-giessen.de)
John O'Hehir (ohehirjp@d106-13.dw.clarkson.edu)
Richard Schwerdtfeger (mo@mercury.sfsu.edu)
Phil Spagnolli (actor@telerama.lm.com)
Per Stromberg (seskf2n3@ibmmail.ibmmail.com)
Ashley Taft (ataft@infinet.com)
Patrick Voltmer (ulma@hermes.rz.uni-sb.de)
Dana Wright (72627.531@compuserve.com)
a monster (beekums@aol.com)
a monster (cmaikisch@aol.com)
a monster (kain@io.org)
a monster (slipjeem@aol.com)
+---------------------------------------------------------------------------+
I am having a terrible time trying to get ahold of
these people. If you are having trouble getting the newsletter; just
send me a note. And if you're on the following list, please send me
a note also, so I can try to track the path.
droster@citadel.bitnet
droster%citadel.bitnet@ncsuvm.cc.ncsu.edu
droster%citadel.bitnet%bitnode@cunyum.cuny.edu
marcus_d@jhunix.hcf.jhu.edu
erb@lawmail.law.columbia.edu
anon0293@nyx.cs.du.edu
jah1879@tamsigma.bitnet
jah1879%tamsigma.bitnet%bitnode@cunyum.cuny.edu
thomasm@stud.sarpih.no
wu0gmc@sunderland.ac.uk
nhi508@abdn.ac.uk
holger.hoffmann@math.uni-giessen.du
+---------------------------------------------------------------------------+
From: bob@abm.com
Subject: MI News
Scott,
The new news is that Jack is back to programming MI again. So you can expect
some new things shortly.
About the blurbs, we'd prefer if you just listed the name and # of the
blurbs, and not the text in anything you put out in the public domain. If
you want to exchange the full blurb with specific players, its not a problem.
We just need to protect our copyrights and that isn't done when our
copyrighted text is put in the public domain. Thanks very much.
*****Editor says:
That being the case, it is time to list a bunch of new blurbs that have
not been discussed in the newsletter yet!
Creatures: 185 Vine Stalker
196 Xanxu Wart Toad
199 Shifting Wraith
Items: 196 Xanxu Webbed Feet
202 Glowing Red Ring
204 Silver Temple Sword (class 4)
319 Dark Sword (class 4, 2xDamage to Light)
320 Wooden Shroud Statue
321 Iron Stein
329 Dragon Hide Shield (class 8)
348 Damaged Heavy Iron Shield (class 4)
350 King's Spiked Leggin's (class 4)
368 Crimson Chalise
374 Dragonbone
375 Quartzlight Gem
Spells: 1 Summon (Random) Creature
2 Ensnare Creature (a)
71 Divine Monster
802 Ensnare Creature (b)
828 Armor
It looks like there is some work being done on the game after all.
Details are available on request.
+----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
eMonster Departments
From: Normandyknight@cup.portal.com (Brian Derks)
Subject: group list
!Stuff deleted - ADF!
From: "Larry Barrows"
Subject: Re: MI/Capture List
!Stuff deleted - ADF!
From: michael.mackinnon@mwcsinc.muug.mb.ca (Sharyl Leis)
Subject: Lists I have
You had wanted to know what lists I have so here they are. Some of
them duplicate lists being kept for you by other people. How would
you like to handle those? Did you want to pick a set group of lists
as my official offering through eMonster?
Lists:
Far Inn/Far Forge Appraisal list
Group Coordinate Conversion list
Far Post Buy/Sell list
Far Structure Locations (DOL Coordinates) --- will be updating soon
Far Inn Services list --- am just starting to compile this
"Making a Living" Make list
Temple Locations (DOL Coordinates) --- see below
Weapons and Armor list
I am trying to recreate the Temple list from scratch. I tried taking
the DOL list and the last list from eMonster and combining them with
the couple of Temples that our monsters have seen. I gave up! There
were too many that were too close together, or listed for 2 Gods, etc.
So I've started from scratch with only those Temples that I can get
people to confirm (about 14 so far). I was hoping to get a Ad
requesting info posted in the BMT and eMonster, as soon as I get it
written up properly. I've already had it up on Bif's (without much
response unfortunately).
From: Jack Vinson
Subject: monster island statmaster, reporting
I am keeping track of monster statistics, to help players judge how well
their monsters are getting along. If you wish to submit your data, please
do. We get a few changes every month....
Here are the latest statistics:
If anyone wants their monster's successes noted, I can add notes to this
table for bragging rights. Obviously, not everyone wants their Monster's
statistics given away.
The table is pretty self-explanatory. Each Turn is in a row with the
low/high for each statistic below its average. The number in () on the
second line is the number of monsters reported for that statistic.
For those that don't believe the high number of kills recorded between
turns 100 and 125 here is a quote from the owner of those statistics:
169 kills in 25 turns? That's less than 7 per turn! What's so
difficult about that? Just find a Graveyard within 4 squares from an
Inn, and go back and forth, doing 4-6 LV's per trip. Add a few
miscellaneous monsters, like wolfcurs, in between as a bonus. Do I5
or I3 each turn to regain Health. You'll probably collect enough
booty each turn to pay for the Inn stays. And you'll get plenty of
Wrestling practice, along with Edged and Pointed weapons. Then take
time out occasionally and visit a Koma Den a few times. You'll
probably average a dozen kills per turn.
Average Monster Statistics
Turn Toughness Muscle Badness Stealth Monsterliness Blurbs Kills
---- --------- ------ ------- ------- ------------- ------ -----
1 52 25 26 10 137 13
(13) 47/58 18/33 11/43 3/25 119/158 8/20 0/3
8 70 42 34 12 256 49 13
(54) 20/93 27/79 16/60 4/33 211/355 31/66 4/23
16 85 64 42 14 361 87 26
(54) 67/101 39/115 17/67 5/34 30/490 48/775 10/51
24 101 86 52 21 483 96 42
(51) 76/125 46/150 25/99 7/57 377/581 62/124 19/78
32 118 106 62 25 593 119 64
(45) 84/145 64/195 27/106 8/55 421/733 83/158 33/117
40 130 117 73 32 681 133 81
(32) 103/160 74/226 34/118 14/80 489/861 98/161 46/121
50 146 137 86 41 807 156 108
(29) 118/174 93/265 45/125 17/76 583/1011 112/210 66/166
75 170 159 112 55 1007 188 152
(12) 159/183 135/201 81/137 20/74 806/1131 136/228 80/207
100 188 208 130 77 1332 243 256
(11) 175/206 173/243 98/148 46/124 985/1547 199/296 155/373
125 207 229 148 82 1482 258 320
(4) 197/219 218/251 133/164 50/146 1265/1748 241/283 218/461
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
Our Readers Write
From: "Obleman.Eric"
Subject: eMailed Moves
I've been eMailing moves for several months now and have always used hard
spaces. I've never had a problem with this method and suggest that you should
not use tabs when eMailing turns.
From: "Bob Cook"
Organization: Adventures By Mail, Inc.
Subject: Re: Monster Island ? (fwd)
I'm Emailing the Australian guy about MI. Thanks for passing along the
note. Yes, he can play as there's currently no Australian license for
the game (their market's just too small). We charge him an extra $2
for airmail postage, but everything else is the same.
From: thomas@esca.com (Dave Thomas)
Subject: Far Structures
I can confirm the location of Willan's Far Post (net coord. 449,314).
My son's monster, Katarak, just made it to Dallan's Far Post (net
coord. 455,370).
From: shdowspwn@aol.com (Russ Calkins)
Subject: Making stuff
To the person who had the trouble making an Item when the
slots would have been freed up by using the ingredients neccessary to make
it: Jack said some time ago (years?) that the first thing the program does
is check for an empty space. So even if the process of making an item will
free up the necessary space you won't make it unless you have a empty space
available first.
From: Gerald Hagedorn
Subject: Fuvah temple
There is a newly constructed Fuvah temple in the Vicinity of the
Black Swan. We just finished sanctifining it on thursday. We are now
going to head west to another temple ruin location which we will rebuild.
Another interesting note is that my monster will have been on the island
for 3 years as of April 12. He has 96 turns in now so it seems that we get
32 turns every year (not including makeup turns)
From: frits@cp.tn.tudelft.nl (Frits Kuijlman)
Subject: Monster Island news and other stuff
I am keeping back issues of the eMonster News at an FTP site here. Anyone
who wants to get them (or many other pbm files) feel free. Unfortunatly,
this site will be changing soon. I'll let you know.
Ftp site: ftp.cp.tn.tudelft.nl (192.31.126.16)
Directory: /pub/pbm/Misc
And if you have anything to upload to the site, please put it here:
Uploads: /pub/pbm/Incoming
Log in as 'anonymous', use as your password your email address, e.g.
frits@cp.tn.tudelft.nl
eMonster News issues available (and their sizes) are
7935 news.9207 (#4)
24628 news.9208 (#6)
17379 news.9209 (#7)
10611 news.9209b (#8)
12500 news.9210 (#9)
26489 news.9210b (#10)
17143 news.9306 (#14)
15233 news.9307 (#15)
30332 news.9308 (#16)
26226 news.9309 (#17)
40585 news.9310 (#18)
50908 news.9311 (#19)
33174 news.9312 (#20)
42128 news.9401 (#21)
62212 news.9402 (#22)
41611 news.9403 (#23)
There are other files available too.
*****Editor says: I can send these files to you over email too.
From: maralj@aol.com (Tom Skovronsky)
Subject: Prices
Prices of Zoingo Gold Coin #363 = 13 Oc.; Golden Ocular #361 = 46 Oc; Kwando
Guilder #366 = 5 Oc; Zoingo Silver Coin #364 = 6 Oc. at a Far Inn with rare
items = good.
From: Sindre Stabell
Subject: sacrifice blurb
AAARRRGGGHHH...
My Deathwind has spent the last few turns trying to get the sacrifice blurb.
He has been an an acolyte of Kabuki for the past 27 or so turns and is 53
turns old. He has visited two different temples and kowtowed four times for
between 5 and 76 action points. Still no success. Could there be a turn limit
for Kabuki and Shroud monsters that is set at 60 turns? Any help in this would
be greatly appreciated before I go nuts... ;-O
From: fuegi@CS.ColoState.EDU (Aaron D. Fuegi)
Subject: Re: Loggerhead Camps
The average Loggerhead takes about 100 damage to kill and generally
this requires 2-3 attacks for a pretty strong monster to do. Also, it is
not reliable that you will fight the same 'head several times in a row so
in a turn where you made 3 attacks you could damage three different 'heads.
You do LV to fight them but actually while the camp is very full you
will get automatically attacked once when you first enter the square.
Prepare to take a beating and don't get discouraged if you don't do well at
first.
From: Robert James
The Order of the White Rose is currently compliling a complete Far Inn
Service List. We have have the following from hard copies: Dragon's Tale,
Twisted Tablar, Crooked Nose, Bottom Hill, Hamilton's Cove, and Lion's Fill.
Although we have reports of many other Far Inns, given the nature of rumor
and error (and the fact that some Inns will expand), we want verification by
way of photocopies of original printouts. I have already send Scott the
compilation of the ones we have [editor: also in hardcopy, I haven't typed
it in yet.] When I receive the others, I will add them and send the updated
list in to the email newsletter as well.
Robert James
3636 Vinton Ave #4
Los Angeles CA 90034
From: Michael Powell <74146.2211@CompuServe.COM>
Subject: MI/sacred creatures
Scott: you asked if it would be a good idea to set a No Attack order for
your god's sacred creatures.
I know that since I declared for Shroud, I have encountered Ghoul Buzzards
at least three times. I did not have a no attack order set but I just
watched it fly by each time without taking any offensive action. One turn
before declaring, I fought one.
From: "Robert Kazmierczak"
>I recently had a message that wondered about killing creatures that are
>sacred to your own god. It suggested that, for example, Kabuki followers
>should set a No Attack order for Myrrh Dove, and Shroudians should set a
>No Attack order for Ghoul Buzzards. Anyone have any information on this?
Don't bother setting NA orders up for these creatures. If you encounter a
creature sacred to your God (this has been valid for both my monsters,
following Kabuki and Fuvah) you will automatically pass it by without
attacking.
From: Gerald Hagedorn
Subject: Re: MI/sacred creatures
I am a follower of Fuvah and have encounter several creatures that
are Fuvite creatures, every time I do i leave them alone. So I would say
as long as you don't issue and attack order on that creature you will be
fine.
As far as I can tell a monster will not attack a creature that is favored
by a god that monster is following. Therefore it would be uneccisary to
issue the no attack order. Since the only way I know of to attack one of
the creatures is to issure the attack (A) order, which will override the no
attack setting anyways. Maybe followers of Kabuki, or Shroud attack
creatures favored by their god, but I know that Fuvah followers do not.
From: Ron Blanco
NEWS FLASH:
Storm'n Norm'n is the only blonde Norman on Monster Island, and has
found out how to dye his hair red. We are not totally sure of this rumored
report, but expect his hairdresser knows for sure... Storm'n Norm'n
Enterprises now markets Red Hair Dye and also Stormy's Natural Bleaching Kit.
Either may be purchased for 1995 (oculars or equally appraised items) for a
limited time. This secret voodoo item can be your's, so you too may look and
feel like the Norman elite. (It is recommended the BigNoses buy and use two
bottles, since it takes so much more to improve their looks. Therefore,
we have a special offer to BigNoses. They can buy two bottles for the
special price of 3995.)
Proceeds from the sale of the afore mentioned items will go to
support the "Old Senile Norman's Home for the Elite Aged" -- NOT!!
It will actually go for the Margarita Party held monthly at selected
Far Inns located NEAR YOU -- red hair required for admittance...
From: Dana Barker <73734.1241@CompuServe.COM>
Long time no see! As for me, I'm busier than anything. I play Quest, in
addition to MI. I have joined an alliance, and am now running 2 groups. I
publish the game# 1 newsletter, maintain a settlement list as well as a
dungeon/widerness journal. Also, I'm maintaining a q & a file for the DoL.
Anyone playing Quest or just interested is welcome to contact me.
From: "g.mcdougall"
Subject: ABM vs. KJC
Just a quick note aimed mainly at the UK and European players
of Monster Island. I asked Bob how long the KJC lag is and his
reply was as follows:
'...the delay between program updates in the US and UK is quite
variable. We usually update MI a few times a year. So things
usually appear in our game at least several months before they
arrive in the UK...'
Also, I hear Bob plans to email turns *back* soon. I asked how
he'd handle the maps and he thinks ASCII characters are the most
likely solution.
From: warden (Scott Micheel)
Testing The Boundaries:
If you have already bought a particular Far Inn Knowledge, you can't buy it
again. Big Danny had already bought Basic Stealth, and he figured, what the
heck -- maybe I can buy it again and get it even higher. No dice. It said
'you already know this!'. But it *did* let me keep my occulars. Looks like
a good thing to guard against mistakes, anyway.
The Cadets of Gascoyne newsletter (Nose News -- they're all a bunch of
bignoses) reports that you can use the BP (Bathe in Pond) order at a
waterhole too. Nobody's tried it at a geyser.
The Order of the Whoite Rose newsletter (The Fortnight) reports that you
can equip a Skull Amulet, even if you're not a Viper (despite what it
says in the blurb). No word on whether it actually *works* if you're not
a viper as of yet.
Stompin Rocksoul, ever alert for such 'hidden' things, tried to xfer an
item to a jossman at an Inn. Maybe he'd give me secret information, or
a neat item. He use the Xfer order, and said race number 8 --
on the theory that the program might work on the first jossman he met. No dice.
It said 'No such monster number.' Oh well.
Anybody else have any interesting tales about testing the boundaries, and
trying the untried?
From: Ashley Taft
Subject: Re: I'm Back!
It's been sooooooooooo long since Lord SkyDiver had a turn processed...
It is my sincere hope to get some money and turns to ABM in May...And my
sincere DREAD to see how many make-up turns are due...*sigh*
I'm a wee bit saddened by the apparent lack of Fuvah Temples in Middle
Kunbar (The names come back, like riding a bike...)
I hope to see some of you folks wandering aimlessly about on the Island.
Endure me, as I ask questions you would expect of a newbie...Not one of
the earliest players, and THE first to crack a Tomb of Mumi ( I still
have the post-it note from Jack attesting to that!)
Long live Monster Island, and Long Live eMonster!
Lord SkyDiver
The Dust-Covered Furrcat
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
"When the President does it, that means that it is not illegal."
(Richard Milhous Nixon, quoted by David Frost in /I Gave Them A Sword/, ch.8)
Have fun, and be monsterly!