Mangband.org rules.

[Crimson]

This applies only to the mangband.org server. Other servers might have different rules. be sure you know the house rules on the server you're playing on.

Fair question, what are the rules?

1) When the ghost dies, you start over from scratch. This means you don't get any of your old stuff, even if by some magic it happens to still exist. Write it off, and enjoy a pristine character! (I think this is actually the most exciting part of the game, starting a new character)
You'll note that the ghost does keep his key unless he dies. If you manage to surface the ghost, you're certainly still entitled to use the key to get your backup gear.

2) If a character dies, (but not the ghost) and decides to surface, you can give them up to 1,000 au. (Adjust upwards for higher levelers, if you like). More than this, and you could trigger the audit flags, and get him removed from play, unless he manages to build enough experience up very quickly.

3) Don't give things of value away. Sell them. This keeps the game in balance. Charity is a nice trait, but it destroys the game balance very quickly. Besides, you might need the extra wealth sooner than you think.

4) Ghosts should not be playing with live characters, except in a rescue situation for the ghost. This is used to abuse AI bugging, and if you're discovered, both characters will probably be starting from scratch.

5) Don't pkill without a decent reason. (Note that "I wanted his stuff" is at times a decent reason, but farming level 1 characters is just mean )

6) Don't house artifacts. Artifacts are rare, and precious things. They do not like being stored in houses. It's ok to keep them if you intend to use them in some reasonable period of time (think days, not months).


Courtesy rules: Not manadatory, but might keep you from being fruitbatted by an angry mage.

7) Don't litter in town. using k takes exactly the same number of keystrokes.

If you bump, people think you're trying to steal. Don't whine if they then cut your head off, or teleport you somewhere.

9) Don't afk in shops.

10) Don't save in the dungeon above level 600. surface first. You might come back to discover you're entombed in solid rock anyway.

Question/Comments welcome. This is just a tentative initial list. It will most likely change a bit with some feedback.

[cisco]

An event last night is what brought this about.

Was it last night?  Could have been Saturday night.  I can't really recall.

Anyway, a character had died (Character "A"), came to town, regenerated, killed a level 1 character (Character "B") and took his stuff.

My understanding is that if a character dies, he has to either collect money from donations, killing off townies, go down a few levels in the dungeon, or suicide and start again.

What had happened is that the player of B decided that B's stats wasn't good enough, and had decided to suicide it.  Somehow, A and B came to an agreement to allow A to playerkill B, and take B's gear.  A did this, took B's gear, and B suicided.

I promptly recalled, killed A, took the gear and junk/sold most of it.  I think I left a +0/+1 whip and an empty lantern.

I did this because the previous night, Angus (and please correct me if I get this wrong, Angus) had expressly TOLD A "Hey, if you die, you have to go kill townies or have someone help you", because A had logged another character, killed it, and took the gear.  Angus then promptly killed him and zapped the gear.

Am I wrong in this thinking?  Is it okay to do this?

[Crimson]

The situation can be a lot more clear cut, but certainly more frustrating.

Unlucky Player is killed by something.  New Unlucky Ghost arranges for a rescue.  Helpful Player comes down to help, but Unlucky Ghost dies in the attempted rescue, leaving Helpful Player with the gear intact.  

Unfortunately, Helpful Player has little choice here but to abandon the gear on the floor, or assume it as a windfal, and dispose of it as he will.  What he should not do is give it to Unlucky (Destroyed, and then recreated) Player again later.  

Otherwise, Unlucky player would now immediately be in possesion of things his lvl 1 character could never reasonably posess, and other bad things happen.

[Bobert]

About rule #9 - what does afk mean?

About rule #7 - is there anywhere in town I can leave objects without being a pain to everyone?  For instance, if I write a message to someone on a food ration, is there a place in town I can leave it for him to find that will not get me killed by an irritated 50 level mage?

[Crimson]

"AFK"  -- Away From Keyboard

Yes, leave it against a store wall, away from the center street.

Note that townies will pick things up a lot.

[Volrak]

3) Don't give things of value away.  Sell them.  This keeps the game in balance.  Charity is a nice trait, but it destroys the game balance very quickly.  Besides, you might need the extra wealth sooner than you think.

I usually go into the dungeon partied with friends, and we share the gear we find.. you'll probably agree that this is no problem.  But.. sometimes i may go into the dungeon with friend A, find an item that i think would be especially useful for friend B, and then when friend B comes online we go partying with them and give them the item.  This would seem to violate rule 3, yet i think sharing between a group of friends (in more developed online societies you might call it a clan) should be ok.

5)  Don't pkill without a decent reason.  (Note that "I wanted his stuff" is at times a decent reason, but farming level 1 characters is just mean )

This is probably sufficient for now, but if we got a large number of players, there might eventually be people who pk and make up all kinds of reasons, ("i thought he was stealing from me", "he stole my kill", "i'm role-playing", etc) but whose real reason is for the thrill of it, and the pleasure of screwing other people.  These kind of people tend to destroy a social game, unless everyone on the game is this type of person.  Personally if i want the thrill of hunting and defeating other people i play a 3d shooter.  :)  Anyway, that's mostly a bit of rambling, but it might be pertinent some time in the future.

[Korat Rahmoon]

I would hope that by the time such PKer's were caught that a high level mage would be capable of kiling them.  I really don't feel this game is PKer friendly, since to PK, you need high levels, and to obtain high levels... you risk your life in the dungeon.

[TigerWolf]

Posted by: ciscoAn event last night is what brought this about.

Was it last night?  Could have been Saturday night.  I can't really recall.

Anyway, a character had died (Character "A"), came to town, regenerated, killed a level 1 character (Character "B") and took his stuff.

My understanding is that if a character dies, he has to either collect money from donations, killing off townies, go down a few levels in the dungeon, or suicide and start again.

What had happened is that the player of B decided that B's stats wasn't good enough, and had decided to suicide it.  Somehow, A and B came to an agreement to allow A to playerkill B, and take B's gear.  A did this, took B's gear, and B suicided.

I promptly recalled, killed A, took the gear and junk/sold most of it.  I think I left a +0/+1 whip and an empty lantern.

I did this because the previous night, Angus (and please correct me if I get this wrong, Angus) had expressly TOLD A "Hey, if you die, you have to go kill townies or have someone help you", because A had logged another character, killed it, and took the gear.  Angus then promptly killed him and zapped the gear.

Am I wrong in this thinking?  Is it okay to do this?

I would like to clear this up. Player A did not die. Player B died and decided to make a new character. When player B was making his character he picked the wrong stats. Player A asked player B over an IM if he could kill Player B to sell his stuff.  Player B agreed. Player A killed Player B. Player B commented suicided. Player B made new character. Cisco killed Player A. Now under the rule number 3, that you posted earlier, Player A did nothing wrong. And thus was killed for no reason.

Hope this clears this incident up!
TigerWolf

[TigerWolf]

Errum, I mean rule number 5. =D

TigerWolf

[TigerWolf]

Hmm another line from Ciscos post: "I did this because the previous night, Angus (and please correct me if I get this wrong, Angus) had expressly TOLD A "Hey, if you die, you have to go kill townies or have someone help you", because A had logged another character, killed it, and took the gear.  Angus then promptly killed him and zapped the gear."

Correct me if I am wrong, but I did not see a rule that says, you cant kill another character right after you die, infact its covered by rule number 5: " dont pkill without a decent reason.  (Note that "I wanted his stuff" is at times a decent reason, but farming level 1 characters is just mean ) "

Hmm lets see that would go under, "well I wanted that characters stuff because I didnt have any."

Gee I am having fun here=D

TigerWolf

[Domino]

Except in the instance where Angus (me) killed the guy, he admitted that player b was his own character.  Actually didn't admit so much as blurt out to everyone in the thought that someone would take offense if he was pkilling.  Thing is, it is easy enough for anyone to make the money that a level 1 character carries in cash/gear in a few minutes of killing townies or scumming the stairs at 50 feet.  SOME people are too lazy to do so and would rather cheat.  If I personally catch you, you'll die and waste far more time than if you just took care of it in the proper manner to begin with.  End of Story.  
P.S. The guy had been told previously that this wasn't acceptable for this server and ignored such warnings...

[Ashi]

How do the audit flags work? If a low level guy finds a really rare item or artifact, and a big player wants to buy it, can he sell it for that player's price instead of the shop price? For example, I once sold the War Hammer of Aule for about 8 million gold worth of stuff. Would this get a player removed from play?

[Crimson]

8mil?  That's a lot.

That wouldn't remove the character from play, but I'd be probably looking at it pretty hard..  It's not unherd of for lower level chars to find speed boots, which is the most common example of this.  They typically don't live long afterwards, because they go nuts with the cash, and then get the character killed off because they don't know how to play it.

[Crimson]

too many high level players are starting to charge little or nothing for fairly expensive gear.  Watch what you charge.  The character you save may be your own.

Crimson.

[Big_Juan_Teh_Furby]

[quote author=Crimson link=board=GQ;num=1037032355;start=0#13 date=01/30/03 at 18:57:14]too many high level players are starting to charge little or nothing for fairly expensive gear.  Watch what you charge.  The character you save may be your own.

Crimson.[/quote]

Okay, no problem.

Give us a reliable way to know exactly what to charge for items and watch this issue magically disappear.

I'm not trying to be rude or a smart ass, but this is a serious deal.  I'm probably one of these people this message is "aimed" towards (even if I'm not, no biggie), and I don't know what to charge for anything.  People go "hey, how much for <insert item here>, and I go "uh, I have no idea...how 'bout <insert price above what the shop will buy it from me here>?"

It's one thing to say "hey, everyone, quit selling items for less than a fair price", but it's another thing to leave those prices up to us, then get irritated when our idea of a fair price is less than what your idea of a fair price is.

/rant