Pondering MUD Development (part 3)

I didn't expect this to run on for so long.  But I appreciate that people seem to be reading it.  Perhaps now that we're on the 3rd post I should finally get to the point, and stop bouncing around with the reasoning that has lead me to this point.

As I mentioned I am interested in wrapping up some unfinished work on Meat MUD Classic and establish an official 1.0 release.  I am also interested in starting an entirely new MUD project.  Just bear in mind that I also want to approach this MUD project with all the knowledge I have gained over the years of playing and developing on various different MUDs with different codebases.

Goals for this new project include:

1) An entirely class-free system of gameplay -

Diversity will still be available in the form of race (human, elf, dwarf, pixie, troll, etc) and sex (male, female & neutral, but all characters will have the opportunity to learn any spell or skill they wish.

2) A revised level system for characters -

Instead of levels, characters will fall under a certain tier of skill based on the number of goals they have accomplished, whether the goals be defeating a certain number of opponents, or completing quests, or even engaging in the transport and sale of goods.  Beginning characters will start off as "apprentices" with the transition to "journeyman" allowing them out into the world, followed by becoming "masters" and ultimately "enlightened".  These terms may not be the final terms used, but within each tier will be subcategories that I have yet to define in my head.

3) A revised manner of acquiring skills and spells -

All characters will be able to learn from a default set of spells and skills taught by a scholar or scholars in the starting town.  Special skills and spells will require travel to new towns, exploration of old castles, abandoned libraries and ancient crypts and possibly even visits to the gods and goddesses.  Most likely a minor quest will need to be fulfilled before these special abilities can be acquired by the character.  Hopefully the end result will be a greater diversity of character types.  To ensure diversity spells will probably be divided into tiers, and therefore should only be accessible to players of a certain skill level.  Acquiring new spells and skills will also reward the character with a significant amount of experience, helping them to the next skill tier.

4) Death will be completely revised -

Starting characters will be immune to death up until a certain skill level, although they may potentially be knocked unconscious during battle and therefore immobilized until they recover.  Upon reaching the "journeyman" tier, it will be possible for characters to die in battle, although they will be disabled by being knocked unconscious first.  Unconscious characters will have a chance to recover unless they are fighting an aggressive NPC, in which case they will die.

Death will not result in loss of experience, skill level, equipment or other penalty.  Rather, upon dying characters will find themselves in an alternate world from the one in which they began.  In this alternate world they will find a different primary town, and several other regions that cannot be accessed from their world of origin (although there will likely be portals in certain remote areas in the "world above" that lead to this "world below", and vice versa).  It will also be possible to return to the character's world of origin by dying in this secondary world.  Suicide (aside from throwing your character at an impossible-to-defeat opponent) will probably not be permitted.

5) The world will be created from scratch -

This will be the most time consuming endeavor - after all building a single area can take months, and I would prefer to start with at least 50 active areas.  Ultimately I will need builders who can help me with this portion of the game's development, although exactly how and where I will find the right ones is debatable.

As already mentioned I want two worlds, although their exact nature I have not yet fully defined.  Most likely there will be an upper world and an underworld (or outer world & inner world, depending on whether the world is flat or round).  The upper world will be more mundane than the lower world, and consist of a northern winter region, a southern desert region, an eastern and western forest region each leading to coastal towns, and an ocean (possibly one that can be circumnavigated).  The underworld will consist of a city of the dead, with catacombs, dungeons, astral voids and other more magical places, and potentially an underwater region.

6) There will be supplemental races available in-game -

It will be possible to become a different race than the one you chose from within the game, either through magic, curse, or some other manner I am unable to think of at the moment.  Additional races will probably include vampires, werewolves, merfolk, dragons, angels, demons, and more.

7) There will be a storyline -

Exploring further and further will reveal an underlying storyline of how the world was created, how it is now threatened, and how it can only be saved by players who achieve the "enlightened" tier.

8) Characters who succeed in achieving the top skill tier will be able to add to the game world -

Enlightened characters will be able to access area building commands, although there will probably be some rules in place to prevent them from creating McDonald's restaurants or other things that do not exactly conform to the overall MUD theme, and it will probably be necessary for them to request a set of virtual numbers to use in the area creation.

Please do me a favor and leave any thoughts or ideas on the above you may have.  If you are a programmer or a builder and you wish to contribute to this potential project please contact me (use the Contact webmaster link on the left).  Bear in mind I want to wrap up the Meat MUD Classic 1.0 release first, so it may be some months before this begins.  I am also interested in people's ideas regarding a name for this new MUD.