I always like to make sure I post something in a given year, so
getting a post in early probably helps. My plans for this year include
reworking the site (the design is a little dated now) introducing
Facebook integration to allow people to log in to the site, leave
comments on maps and items, and to generally give it a spring
clean. Parts of the site are never used, parts need to be cleaned
up. I'm not sure I can make the maps any better, but I'll have a
go. I'll probably be moving it all over to PHP and using CSS.
Anyway, a Happy New Year to you all. Whoever thought we'd still all be
playing this game in 2012!
Monday, 14th March 2011
To quote the theme tune of Enterprise "It's been a looong
time...". Wow have things been mad since I last posted
here. I've moved house, I'm the proud father of a little boy,
John, and I've started doing a PhD at work. That's a lot of stuff
going on but still no excuse for the lack of updates.
I really don't find time to play SD very much these days. I'm either
looking after the boy, working, or using my left over free time to
make gold on the auction house in that MMO crack that is World of
Warcraft. That doesn't mean I don't log into SD, check out our facebook group and keep up with things. On top of that
people, like Dylan, are still sending me info for the site. Dylan and
Cody got together and made a complete list of all the tree names you can use for the
tree walking druid spell. Its taken me about a month to get them
online here! Its linked from the main maps page. Slacker I know. Anyway, I am still around. I still have
my toons on Shadowdale and I still keep this site running. Hope
to see you all again soon.
Monday, 8th March 2010
Well, anyone that's been on the MUD lately will hopefully have seen me
there levelling Astaroth. He's an Expert now and hopefully (barring
getting dispel magic cast on me and dying) will be an Adept by the end
of the week. Thanks to everyone who's helped out getting a little
equipment for Astaroth and Stibbons. They're both in a state now where
I can get the easy things (crystal lens, dirty belt) but I still can't
get the tougher things alone yet. I imaging that will come as Astaroth
hits 45 and Blade Barrier lends a welcome hand.
A number of people have offered to lend a hand when I'm back up to
50/50/50 and start mapping again and any help will be gratefully
recieved. This offer lead me to take stock of where I am and take a
look at the maps I have been working on, and those that still need
work. Those I've started and have doen a fair bit on are as follows:
The Ruins of Caderra
The Spine of Mon Crewyll
Ovideo's Crossing
The Moonshae Isles
I've also started (but got hardly anywhere) with:
Ruins of Melkier
Hidden Swamp
Githyanki Outpost
If anyone wants me to email them a copy of one of the maps I'll
happilly do so - you can see what a mess they are when I'm working on
them and maybe have a go at finishing one off yourself!
I also have a list of zones I haven't started yet:
The City of Angels
The Spires of Sorcery
All that Glitters
Jayven
Hill Giant Smial
Blackspire Tower
Sulphur Winter
Menzoberanzan
Luck o' the Leprechaun
Temple of Evil
Kylarn's Alcazar
Under the Dark Sun
The Palace of Orcus
Dragon Loft
Assassin's Mountain
Castle Dreadyre
The Murky Deep
Apocalypse
Elemental Plane of Water
The Elements
Elemental Plane of Air
Shadowkeep
Black Woods Barony
These are all the zones you can get to from places I've already
mapped, I'm sure there are other zones I don't know about yet but
where they are, who knows? If anyone has any hints or tips for these
zones (must have sneak to map, take fire res, must have blunt res)
please feel free to send them over. Death traps are the most annoying
obviously, but HUGE undead liches... we'd all like to know where
they're hiding.
Monday, 20th April 2009
So. Haven't been on for over a year and I thought it was about time
to log back in, reroll a character and get back on with things. Today
I logged in, rolled up Stibbons and was amazed to find three or for
people ported straight to me, took one look and vanished - arrived
minutes later with a full set of starter gear!
As I said at the time, much more than I could possibly have hoped for.
Thanks very much to all that helped. I hope to be back on
semi-regularly so that I can level up Stibbons then start on Astaroth
once more.
Friday, 29th February 2008
I haven't been playing for a while now apart from logging Stibbons,
Asheron and Astaroth on to keep their accounts alive. Stibbons and
Asheron have economical equipment, not the best but very low rent
(Crystal sword, breastplate, shield, dragon boots, agate bands, black
rings, etc) but Astaroth, as my main exploring character, had some
nice, exoitic stuff. Not any more. No sneak, no +50 hp, no spy
gear and no awesome sword.
I swapped Stibb's kit onto Asteroth and have started getting some
basic kit and I'll then push on to getting mana-regen and decent
bracelets and rings before trying for the good stuff again. Part of me
isn't really sure that paying too much rent is worth it - I still
don't anticipate playing oo much - but having better than basic kit
seems like a goo idea.
Friday, 28th September 2007
I'm still alive and I still have Astaroth, Stibbons and Asheron alive
and well. Stibbs has hit 45, Asheron is 50/50 and when I can be
bothered I get him a couple of million XP. I've got rid of some of
Astaroth's better equipment to reduce his daily rent but he's still in
a state where he can explore should I want to... but I'm not really
playing.
Why? World of Warcraft. I've avoided it for a long time. After playing
Ashron's Call back in 2002/3/4 I didn't want to get sucked back into
another MMORPG and so I've stayed away from them all. In July I went
on holiday with two good friends Paul and Tarik and ALL they talked
about for the first week was WoW. So I thought, hey - lets give it a
go. A couple of months later and I have two characters and I'm
levelling them up.
This doesn't mean I'm leaving SD - far from it. We've created a
Shadowdale group on Facebook (for all you out there using it) and some
long-term and old-school SD players have joined. I'm also keeping my
characters alive and have a couple of maps to get up when I get the
time. I'd also like to spend a little time mapping but I seem to have
HARD zones left to do that - to be 100% honest - I'm not sure I can
map on my own. I need to kill hard-as-nails mobs that have keys and
Astaroth can't always do that (even with mushrooms, shield of
nourishment, idol hearts and onyx shields).
Anyway, I'm still here - web site is not going anywhere. If you're on
facebook and you play - pop along to the group and join up.
See y'all online soon.
Sunday, 27h May 2007
I was quite surprised to see how long ago I made my last
update. Especially as I've been playing so much over the last couple
of weeks and even playing regularly ALL year (even if much of it was
just paying my rent). A fair amount has happened since January.
I've spent a fair amount of time working with Asheron and he's 9M xp
away from being 50/50. I'll get him there in a few sessions in the
Ruins of Yulash. I also tried to log on Stibbons and found that I'd
managed to spend a whole month without logging him in... he was
gone. After kicking myself A LOT I spent a couple of days on the
Reroll! screen waiting until I got some good stats until I found "Your
Strength is Amazing!", "You are very nimble and have a natural talent for
acrobatics" and "Illness is a thing foreign to you!". I could have
waited FOREVER to get maximum Dex as well, but I wanted to
play. Stibbs is now 11 hours old and level 42... my quickest Adept to
date, and his rent only comes to 43g a day ;-)
I've also written up my map of The Mage Academy. It's a
newbie zone with a few interesting items in it. Even so
its another example of a newbie zone that A LONG way away from places
newbies normally start. If you're a genuine newbie you're probably not
going to find this zone. If you're an experienced Shadowdale played
you're just not going to go there.
Saturday, 13th January 2007
On Monday I got a little time to carry on mapping and managed to
(seemed like an age) map Lomon Manor. I
quite the zone, even if its clearly unfinished. Its also the only way
into Assassin's Mountain. I think one of the things that took so long
was the sheer number of items in the
zone.
Some of the items are pretty good and I'm gald I know where they are now.
Monday, 8th January 2007
Added a whole
bunch of items from Shadowdale Village that Stef sent me
ages ago. We're up to 2385 items in the database and 1842 of
those (around 77%) are verified as SD3 items.
Sunday, 7th January 2007
A new year, a new map. I've managed to get a little time to myself over the last week and I've spent some time checking out old maps and event mapping new places. I present a map of the Land of the Hill People for your reading pleasure. I died in this zone, unaware that the four adventurers would attack me if any one of their number was killed. I remembered a rumour about something similar but it just never occured to me that I wouldn't have more warning. One kill, a tick later and four guys wander in, dispel me and squish me like a bug. I liked the zone, even the small maze.
I've also been getting Asheron a little XP and he's close to level 45 in cleric and blade barrier. Stibbons and Astaroth are (obviously) still around and Shaniqua was good enough to help me turn Astaroth into an elf to extend his lifespan. Thanks Shani! Hopefully I'll get most of tomorrow to play SD too.
Sunday, 24th December 2006
Christmas eve, near the end of the year once more. I've been playing
Shadowdale for nearly thirteen years on and off, with servers up and
down as the MUD has changed and evolved. I still enjoy it but these
days I don't find I have that much time to play it. When you're
levelling, an hour here and there is usefully spent. When you're
mapping, an hour is rarely enough.
Even so, I'm going to stay around. I still have plenty of zones to
map. Perhaps, when the last zone is mapped, I'll finally run out of
reasons to play but we're nowhere near that yet.
Anyway, enough gibbering. I have two more zones online. Lopan and the Bugbear
Academy are online. I mapped them both ages ago and I only
now have the time to go over the maps, write up the notes and get them
online. Christmas day is always a busy one but I'm hoping to get some
more quality Shadowdale time to myself on Boxing day and the
27th. Catch you online soon!
Tuesday, 7th November 2006
No, I haven't been ignoring SD. I've been busy at work, and busy down
the pub! I've been logging on two or three times a week to keep
Astaroth and Stibbons alive and I've been looking over a few maps that
need to be put online... I promise I'll get round to them soon.
Over the last week I've been planning Asheron, my new Warrior/Cleric
that I'm planning on pushing all the way up to level 51. Chatting to a
few people online it sounded like being a Dwarf was the way to go so I
took a long time rerolling until I hit top Strength and Con and pretty
good Dex. A few hours later I've pushed Asheron on to Expert. He has
18/89 base strength and 18 con! He only has 10 base dex though so I
need a few more +Dex items but otherwise he's well on the way.
Thursday, 5th October 2006
Well, I hoped to get one of the maps that I had made online this
week. What I didn't think was that I'd map the Abyss and get that
online. I had help to kill the last mob in the zone from Tysha and
Lorthos, and I did die once on my own but I was happy to see that I
coped well with most of the mobs. Vanastha and Shaniqua have managed,
over the years, to teach me how to actually prepare myself... Thanks
guys - I know I've not been the best pupil but I can be taught ;-)
Ever since I started mapping, some areas have been 'holy zones' for
me. Zones that people seemed to know their way around but were too
dangerous for me to map. I learn my way around by looking at maps, I
remember how a zone looks and think myself around the rooms. Without a
map I find it very difficult to get anywhere - hence my mapping I
guess. In the last few months I've mapped the Darkspyre Keep (home of
the Helm of Resistance) and now The Abyss, the firt part of the route
to Tiamat's Hell and crystal earrings with a few decent items of its
own. I know full well that some zones are tough and I need to be
careful but these two zones have given me hope that one day, even on
my own, I might be able to map the whole MUD. Now that's something
worth working towards.
Monday, 2nd October 2006
I may not have written anything on the site for a while but I have
been on Shadowdale at least a couple of times each week since my last
entry. I have maps of the Bugbear Academy and Lopan to upload when I
get the time. I've been mapping the Abyss. I have a map of the Mage's
Academy done and dusted too. I've added a few items into the database
and I'm obviously keeping Stibbons and Astaroth topped up with gold
coins to pay their rents.
I'm finding that I'm playing less than I had hoped. When you're
levelling away madly, any half hour here or there is a useful half
hour. Once you've made it up to 50/50/50 and you start mapping you
realise that you need at least a couple of hours to map an area
and you can't map high level areas that might be dangerous unless
there are some people online who can get your body back when you die.
So, I end up playing less than I was when we all had new characters
and were racing to a high level.
I will try to get at least one of the three maps online this
week. Plus I'm hoping to finish up the map of the Abyss. We will see.
Monday, 4th September 2006
Fixed a few links in this page (starting at June 7th 2004 and going
earlier) and changed the map of the Storm Horns
as the marsh north of the Crystal Lake was slightly wrong.
Also added the Ruins of Melkior into the list of zones for objects and
added a few objects that Dusky sent me.
Sunday, 3rd September 2006
I've been fairly busy over the last few weeks and have been on holiday
too. So this weekend has been my first real chance to get any real
playing in. I try to log in every couple of days to keep the rent
payments up but you can't really call a money run 'playing' the game
can you?
Anyway, today I sat down and decided to map the Crystal
Lake. I've been there once before but I didn't really look around
too much and didn't bother going into the tower. This time around I've
had a good look about. There are one or two interesting items and a
little xp to be had. If you're bored and you haven't been there why
not go along and explore? There aren't any death traps and only two
really tough mobs, most Adept level characters who can handle
themselves should have no problems. I'll put up the items I found when
I get chance in the week.
Monday, 14th August 2006
I spent a little time over the weekend mapping Lopan. I've added the
items I found
into the item database. There are a few of note: A sneaking ring for
evil and neutral players; two weapons that do spell damage and a
resist cold item... not all bad ;-)
Monday, 7th August 2006
Added a few items from the Dark Castle of Khmer that Stef sent my way,
and wrote up my map of The Fallen Star.
Monday, 7th August 2006
Spent a little time over the weekend mapping, and managed to get
killed in The Fallen Star, a zone hanging off the Sea of Fallen Stars
and Westgate. Basically I was wiping out any mobs in the zone until I
came to the Big Bad: Inhep, Aboleth Queen Mother. She is HARD. She has
a lot of hitpoints and can't be damaged by weapons with less than +3
to hit.
Shaniqua was on and was good enough to help me try and get my corpse
back but on our first attempt we had to run away back to
Shadowdale. Shaniqua had to deal with customers while I was walking us
back to the zone and, unknown to us, Inhep was walking her way to find
us... We ran into her, she killed Shani and I portalled back to SD
where, moments later, she arrived and told me that I was to
die. Luckily for me Stoal's is still a peace zone.
While she was waiting for me, Shaniqua nipped back down to the zone
and I talked him through it and he got my corpse and all my kit
back. The next day Mael, Mathilwch and Kalan helped me take her out
and finish up the zone. I'll write it up and get it posted when I
can. in the meantime I've added items from the Fallen
Star to the database.
Monday, 31st July 2006
I logged on to get Stibbons a little XP and some rent (he only needs
1k gold a day) and then get Astaroth his daily PILE of rent. While on
I figured I'd pop down to the Sea of Fallen
Stars and check out a rumour I'd heard about Dragon-Loft. Lo and
behold the rumour was true and there is a secret door through to
Dragon-Loft from the Sea. I've added it to the map.
Sunday, 30th July 2006
I've added the map of Darkspyre
Keep that I mapped yesterday. As ever I identified
some items and added them into the database. Didn't really get the
time to play today *sigh* hey ho.
Saturday, 29th July 2006
I spent the afternoon in Darkspyre keep and mapped it all with the help of Shaniqa. We didn't take on the dragon Brandon but at least I know my way around now. With some res items, good mana regen and a constant sanc and blade barrier I think Darkspyre Keep isn't too bad a place to get a quick few million xp. I'll add a map up when I get a chance.
I've also added a map of the Serpent
Hills and a few items
from there. I mapped the area last weekend but haven't really had the
time to put it online since. Once again it seems there is a
Newbie/Chump zone miles from anywhere that, to be honest, by the time
you find it you'll be well beyond it and the equipment within.
I've also fixed some links in the Astral Plane. Two of the links were broken and two links pointed to the wrong maps. They're now correct.
Sunday, 23rd July 2006
I spent a little time last night mapping Cloud
Castle. I don't know why but I expected it to be bigger and
possibly harder. I nearly left the zone without working out how to
open the way to King Romeius' treasure chamber but the answer struck
me and I headed back in and opened it up before finishing off the
map. There are a couple of nice items in the zone and I
suspect a few more that aren't loading at the mo.
Monday, 17th July 2006
After a full day's MUDding I was tired and really needed a break from
the screen... it didn't take long for me to log back in and use my
newly levelled tri-class to start mapping once more!
I decided to start with something easy and spent an hour or two
mapping Under the
Well and watching The Hulk on TV. When I get back to higher level
areas I'll have to concentrate more on Shadowdale ;-) There are a few
useful low-level
items in the zone but most players will move on to better
equipment once they start hunting in Chump zones.
It's good to be mapping again.
Sunday, 16th July 2006
Astaroth made it. After spending most of the day getting xp from The
Lost City, Yulash, Birch Island, Quicksilver Gorge and Shadows of the
City I made the last two levels I needed to get up to 50/50/50. As
long as I keep popping to Rocky Point or Quimperna Village for cash I
shouldn't really need to get xp from now on and I can head back to
mapping. Not sure where I'll be starting but I'm looking forward to it!
Sunday, 9th July 2006
Well, what a month. I don't know about you all but I've been pretty
busy this month. I startd a new job and that's been taking up a lot
more of my time than my old job used to. I've also been watching the
World Cup - I've probably watched more of this tournament than any
other in my memory. I've also managed to find time to play Shadowdale
most days.
Astaroth is now 46/49/48 and not too far off my immediate goal of
50/50/50 when I can stop worrying about xp and start mapping places
again. I've learnt a lot over the past month, I've also started using
haste more than I have before. I once had a character for a long time
who got so old I couldn't really use him any more and I had to reroll
him. Since then I've disliked haste as I don't want to have to make a
character and watch him get old and useless. However, in the past year
I've had to reroll characters over and over and getting to a high level
isn't so much of a problem as it was, so why not use haste?
Stibbons is level 43... I could level him up to 45 and will probably
do so once I'm back into mapping again. I can't see the point at the
moment, his job is done. Stibbs is there to get equipment when noone
has any and get equipment for Astaroth before he's high enough to get
it himself.
Anyway, it's been a long day and I need a break. I hope to be mapping
again before this week is out.
Thursday, 8th June 2006
Well, what a busy time. Last week I concentrated on levelling Stibbons
up and, as you'd expect, he's now an Adept (level 42). I also spent a
little time sitting in front of a computer hoping for some good stats
and eventually created Astaroth. I'm not 100% cure I'm keeping him as
I suspect his Con is too low, but he seems to have good dex and
strength. He has a worryingly low int and wis though all will be
confirmed when he hits level 16. Increasingly that looks further away
because of a couple of lag deaths but I'm sure I can work it off and
start levelling him again. I think he'll be pretty much ok once he
gets a couple of levels in all classes again.
This week I started a new job! No more long, lazy afternoons playing
Shadowdale up at the uni for me. I've moved into a small technology
company close to where I live and it's much busier and I'm a lot less
bored. Obviously this means I'll be playing SD of an evening now
instead of the day but I hope to still get some time in most days.
A big thanks to Eddie and Sorsha for helping Stibbons up a few levels
early on and especially for the odd bit of good kit that has come my
way: CHEERS GUYS!
Saturday, 27th May 2006
Well, what can I say? Shadowdale has been down for most of the year
thanks to some idiot hackers and problems with running on newer
hardware and (one assumes) a newer version of linux. No matter. It's
now back up and we can play it once more at play.sdmud.org 7777.
I spent an hour rolling Stibbons up and he has top strength and
dexterity but I'm beginning to suspect he only has 16 constitution and
will end up with only 320hp at level 50. Who cares? His job is to get
up to level 30ish and get good kit for the soon to be remade
Astaroth... After an afternoon of levelling and looking for equipment
and some help from Sorsha this morning Stibbs is now level 12 and has
ok equipment. Next up I need a cloak and a good weapon.
Boy it's good to be back in the game.
Tuesday, 31st January 2006
Looking through a few notes I decided to make a few changes and add on
some missing links. The Link to The Black Tower in the Thunderpeaks
has been correctly renamed to Under the Dark Sun. Similarly Loktah in
Moonsea has been
changed to Sulphur Winter, it's correct name. I've also added The link
to the Mages Academy to the Sunset
Mountains, Menzoberanzan to Neverwinter
Woods and Under the Well in Shadowdale
itself!
People have been nagging me to ad the directions to zones to the maps
for a long time. I guess I've only not done it because I knew
my way to smoe places and the maps were good enough to get to
others. Even so, I know peolpe have been asking so they're now
added. Check out the notes on the maps of the Lost City for an
example of somewhere far away! I'd welcome feedback on this. If you
know a better way to a given zone than the one listed don't hesitate
to let me know ;-)
Monday, 30th January 2006
I've spent the week levelling Asheron, my new cl/wa destined for
godhood. He's an Expert with reasonable equipment (Dragon, Remarkable,
Remarkable) and should have the hitpoints and equipment I
need to keep him levelling. At the moment his only problem seems to be
low mana and terrible mana-regen. He has a Sapphire Earring but can't
wear crystal amulets (mage only). I'm thinking of a black diamond
earring (crystal just isn't loading) and maybe something like a holy
symbol of Tyr or two.
I've also just used Astaroth to map the Bandits'
Campsite, a newbie area off Spiderhaunt Forest. I didn't know it
was so close until recently and obviously must apologise for this
terrible oversight... The zone has plenty of low level warriors for
newbies to smack down and a few bits of kit including
one or two nice bits! Mapping *sigh*... so relaxing.
Tuesday, 24th January 2006
Well, well, well. What have I been up to for the last few
weeks? Well, I've been concentrating on levelling Astaroth (my
mu/wa/cl) and he's now 50/50/50. Lots of time in Yulash, Birch Island
and Rocky Point gave me the xp and lots of friends helped out with
upgrading my armor and weapons as they got free time. I'm still after a
crystal earring, but it hasn't loaded the last four times we've been
to Tiamat's Hell so we're beginning to think it's maxxed already
*sigh*.
I also considered levelling Astaroth up to be an immortal but decided
against it. with 120 million xp needed, a tri actually has to get 360
million and that's a lot. Plus, I really want to use Astaroth for
mapping stuff! I reasoned that a new, dual-class character would only
need 400 million to level up to 51, so I've created Asheron, my new
Warrior/Cleric character named for the game that took so many of my
hours away ;-) Clerics have astral, heal, sanc, blade barrier and
armor. I figure that and a good weapon will be enough to level him up
once I get to 45. Before then it's pretty simple anyway ;-) He's now
five hours old and level 17/15 already.
I spent a little time today updating the old map of Orshingal and
making sure that all
of the items were in the database. I also made a minor
modification to the map of Spiderhaunt -
the road to the Bandit's Campsite was missing.
Wednesday, 4th January 2006
Well, I've been busy. Stibbs is an Adept (level 43) and Astaroth is
verging on Adept himself. I've been picking up good equipment and with
the help of a few generous people (Arkias, Sorsha, Matthew) Stibbs and
As are quite well equipped. I still need a few bits and bobs but I'm
close to being able to getting them myself now. I'm then going to work
on pushing As to 50/50/50 before restarting the mapping. I'm going to
use Stibbs to clear out a few older zones I mapped a long time ago and
then check over their items too.
Happy New Year one and all. As Hob Gadling once said "To absent
friends, lost loves, old gods, and the season of mists; and may each
and every one of us always give the Devil his due." Cheers!
Sunday, 25th December 2005
Well, a fine Christmas day. Before popping off to friends' houses I
managed a million xp and pushed myself to level 40. On my return a
further 2.5 million took Stibbons up to Adept. Aki helped a little by
killing Doust in Myth Drannor and getting me the Wings of Flying,
Plumed Helm and Shining Full Plate mail. Stibbs is now Armoured Like a
Dragon and I hope I can now work on a second hit-n-dam +1 bracelet and
two rings. A second such earring would be a bonus ;-)
Tomorrow I fully intend to concentrate on Astaroth. The
sooner I can push him up through Chump to Medium the better.
Wednesday, 21st December 2005
Well, just pumped Stibbs up to Expert! Astaroth is created but is only
level 4/4/4 with very bad equipment.
How did I get Stibbs to Expert? Well, I started with the donation of
some random kit and levelled myself up a little, first in the Elven
Forest, the Dankmoors. With the help of the item database I quickly
managed to make a list of easy, newbie kit to get and pushed myself
up. A few shield and armor spells, helped me to get some stuff from
Quickling and before I knew it I was taking out enfans in
Orshingal. With the help of the Opal sanc potions and some brown
potions from the very large spider I went after a Ringmail vest (AC
-30, AC apply 5), then a girth and some iron kit from the Ruins of
Orolin. Killing many, many Lamia at 3k a pop helps... I levelled a bit
more, collected heal and sanc potions and went after a Displacer cloak
(AC -30) from Quicksilver Valley. A silvertone shield (AC -10, ACapp
6) from the Village of Quimperna, the leggings from the Great White
Landshark and some Harper necklaces soon got me in a place where I
could go after slightly tougher stuff and now I'm mostly kitted out.
I still need a better helm and boots and should upgrade my shield as
soon as possible but all in all I can now level quite quickly. I
should have 460ish hitpoints when I hit 50.
Monday, 19th December 2005
It's been a long time, but the MUD is back up. All of the characters
are gone and I spent a little while rerolling Stibbons until I got
Amazing! strength, illness is foreign constitution and second best
dexterity. I've played Stibbs up to level 6 and have some (bad) armor
that puts me Quite Well Armored. I'll be playing him over the next
week to try and push him up to Medium and get him prepared for going
after better armor.
See you in game!
Friday, 16th September 2005
Well, I've been a busy boy. Leung is now Adept and Armoured like a Dragon. He still needs a few more bits of kit but for now his rent is 36 gold a day... and I like that. Stibbons is still around - I'm getting twice his rent a day - and azrael is filling up with a nice spare set of armour. I really need to map Darkspyre keep soon...
Astaroth is levelling nicely too but I'm not going exploring until he's 50/50/50. There is just too much to lose before then. I hate no being able to dispel the naga's in Rocky Point reliably.
All in all, things are looking rosey. I may well be mapping again soon and might even have a character on the way to immort... who'd have though it?
Monday, 5th September 2005
I have been online quite a bit in the past month. Stibbons has died
once but could level out of the xp hole if he wanted, Astaroth is an
Adept with blade barrier now and quite close to the hallowed grail
that is portal. Azrael nearly has a full set of cheap rent, spare
armor on him just in case...
So, all is going well in SD land and I decided to kick off a new
character, Leung the monk. I did have an Adept monk a while back but
forgot to log in as him for a month or so and lost him. This time
around I fully intend to keep him alive ;-)
I spent a good couple of hours rerolling on aturday until I got the
following: Amazing Strength!, Very Nimble, Average Int, Usually Sound
Judgement, Illness is Foreign and Social Outcast. The Outcast thing
isn't so great, but the rest of the stats were good. As it turns out
Leung has 18/0 Str, 12 Int, 12 Wis, 16 Dex, 17 Con and 5 Chr. He's
gaining quite a few hit points as I level but can't sell stuff in
shops - I keep getting 0 coins! He's nearly a Medium level character
and then he'll accelerate in levelling.
Plans for the coming weeks are to keep Stibbs and Azrael alive, and
get them both a little xp while concentrating on levelling Leung and
Astaroth. Astaroth will be visiting Yulash on his own this week, I'll
let you know how it turns out.
Friday, 4th August 2005
My annoyance didn't last too long and I quickly created Azrael, a
tri-class with good strength and dex but poor con. I've played him up
to Medium and he's been retured as my 'spare' character. My second
character was the ever-ready Stibbons, now a level 44 a half giant
warrior. Last, but not least, of my shiny new chars is Astaroth,
another tri-class with good strength, dex and con but not great wis or
int... you can't have everything can you!
A couple more weeks of levelling should get me into a position where I
can get back to my main mission: mapping! I'm also planning a new
design for the web site in the not so far away future.
Glad to be back ;-)
Monday, 27th June 2005
I am a bit annoyed right now.
I've just come back from two weeks on holiday in the USA to find that
the character database has been wiped with little or no notice. On any
normal day that would be annoying enough but I also spent a long time
getting the cash together so that As and Stibbs could survive the two
weeks whilst I was away.
I was looking forward to playing a bit at lunch times this week, and
keeping poker to afternoons and evenings but now I can't be
bothered. I'm going to have to start ALL OVER AGAIN, and we all know
how hard tri-class chars are to bloody level *sigh*.
Now sure when I will be on again right now. There are many, many godd
online games out there and I've stuck to SD for a long time but this
feels like a kick in the teeth.
Grr. Not how I wanted to start my week.
Thursday, 2nd June 2005
I haven't been on much over the last month or so other than to grab
some cash for Astaroth and Stibbons when I can. This is due to
poker. Yes, I've fallen for online poker big style. Never mind MMORPGs,
poker just grabs something inside me and won't let go! I'm a little
down at the moment but I'm getting better and am starting to win back
the money I've lost and build myself a tidy bankroll.
This doesn't mean I'm leaving SD ;-) Kos and I went back to Mon
Crewyll but I couldn't find what the key was for and the key shattered
when we went to kill the fire beast one time. Frustrating. I will be
trying to finish off this zone - or at least adding the maps I have to
the site - when I get back from holiday in two weeks. I'm off to Las
Vegas with friends, then Yellowstone, then San Fran. Should be
AWESOME. This has meant I've needed to do even more money runs to
build up As and Stibb's cash reserves so I don't lose my equipment
while I'm away. Thankfully Talia and Criton came to the rescue with a
donation in thanks for this site! THANKS GUYS! Who said this site
wasn't useful after all ;-)
I'll be back late on the 21st June and should be back online on the
22nd. See y'll then.
Wednesday, 27th April 2005
Been spending a little time mapping (for a change of course) and
decided to try and finish off my map of the Spire of Mon Crewyll. It's
a tough zone and the first time I went there I was unprepared. This
time around I was cautious and (with Koschei's help) managed to find
all of the keys but I'm still missing what they're all for. Next time
Kos and I are on I think I know the last few bits I need to do then
I'll upload the map.
One downside is that Astaroth died to Drusilla, Queen of the Undead. I
didn't notice at the time but I must have lost two more levels leaving
As at 49/49/49 and needing 150M to get one back. It was strange
because I've been getting xp lately and I didn't see any warning
messages. Maybe I'm just unlucky. So, back on the xp treadmill
again. At 8M a day I should be 50/50/50 again in three weeks... of
course you all know I'll never keep that up, exploring is just too
much fun.
Wednesday, 13th April 2005
Spent a little time mapping Doom Island, a
Newbie area miles from anywhere. If you're going to make an area with
content for players at around level 5, why put it so far away from
civilisation? There was little money, xp and only
a few
objects none of which really stood out. Even so, at least I
finished another zone off ;-)
Thursday, 24th March 2005
Yes, I've been away for a while. Well, that's not true really. I've
been logging on pretty much every week to get Stibbons and Astaroth
cash to keep their equipment. I lost Azrael, Leung and Estelian when I
forgot to log them in for a few months *sigh*. There's little chance
of that happening with Astaroth belive me!
I spent about three hours today mapping
Birch Island, an
Expert level area. It has some nice monsters and lots of cash. Not
much good equipment to be honest but I did pick up
a lot of
kit and ID it. Some was already in the database, some is new.
I plan on logging on and actually getting more maps done a bit more
regularly from now on. I've been really bored at work and, rather than
log in and play, I've been forcing myself to get out of the office and
escape the boredom and contsant interruptions that way instead.
Thursday, 23rd December 2004
I spent quite a bit of time mapping the Enchanted Gardens
yesterday and it was not without it's penalties - Astaroth died
again. With a little help I got my body and equipment back, finished
the map and identified a boatload of
equipment from the zone.
Today I went to replace a scrapped bracelet from Ettersia and managed
to convince Danee, Koschei and Meier to help me kill the Guardian
Spirit in the Ruins of Caderra. I was hoping that the spirit would
have a key, or was blocking the way down to another part of the
area. As it was I can get to the place the spirit is guarding TWO
other ways and still can't find what I was looking for. Grr. Still, a
good day's work. Now I'm going to get some XP for Astaroth. I'm going
to try and get him back up to 50/50/50 over the Xmas break. Plan is to
kill off all of Yulash every morning when I get up... wish me luck.
Monday, 20th December 2004
Spent the latter part of the week looking at the Spine of Mon Crewyll
but eventually decided to finish off my map of the Sea of Fallen
Stars. I'd mapped part of the zone before but called it the Forest
of Cormyr. I've been renaming my maps to their correct zone names for
some time, so I spent a little time altering the maps around it and
got the zone accurate (by moving some of it onto a connecting map). I
also mapped the Sea of Fallen Stars and found a new Zone: The Fallen
Star. It seems that a meteor fell to earth with some kind of ship
aboard! I'll have a look into it when I get the chance. There are a
few interesting
objects in the zone.
Wednesday, 15th December 2004
Logged on today with the intention of finishing off a map of the Ruins
of Caderra. Unfortunately for me it looks like it's too tough for one
person to do it, even a tri-class, so I'll have to give it a miss
until some high levels I know are on (Ivan, Van, you know who you I
mean). Looks like I'll have to try a different high-level area later
in the week. Ovideo's Crossing maybe?
Friday, 10th December 2004
Well, after one last look around to refresh my memory, here's the map
of Shadows of the
City. The one, missing answer (how to open the tapestry down from
the Captain's Quarters (Cq)) really bugs me - but what can I do. I'll
offer a ransom of 500K gold in game if anyone can tell me how to open
it.
Thursday, 9th December 2004
A little while back I was asked if I could make my list of maps
searchable by level, "I'm fed up of clearing out Dankmoors and need
somewhere else to hunt". I've been thinking about the map list for
some time, it's been getting longer and longer an really needed
splitting up. So, I've split it
up. The maps are now listed in one of six categories: Home towns,
connecting areas, Newbie and Chump zones, Medium and Expert Zones,
Adept Zones and Zones for all. Email me if you think I've put a zone
in the wrong place. Email me if you really hate the new layout! Email
me anyway... I'm bored ;-P
Whilst doing this I got rid of the map of Greypeak Mountains, it's now
part of Quicksilver Gorge.
Wednesday, 8th December 2004
I have been on and off over the last two weeks btu I really hadn't
done much of note until yesterday. I started to finish off my map of
the Hidden Swamp but got really annoyed with some of the parts
of the zone so I grabbed some cash and logged for the day. Today I
started with a better attitude and (I think) picked a better zone to
map. So, please find my map of Sandstorm Tower for
your consideration. I've also added in all of the items I
found.
Astaroth died during the making of this map. Grr. I got breathed on (I
don't seem to die any other way nowadays). Someone lent a helping hand
and dropped my body in Shadowdale - not sure who but I was very
grateful. My dreams to getting to level 50/50/50 again without some
serious levelling are (once again) shattered. I'm planning on putting
up my map of Shadows of the City this week, whether I can work out the
last puzzle in it or not!
Friday, 19th November 2004
Managed to find some time to get online and map somewhere new this
week. I present the map
of the Bestiary of Al-Qadir, an impressive sounding zone to say
the least. It's probably aimed at Medium and Expert players. I had no
trouble killing everything but the Dragon in this zone, but I still
managed to kill it on my own. There's a fair bit of equipment
in the zone, in fact I haven't added all of it yet. I hope to add
everything I found by the end of the day.
I've had a request to add a search for zones by level. I think what
I'm actually going to do instead is list the 'Other Zones' on the map
index page by whether they're for Newbies, Chumps, Medium, etc. It'll
break up the (now) huge list into good logical groups too...
Friday, 12th November 2004
Finished updating my map of the Newbie
University. I'd mapped a lot of it before but was missing out on
the catacombs, library and a lot of the swamp. Everything is now there
as well as a pile of
items from the area.
I've shuffled all the equipment around and Asmodel is just sitting
there naked now, I don't really need him unless I find another Newbie
zone I have to map. Azrael has my good shield - waiting until I can
get hold of crystal earrings from the Black Dragon in Tiamat's Hell,
and Astaroth is back to using a Crystal Shield because it keeps me
invisble and lets me use my Pharoah's Mask! I'm planning on picking a
tough area to map next week (when my minions return from holiday and I
have more free time).
Lastly we have 2122 items in the database (only 17 new ones since 15th
Sept) and the number checked in SD is now 1430. That's 67% checked. I
really need to target the zones that have lots of items that are there
but haven't been checked over. It's boring to do that for zones I've
already mapped though...
Monday, 8th November 2004
Logged on and finally decided to lessen my rent costs. I was having to
get around 500,000 gold per week to keep all of my characters equipped
and over the last month I've stopped playing Leung really (20k per
day). Azrael doesn't need Kraka's short - he'll be getting Asmodel's
kit back when Asmodel is finished with. Estelian doesn't really need
to hand on to some gloves and a belt I can get fairly easily
either. I've dropped the weekly cost to unde 300,000 gold now. Much
easier and should give me more time to map.
Tuesday, 26th October 2004
Since last Monday I've managed to log on a few times to grab some cash
but I've also been getting a few peices of kit for Asmodel, a low
level character I intend to use to map a few low-level only
areas. Yesterday I judged him ready and sent him head first into the
Drow Academy. I
needent have worried - he aquitted himself admirably. There were quite
a few interesting
objects in the zone but I also found out that I could no longer
add new objects into the database! Detailed examination showed that a
change to the version of Perl that was installed had stopped a
particular script working. It's now fixed and I've dropped all the new
items into the database.
I hope to have enough time to check over my old map of the Newbie
University. There's a lot missing from the map and I'd like to get it
done while I have a newbie-level character lying around.
Monday, 18th October 2004
Whilst I haven't been updating the site I have been popping on and off
Shadowdale but only really to keep my cash reserves at acceptible
levels (I like to have at least a month's money on all of my
characters). I was planning on playing more last week but was ill and
couldn't really face the computer (!). This week I'm back on my feet
and have topped up the reserves and got off to a good start by
levelling Leung. At only 3M per level I think I should be able to get
him up to 45 or 46 with little trouble this week - he does need some
throwing daggers to make Yulash a little easier though...
Wednesday, 22nd September 2004
Well, I've spent the last week actually playing rather than
mapping. Leung is an Adept monk, Estelian is nearly an Adept psionist
and I've levelled Stibbons up to 45 (finally). I've also spent a while
grabbing some rent-cheap equipment for my mule and working off a
little of Astaroth's xp hole. I may well have to map something
soon before my head explodes...
Thursday, 16th September 2004
Couldn't face mindlessly xping to lessen the hole today so I spent my
time levelling some others. I got Leung two levels, Estelian one and
Stibbons one. I'm almost certainly going to start a new character with
the express intent to map a few newbie zones (university, dark elf
academy). Will probably be a half-giant warrior - he an borrow spare
kit to do the mapping then I can kill him.
Wednesday, 15th September 2004
Spent my time today getting a little xp with Astaroth. I got around
12M in an hour and a bit. Only another 219M to go! If I can stand the
boredom I might be able to get him out of his hole in a month!
Also tidied up and added the map of the Mist of
Nartok. It's a very tough zone, very very tough. I can't
understand why people would rather go there to get a Smokey skull
instead of popping along to the Lost City to get a Monkey idol heart!
There are an awful lot
of items in the zone, and probably more I didn't ID becaue I
couldn't kill their keepers!
A quick note on items. We have 2105 items in the database as of today
and 1401 of those have been checked in SD - that's roughly 67%. That
percentage is climbing slowly. On the down side there have only been
87 new items in the last month.
Friday, 10th September 2004
Not many updates for a while but I thought (after the catastrophic
events of the day) a quick update was in order. I've been mapping the
Mist of Nartok with Astaroth. He got killed by the Bishop and has lost
a level. That means he needs 77M xp to get back to 50/50/50... and
remember that's multiplied up by three. I imagine I'll write up the
Mists and then spend the next couple of weeks getting equipment and
working on this small defecit. That'll give me time to level
Leung, Estelian and Stibbons up a bit too - as they all would like a
few more hit points.
If you feel in a good mood and would like to help
out I'd really like a crystal earring from the Black Dragon in
Tiamat's Hell and a sparking bracelt from Yulash. A second Ring of
Bravery would be useful - but I can get that myself with only a little
help. Leave a message on the baord for me (don't forget to 'write
board' to fix it) if you do.
Have a good weekend all. See y'all on Monday.
Thursday, 26th August 2004
Updated the map of the Astral Plane. I've
basially made the map more compact and made the pools more obvious. I
was thinking of making the pools the colours they say they are in the
mud... what do people think? Email me is you have an opinion.
Also spent some time with Tigma and Cessian killing things in the
Mists of Natrok (so we can ID some of the items
there). Map is on the way...
Monday, 23rd August 2004
I spent some time on Sunday evening starting to map the Tower of
Darkness and I'm happy to say that I had time in my lunch hour to
finis it off today. It was very frustrating to map initially but I
managed to get into the right frame of mind this afternoon and got it
all out of the way. Mush thanks goes to Varda (who fetched a body of
mine), Tigma, Ivanushka, and Osmar who all helped me kill a few of the
tougher mobs. Cheers all!
Friday, 20th August 2004
Went over my map of Port Miramor and added
the Palace, Undergound and Dungeons to the map. Also found the
Bestiary of Al-Qadar.
Thursday, 19th August 2004
I've spent quite some time updating the map south of the Storm Horns
and this has culminated in the removal of the Ancient Road map (as it
was really part of another zone) and changes to the map of Troglodyte
Caves. I've also added in a new map of Mage Valley
Entrance. I ended up spending a lot of time on both areas because
I found a couple of keys in Mage Valley that didn't seem to do
anything. I've been informed that they used to but the zone they
applied to has been removed. Grr. There's also a trophy case in
Troglodyte Caves that no longer has a key! Both of these zones and
the missing zone (Ancient Rhyodin Outpost) were tightly bound but its
disappointing these were left and not tidied up better.
I've also been spending a lot of time looking at Shadows of the
City. There's one remaining puzzle to solve before I put the map up,
the rest of it is done.
Friday, 13th August 2004
Updated my map of Frost mountain
to include the underground caves near the Shaaz Queen and the Crystal
Tower to the north of the zone. I also added a bunch of items from
that zone.
Thursday, 12th August 2004
I spent a little time yesterday going over Kurtulmak's
Caverns looking for Ashem's Library. I can't find any hidden
doors, nor a place to use the huge bronze key. Very frustrating. Even
so, that map is now online.
Wednesday, 11th August 2004
I've been fairly busy mapping and statting things over the last few
days. I've finished off the map of the the Stonelands,
adding in the areas that were marked 'Rocky Maze' and 'Raider
Keep'. I've also added a bunch of items we
found. Thanks must go to Ambrosia, Lorimar and Roman for helping me to
kill Galwrong and to find the Master Magician!
I've also nearly finished my map of Kurtulmak's Caverns. I've already
put all of the items
into the database but I'm looking for a few hidden doors before I
write it up. How do I know there are doors? Well, casting 'locate' for
key shows me a key chain in a room I haven't found yet!
One last note today. We're up to 2018 items, 1288 of which have been
checked in SD3, that's roughly 64%. That's 67 new items in the last
two weeks and a 5% climb in the percentage that have been checking in
SD3. Still, lots of old items in there and lots more zones to map
yet...
Thursday, 5th August 2004
Bit of tidying up today. Merged the two maps that made up the Monastry
(just north of Shadowdale) into one. Also got rid of
the separate map of the Old Skull Inn and added it to the map of Shadowdale as I
should have done a long time ago. Tidied up the map of the Forest of the Quicklings
and checked over some items.
For some time I've been annoyed that I called the Stonelands the
Stonelands when, in fact, it is nothing of the sort. My maps of the
Goblin Caves and the Stone Tower are actually the Stone lands. So,
I'm fixing it. The Stonelands has become The Storm
Horns. It's actually part of Connecting Area I but that's really
too big to do a singl map of (at the moment).
Final tidying of the day was merging the Goblin Caves and the STone
Tower into the new Stonelands map. The
map needs to be finished but is in a better state than it was.
Wednesday, 4th August 2004
I managed to spend some time mapping yesterday lunch and evening and
finished off the map of the Fortress of the Black
Hills. It's an Adept-level zone with plenty of cash-rich kills and
good xp as well as a good mini-quest. The items
I found weren't stella but there are still some good ones in
there...
Also spent half an hour changing the way the edit item page is
generated so that an item's type is already correctly selected when
you edit an item. I think I may have lost count of the number of times
I've edited an item and missed off its type because of this
bug. Should have fixed this years ago.
Monday, 2nd August 2004
Where does time go? How on earth did we manage to get into August
already? Don't even get me started on the fact that we've somehow
managed to get to 2004 - anyone else wondering where the last ten
years have gone? Well, some of it has been spent playing SD and I
can't honestly say I regret it. It's just too much fun!
Anyway, enough jabbering on. I spent my lunch hour tidying up the map
of Moonsea (I'd
missed a small keep and a death trap off) and then mapped The Changeling's
Curse. It's a small, low-level zone just off the Plains to the
east of Shadwodale. There were a few pieces
of kit, some quite useful for a low-level player.
I've also deleted the Goblin Village map. It was actually part of Spiderhaunt Forest
so I've added it on there instead.
Friday, 30th July 2004
Well, I've spent quite a bit of time finishing up a couple of maps and
reworking one or two that were incomplete. Firstly I made a small
change to the map of the Trackless
Sea. The exit to Florin to the east of where you're dropped off
from the Astral Plane was incorrect. This is now fixed.
While there I took the time to check out the Jungle of Chult
again. Lorimar pointed out that I'd missed the underground lizardman
shrine so I mapped that and decided to see why I hadn't added my map
of the Jungle Pyramid. Turns out I'd missed a couple of rooms and a
hidden trapdoor. I've spent a little time adding all this to the map
of the Jungle of
Chult.
I also spent some time at the start of the week mapping Myth Drannor. I
like the zone a lot, it has a few tough mobs, a few good bits of
kit and it's not too large (Reaching Woods anyone?).
I've also added the map of Florin. There weren't
that many items
of interest but there are a few potions that aren't too tough to
get. I hesitated to put up the map because there's a hidden door I
can't open (south of the Grove of Trees, marked GT on the map). I'm
fairly sure that the Albiono's wheelbarrow opens it but I can't find
the right keyword. I've put it up anyway as i don't think many rooms
are missing.
Finally today I've spent a little time updating the map of Dankmoors and
checking every item I found. I
also spent ten minutes adding the Ravine to the map of the Plains of
Shadowdale. That's it for me this week - catch you next week :-)
Wednesday, 28th July 2004
I know it doesn't look like I've been very busy but I have mapped a
few places and have a few more close to being done. It's really
frustrating to have an area nearly done but know you're missing
parts. I don't like adding maps online that are unfinished so there
are three waiting for the last few pieces to drop into place.
Even without those though I have a few done and today I finished up a
map of The Ivory
Kingdom. It's a nice, small zone with a few half-decent items in
it.
On a side note, even after all the items that have been added and
updated recently there are only 1951 items in the database and it
seems that only 1152 of those are 'SD3' items. More work is needed...
Friday, 23rd July 2004
I've spent quite a bit of time online this week but haven't really got
anywhere. A few zones I was mapping I had to run and hide like a
scared child from one or two tough mages that kept trying to summon me
back to give me a spanking. When you're the only one on the MUD
it really doesn't make sense to take the risk...
I did manage to map Darkenwood and even
managed to kill a really tough mob in there with help from Panic and
friends (once again). There were an awful lot of
items in the zone.
Thanks also go to Panic and friends for an equipment upgrade. I picked
up a replacement Frost Brand Sword, Adamantite Bracelet and plumed
helm. YAY!
Thursday, 15th July 2004
Well, I've spent my lunchhours over the past few days exploring and a
new map of the
Beastlands is the fruit of my labours. Astaroth died once and,
thinking I wouldn't be able to get my equipment back I started to get
kit from Azrael. I have so little spare kit! I need to spend some time
picking up some spares just in case. I got my kit back (thanks Fuse)
and spent today finishing off the map. It's an interesting zone with
plenty of things I couldn't kill on my own, and with few people on I
didn't get to find out what exciting equipment they might have. Even
so, I found and identified a few items and
aded them into the database.
I also added Ishtar Lake to the map of the Desertmouth Foothills
next to Port Miramor and tweaked the surrouding maps. I may rearrange
the three or four maps around there to make the zones actually fit
what they are a part of. I've also been spending time adding new items
into the database. I still have piles of items to add from the
list Zann sent me.
Wednesday, 14th July 2004
Added a bunch of items that Lewolf sent me, as well as adding a few
more people to the Credits
page. Added a few more items from the big list I'm working through
too. I hope to be able o get another zone mapped this week. I'll have
to have a good look and see what looks fun.
Friday, 9th July 2004
At first glance it doesn't look like I've done much this week but it
did take a while to map the 20-40 level zone of Ettersia. It took quite a while
to go through and put the items from
Ettersia in the database too so please forgive me and join me in
my thanks to Quess, Tyvern and Ferne for lending a helping hand.
I've also received a bunch of directions to zones, a walkthrough and a
whole PILE of stats by email that I'll be going through, checking and
adding to the database over the next few weeks.
Monday, 5th July 2004
I haven't had that much time to play in the last week, when I have
logged on I've done a quick money/xp run and logged off
again. Sometimes my job does throw up a lot of work. Today I managed
to get on and get some cash for my characters again and I hope to map
at least one zone this week if I get time. For now you'll just have to
settle for some items from Black
Water Swamp.
Monday, 28th June 2004
Well, with Ivanushka's help, I've finally finished my map of Heiraktazin. It's
been a long time coming because I was a little scared that the area
was a real jinx for me. Today I took the bull by the horns and went
back down there to finish it off. Phew! There are some nice items in
the zone - many of which are my 'backup kit' for when I die. They're
reasonable weapons/armor and low rent...
I've also added some older items from
Black Water Swamp that I had in a text file.
Sunday, 27th June 2004
Yesterday I spent most of the day asleep, in the pub or shopping but I
did find a couple of hours in the middle of the day to log on and get
a little mapping done. I wandered around Arachnos and finished
off a tedious map. I was surprised to find the Black
Knight's Visor amoung the items I found as
I remember it as a 'must have' item from a couple of years ago. I
remember always trying to get hold of one and now, in the cold light
of experience and better equipment, it just doesn't seem that
great. Memories eh?
Thursday, 24th June 2004
I didn't play much yesterday until very late in the day when I was
grabbed by the urge to map something. I looked over the maps
and decided to try out the Battle of
Bones. An hour later I had the map done and another twenty minutes
saw all
the items safely in the item database. Oh, you might notice
that I've updated the Advanced
Search page to allow you to search for items in a given zone...
I spent my lunch our in the companf of Celia, as she helped me map Avonleigh. It's a
tough zone with plenty of tough critters so I'd advise nothing short
of a good group or LOTS of large, brown mushrooms... The area has two,
excellent quests (which I hope I haven't spoiled for anyone) and some
great equipment. Once again, thanks Celia - I couldn't have done
it without you.
Tuesday, 22nd June 2004
Well, what a hectic couple of days! On monday I started mapping
Hieraktazin and Astaroth found a death trap and lost all of his
equipment. Now, as you may know, I keep some backup kit on an old
character but I can't keep duplicates of all the stuff - it wouldn't
be very fair to everyone else really. Luckily Fuse, Panic and a few
others went out of their way to get me a few things and I managed to
get a fee more myself. Even so, without spy and sneak items he's not
that useful for mapping places with. Panic has sorted a sneak item for
me but I needed a spy item - casting wizardeye every few ticks hits
your mana hard.
So, I headed up to the Great Pyramid, north of the Anauroch Desert,
and found that the Mask of the Pharoah had loaded but that noone knew
the zone well enough to nip in and get it for me. Two hours later I
had the mask and finished a map of the
zone. It's a nice zone but be careful in there.
Today I resumed mapping Heiraktazin and, much to my dismay, died again
(twice) and I have to get a bunch of XP before I die again otherwise
Astaroth will be 49/49/49 before I know it... Stibbs managed to nip in
and get my corpse but I'd advise you all to think twice before taking
on the mobs in the Summoing Chamber...
Friday, 18th June 2004
Yesterday I spent my lunch hour mapping and dieing. Ouch. I took
Astaroth over to Shattered
Mirror to get a little high level mapping done. I managed to map
quite a lot of the zone before Khark von Zaard decided to go all aggro
on my ass. I nearly killed him but he got the last hit in when I had
him down to awful. Grr - two deaths this week. So, I didn what any
self-respecting adventurer would do and sent in the infantry:
Stibbons. Stibbs has good kit but no invis or spy items at the mo
(something I need to fix) but I got him a sanc potion and sent him in
to get my revenge.
Unluckily for me Kharl spotted him and took Stibbs out before I had a
chance to drink my potion. I had him down to awful again and with sanc
would have handed him his ass. Now what? Well, I have another
character that keeps a spare set of equipment for these sorts of
situations so he dropped it all in and Stibbs went in one more time
and, this time, killed Kharl and retrieved all of the items I needed.
It took a while to sort out who should be wearing what but I got it
all done and Astaroth spent an hour IDing things from Shattered
Mirror. I also needed to find what the two keys I'd found were
for. Fuse helped me with one room - I'd found where it was but
couldn't work out the phrase to open it - but I was stuck with the
second. I posted to the boards and Raeth and Kahil pointed me in the
right direction and so I finished off the map and added it.
I might log on to chill out today - not sure...
Wednesday, 16th June 2004
I spent my lunch hour mapping Essembra and I've
written it up for you. I also IDed a bunch of items from there and
updated those already in the database.
Tuesday, 15th June 2004
Added the map of the Wilds of the
Underdark.
Monday, 14th June 2004
Added the map of Krilastia. I spent
some time on Thursday and Friday mapping it but didn't have time to
write it all up.
Also mapped the Wilds of the Underdark but have yet to write it
up. Added four new items from there and updated 16 that were already
in the item database. I love not having to pay for identify scrolls,
have I mentioned that?
Tuesday, 8th June 2004
I spent my lunch hour IDing a bunch of things from Aquallia. Some were
in the database alread but hadn't been IDed yet and some were
new. I've also started reworking the maps around Shadowdale Village
itself because of Mandos.
One nag I get quite often is that the maps 'aren't the real zones' or
don't have the same names as a zone. No place is a better example of
that than my maps of the SD Plains and the Northern Woods. The norther
Woods are part of Connecting Area I whilst the SD Plains are, in fact,
a zone called the Northern Woods!
So, I've just eliminated the Wild Woods north of Shadowdale. They were
part of the Clock Tower and I've rolled the two into one and moved the
Small Pool onto the map of Shadowdale where it belongs. More of this
will happen over the rest of the week.
After another couple of hours work I've reworked the maps all around
the east of Shadowdale. Say goodbye to the Eastern Shadowdale Forest
and the Forest of Cormathor. Now we just have the Plains of
Shadowdale, part of Connecting Area I, and the Northern Woods. I've had
to change around 15 other maps to accomodate this! LOL I'll be
changing a few other things when I get a chance soon.
Monday, 7th June 2004
After I finished the map of the Tethir Forest on Friday I thought
that would be it for the day but I got a little more free time and
managed to head over to Aquallia and
finished off my series of maps of the home towns. Once again I
attacked a Dragon but, with a little help, it proved to be an easy
kill. If you want to play around underwater I recommend finding a
Silver Torque - it gives water breath - or turning yourself into a
Storm Giant!
Friday, 4th June 2004
Well, another week goes by and I've spent some time on SD identifying
items and Astaroth has mapped another area: Tethir Forest. The Forest is
part of Connecting Area III and actually opens up six new zones for me
to explore - all but one of which are for 40+ level players. I made
one, fatal mistake mapping the zone: I attacked a Dragon. I didn't
know he was a Dragon but its icy breath soon underlined the fact as I
winged my way back to the Skull Inn. Thanks to Ambrosia and Tsuname
for getting my body back for me.
Tuesday, 25th May 2004
I've spent most of the last week in the Real World. I had a couple of
days off work to enjoy my birthday and I've been in the pub a
lot. Even so, I still manage to find a little time to play my
favourite online game and I've spent some of that mapping Rhyiana. I've known
about the zone, and how to get there for a long time but I always had
something better to be getting on with. After trying to map Melkier -
a very hard zone indeed - I decided to try Rhyiana for a bit of
relaxation and, with careful spying, avoided the many DTs and finished
the map yesterday.
In case you're interested I'm currently also playing City of Heroes. I've been a
sucker for MMORPGs for a while. Asheron's Call really got me
into graphical online games but a lot of my friends moved to different
time zones, or started playing at different times of the day and so
when a bunch of us moved over to AC2 it just didn't seem to work for
me. I've seen Star Wars Galaxies, Everquest and Ultima Online but I'm
really waiting for the next generation of games now. City of Heroes,
on the other hand, is just a romp. Kind of like playing a Diku MUD but
with super powers... what more could you want!
Oh, I've also been updating a few of the items from Rhyiana and
Merilon. I have another 20 or so items to update and I've removed some
more duplicates. One day the item database might be fairly close to up
to date!
Monday, 17th May 2004
I haven't written anything recently but that's not to say I haven't
been playing. Astaroth has a 33K per day upkeep I have to pay off that
keeps me busy. Vanasthta showed me the Rocky Point Run and I can get a
lot more cash there that I was so I only have to do a cash run once
per week now - leaving me more time for exploring.
The first benefits to this are a new map of Merilon,
an Expert/Adept area with some good mobs, reasonable equipment and
money for your time. It's quite big and I was mapping it in March but
started logging on just for money. Hopefully I'll be back to
mapping again now I have less of that to worry about.
Wednesday, 19th March 2004
Yesterday I started on a map of the Sacred Grove near to Shadwodale
and today, with Tulkas' help, I finished it. The
zone is quite tough if you're not sneaking and you don't get much out
of it apart from xp but I'm not sure its worth the risk with all the
casters.
Varda has helped my Psi level up to 26 and gathered a few good Psi
items for him and Astaroth is now 47/50/49 with 5M to get to
48/50/50. To level cleric up to 51 I need 134M xp. That wouldn't be so
hard if it wasn't tripled... hey ho, I'm a long way from Immort but,
as Daniel Jackson would say, my jouney has begun.
Thursday, 18th March 2004
Varda and Roman helped Stibbons map Rocky Point in my
lunch break. It's a great map and, once you're tough enough, I
recommend a visit. I also updated 40 items in the database (mainly
items from Rocky Point) and have another 15 new ones to add when I get
time.
Wednesday, 17th March 2004
Spent a little time getting some cash and a few million xp with
Astaroth and then, carefully mapped the Tunnels. It's a low
level area with a weak and feeble dragon for you to kill. Enjoy.
Added a bunch of stats over the last few days too, I'm trying to get
my list of stats to add down to something managable.
Monday, 15th March 2004
Spent a little time mapping the Crystal Ant Hive,
and getting some cash with Astaroth. I also made a quick trip to
verify that the Green coral ring no longer gives water breath, which
it doesn't (thanks Matthew). The Hive is one of two, small maps
beneath Shadowdale that I wasn't aware I hadn't mapped! Look out for a
map of the Tunnels coming to a Curiosity web site near you soon! This
also means I'm back up to 100 maps... until I merge some more anyway.
Friday, 12th March 2004
Added the map of Black Water Swamp,
a Newbie zone off the Troll Moors. It took me around an hour to map it
all and get it written up. I also IDd all of the objects I found in
the zone and they'll be added to the item database when I get time.
Also split up the catacombs into its correct zones, The Catacombs and
The Sewers. In doing so I've merged three maps so we're back down to
99 maps!
Thursday, 11th March 2004
Astaroth has been levelling up a little and I've even got a little
mapping done too. I was looking for easy areas to map and
spotted to newbie areas off the Troll Moors. I've mapped the first of
these, Semuanya's
Bog and will be mapping the Black Water Swamp when I get
time. It's worth noting that this is the 100th map I've added to the
site! Nearly half way there now!
Wednesday, 3rd March 2004
Astaroth is nearly ready to level again. Whenever Yulash has been
clear I've been killing all the Red Plumes, Zhentirim and clearing out
all but the last few rooms of the Passages under the Hill. That's over
50 mobs giving me 150K per kill. Even a tri-class will make xp fast
killing that lot!
Astaroth died yesterday mapping the lost Glories of
Montserrat. Luckily Quess was online and with Stibbons we grabbed
As, resurrected him and all he lost was a point of Con. I'm assured
that as you get tougher, Con doesn't mean as much as it once did. I
hope I've been informed correctly. Anyway, I finished the map today -
nearly dying again - but it's done. I'd love someone to go in there
with a tough Adept group and check it over but it's a risky place.
Saturday, 28th February 2004
Touched up the map of Lake Yeven to
include the Cold Field and Tildaryn's Ride. Also changed the map of
Vodia to reflect this. Logged on with a spare hour to get a little
cash.
Friday, 27th February 2004
Today I was very busy at work but made time in my lunch hour to map
Vodalia. It's aimed
at level 5 to 30 chars and Astaroth had no trouble with any of
it. It's a really nice, Magic: The Gathering inspired zone, well built
with a nice little quest. I also took all the items I'd found in the
zone and updated them all in the item database. They should all be
correct and link to the map now.
Thursday, 26th February 2004
It's been a busy week. Astaroth has been piling on the xp and I have
less than 30M to get now to level. To be honest, if the MUD were quiet
I could probably get that in a day. I'd be bored, but it wouldn't be
too hard.
Along the way I've stopped to spend a little time mapping. A bunch of
people have been helping me out a lot, especially getting equipment so
I've added them all to the Credits page as my way of saying
thanks. Varda and I spent a good deal of time in Quicksilver Gorge
and added some missing parts to the map. You'll now find the Temple of
Shadows and part of Hades mapped. We also, with a lot of help, took
out the harder mobs beneath the Ruins of Yulash so I
added the passages to the map. I think I'm still missing some rooms in
the Hidden Passage, but we'll see. We didn't want to risk a Dracolich
fifteen minutes before I was due to head home.
Last, but by no means least, I've added a new twist to the item
stats. For a long time it has been my policy to list any stats I get
but not to list where an item has come from. I've decided - mainly due
to my own failing memory - to start listing the zone and item can be
found in. This means that you'll have an idea where items are, rather
than none at all, but won't necessarily be able to find it without a
little exploring. I'd welcome some feeback to see if
this is popular, wrong, or maybe I shouldn't be doing this at all!
I have no idea where many of the items come from anyway, so most of
them won't get listed but those that I do know will get links - try
searching for Golden Leaf for an example of one that's linked and
Crystal Sword for one that lists where, but I haven't mapped it
yet. New items will get their areas listed if I know them.
Monday, 23rd Feburary 2004
I spent some of today eating into the huge xp hole Astaroth has. I
managed to pick up over 10M xp, so I'm looking at a hole or only
around 60M now... Nope, still doesn't sound too good.
I spent a little time mapping the tunnels under the Ruins of Yulash
and, when the right keys load, I'll finish mapping the zone and get it
online. I also added 19 new stats to the database. If you want to send
me stats, tell me of stats that aren't in SD any more or apply to be
an Itemstat editor please do. I can't do this all on my own I
really can't.
Friday, 20th February 2004
Astaroth died today. I was levelling him up at the time. I'd just
cleared out Quimpernia and Yulash and decided to see if I could kill
the idols in the Lost City. I started with the toughest, the Monkey
Idol, and killed him with over 130 hp left. Next up: the Serpent
Idol. The poor thing hardly hit me at all. So the Frog Idol next. On
my way there I was harried by Newtlings but was killing the in droves,
easily. Until, that it, I ran in to a pair of guards. "bash guard"
then a sorcerer walks into the room and attacks, then another, then
two children attack and we all know what that means: I can't bash. I
took a bolt from one and sanc dropped, then blade barrier dropped and
I took another bolt. "eat brown" would save me surely? Nope, the first
sorceror got another bolt off and I found myself at the start page.
Stibbs nipped over to the Lost City, killed everything in sight and
picked up As's corpse and took it back to SD but noone was on. No
cleric and Azrael isn't high enough level to cast resurrection
(something I will certainly now have to fix). I waited for a while but
noone came so I logged Astaroth back in to get his equipment, just in
case of a server crash (I've lost all my equip that way
before). Astaroth has a 26M xp hole and remember he's a tri class so
we're really looking at 78M xp. SEVENTY EIGHT MILLION! Looks like I'll
be doing a lot more mapping and a lot less levelling...
Thursday, 19th February 2004
I spent a lot of today being pampered by Raeth! He managed to get
Astaroth a whole load of good mana-regen and extra hit point
items. As' hit and damage bonuses have gone down but Raeth says hes
going to sort that out too! People on SD are really nice guys
and gals! As is no sitting at 44/47/46 and only needs 12M to level up
all those one more. I also added in 12 stats I had lying around in a
spare five minutes. I've got another 50 I need to add when I get the
time.
Tuesday, 17th February 2004
I spent my lunchtime, and a couple of hours after I got home, mapping
the Earth Plane. It,
like the Astral Plane, is a confusing mish-mash of mazes which seem to
try to keep you away from the Dao fortress. The fortress has some
tough, Medium level mobs and some good cash, as well as one or two
choice items. I also spent a little time entering items that I've statted.
Monday, 16th February 2004
I spent my lunchtime mapping Lordaeron. It has
plenty of tough mobs and just mapping it got me over a million
xp. Even so, there were no great mysteries that I could find.
I spent a little time before I went home sorting out the maps around
Golothaer. I
altered the map to remove 'Cavenauth' altogether and distribute it
between Golothaer, the North Forest and
the newly created Svirfneblin Mining
Camp. About half of the map was already done but it needed finishing.
Friday, 13th February 2004
I spent part of the day with Varda and we killed everything in
Shatter Peak
until we found where all the keys were, worked out the quest and I got
it all down on paper... so to speak. Enjoy.
Thursday, 12th February 2004
I took the day off, mainly to have a lie in, but it also gave me a
chance to wait for a some equipment that was meant to have been
delivered yesterday. While waiting I spend a little time with Astaroth
mapping Sunderstone. The
Dwarven home town is not a very dangerous place, none of the mobs are
aggressive to good-aligned races and the toughest mob, King Gemfist,
died very quickly!
Wedneday, 11th February 2004
I spent quite a bit of time since Friday killing things with one
person or another. Hex in particular deserves a mention has he helped
me get millions on xp on Monday night. The upshot of all of this
levelling is that Astaroth is now an Adept, my first Adept
tri-class. He's up to level 41/45/44 and, as such, is not a higher
level than even Stibbons. He's not the highest level character
I've had (I got Stibbs up to 49 many incarnations ago) but is
certainly the most flexible.
I decided to see how Astaroth would fair as a mapper and picked out
one of the three unmapped home towns I have yet to do. Armored Like a
Dragon with sanc and blade barrier seems to be a fairly safe way of
mapping. The only damage I took was from a fireshielded mob who soon
died when my own was in place. I therefore offer up the map of Denarma for your use. I
particularly liked all the Magic: the Gathering references...
Friday, 6th February 2004
I spent some time this lunch time levelling Astaroth, who's now at
38/43/41 and is still an Expert! I suspect another round of
levels will push him into Adept status. I also spent some free time
mapping a few little areas with Stibbons.
You'll notice that the Seas of Swords
now links directly to Troll Moors. I had
through that there was a large river area between them but it was much
smaller than I imagined. I've also added the plateau and a link to the
Great Pyramid on the
Anauroch Desert map.
Thursday, 5th February 2004
Firstly I'd like to say a big thanks to Varda and Mandos for helping
Astaroth level at an amazing rate and helping out my newest character:
Estelian. Estelian is a female, human, psionist and she's going to be
helping me explore places that Stibbs finds it a little awkward to
go. Having a built in fireshield should be handy too!
The other important thing I've been doing this week has been to take a
good, long look at the item database. There are over 1500 stats in
there and an awful lot of them still haven't been checked since we
moved to SD3. So, to try and lend a hand I've been picking up every
item I can and IDing it. Today I deleted 10 duplicate items in the
database, updated 30 items that were already in the database and added
20 brand new items! 50 ID scrolls don't come cheap...
Monday, 2nd February 2004
I managed to get a little play time in with Astaroth over the weekend
and levelled each class up a couple of times. Levelling a tri once
you're approaching Adept is pretty slow going but I still managed to
level up each class once this morning. Astaroth is the highest level
tri-class I've ever had now, surpassing the once proud Azrael - now
consigned to living out his life as a mere mule.
This lunch time I spent the time mapping Unicorn Run. I've
mapped it before, a long time ago but (as with many maps I used to
have) it wasn't this accurate and things have changed since then
anyway! Fingers crossed I'll get a little more levelling in today on
Astaroth and I might even work on some of Stibbons' 18M xp hole...
I spent some time before I headed home to update around 20 items in
the database, including deleting a couple of duplicate items. I have a
bunch (19) of new items I want to add and I'll get round to that later
tonight or tomorrow lunch time. If you have any up to date items that
I don't please feel free to send them my way.
Friday, 30th January 2004
Well, it's been a long week. I've levelled Astaroth up some more and
Azrael now has a stash of money on him, as well as a near complete set
of equipment for either Stibbons or Astaroth if they hit a DT. I spent
the first few days finishing off a map of the Sewers in the Lost
City. I'd missed out the temple under the city. The map is now
complete and online. During the mapping I died, as did a few others
and so big thanks go to Raeth for helping us clear out the area and
get all of our kit back.
The next few days were spent levelling and mapping Elf Shadow. I
initially thought it was merely a starter town but I didn't know about
thr ruins of Treehome, an Expert and Adept level area including it's
very own Dragon. Varda, once again, lent a hand and so a big thanks
goes out to him once more.
I'm hoping to get a few more maps done next week and I've also got a
list of items to add and update as long as your arm.
Friday, 23rd January 2004
It's been a manic week. Astaroth is now 25/28/29 and levelling fast. I hope to have him up to Expert fairly soon. Stibbons and Astaroth have both receieved a hell of a lot of great equipment from Raeth, Leon and Varda and both of them have plenty of good armor, rings, bracelets and magical items - thanks guys! All of this has meant that Stibbons is now a peerless explorer. Even when he's outmatched he can survive long enough to make his escape. This has lead to me finishing a map I've wanted to finish for a long time: the Lost City.
The city is huge by anyone's standards. Its aimed at Adepts and I had some scarey moments, especially mapping the Palace and the Pyramid. Leon, Varda and Raeth all came along and helped to kill serpent guys, Skeletal warriors and idols galore until I had all the keys and time I needed to finish the map. Making this map has taken most of my time over the last week with their help. I dread to think how long it would have taken without them. Oh, and the sewers haven't been done yet. Everything else yes - but not the sewers. I'll get right on it.
Well, the Sewers are mapped in no time at all. I'm very happy I got it all done this week. Next week I'll move onto trickier things...
Tuesday, 20th January 2004
Well, I spent a lot of today in the fine company of Leon and Raeth as we wandered around the Lost City, killing Idols. I've been spending a lot of time mapping the Lost City, as well as levelling up Azrael, and it's nowhere near mapped yet. I hope to have the first part of the map live soon.
Whilst there I picked up a pile of items that I'm in the process of adding to the item database. Today I added six new items and updated eight old ones.
One final note today is that Astaroth is indeed better than Azrael. A lot better!
Monday, 5th January 2004
A brand new year lies before us and, with that in mind, I've created a new tri-class character called Astaroth. Azrael, happy as I was with him, had a very low constitution and therefore was very low on hitpoints. Even with sanctuary he couldn't take on bigger mobs unless I could get his heal working reliably. I spent some time rerolling with Astaroth and I hope he will have max Wisdom, Strength and Constitution. He'll probably have an average Intellegence, Dexterity and Charisma. After kitting him out in as much stuff of Az's that he could wear and working him up to level 3 he has over 50 hps and he's human! WOW - that's top Con for you.
It was difficult to let go of Az but, as time went on, it would only be more and more difficult to throw away the time invested in him if I kept playing him. Better to start anew. If you see Astaroth around and are grateful for my maps and stats, I'd welcome a little help with xp and any equipment you can find.
Wednesday, 24th December 2003
Well, Christmas is coming and the goose is getting fat. Given the choice I'd spend my Christmas holidays mapping bits of Shadowdale but, with no internet access thanks to an incompetant ISP, I'll be doing other things. I may pop into work to check up on email a couple of times, we'll have to see.
Given that unescapable fact, I've spent the lst few days working on maps for you to explore over this holiday and, thanks to an equipment run yesterday, I decided that Lycanthropia and Trinity were well past their map by date. Lycanthropia was easy enough, as it's for Chumps and Medium characters. I was a lot more careful in the 40-50 level Trinity but got it all done.
I hope to be on SD over Christmas at some point but, as with all things, it may just go pear shaped. I hope you all have a great holiday. See you in the New Year.
Tuesday, 23nd December 2003
I spent some time today mapping the Jungle of Chult but got dragged into mapping the Jungle Pyramid and died a couple of times. It wouldn't have been a problem as I'm not levelling Stibbs any more really but the game crashed and I lost all my equipment.
I can get most of my own kit back these days but some things remain a tough trip and I still haven't got the Crystal kit on my own yet. One day... After such a total disaster much thanks go to Leon and Aldur for helping to kit me out again. With their help and a loan from Azrael, Stibbs is back on track.
Friday, 19th December 2003
Jeez I hate some people. Well, I guess hate is too strong a word but whatever possessed Dalamar to build the Moonshae Isles the way he did is beyond me. There are so many rooms that going north, then south doesn't bring you back to. So many rooms that you can go e,n,w and end up in the same room. It makes mapping them a nightmare especially when 30 or so all have the same name. I've taken to carryinh in barrelloads of useless items around with me.
Even so, I managed to map from the Sea of Swords down to the Jungles of Chult. From the Jungle it's only a short hop to the Lost City. Once I've got the jungle and the top level of the city mapped I'm going to head back to the Isles and see if I can spend enough time to map them. Anyway, enjoy the new map. I've also updated the map of the Astral Plane to add the links to zones that have been mapped since I added it.
Thursday, 18th December 2003
Well, I spent yesterday in the company of friends both real and imaginary. Paul, Mark and the gang hooked up with Aragorn, Legolas and the Hobbits to finish the adventure we started togethr three years ago. Words can't do justice to how good the film was, they really can't so I'll simply say: IT ROCKS!
Today I mapped the High Road on the way to the Lost City and altered the maps of the Stonelands and the Sunset Mountains accordingly. I have to map the Reaching Woods next. Should be fun... Thanks to Leon for pointing the way.
Started working my way towards the Lost City by mapping Reaching Woods. Turns out it connects three or four maps together and helps me on my merry way.
Tuesday, 16th December 2003
I've lost internet access at home recently, thanks to an awful company called Freeserve. This means I'm spending less time playing all sorts of things including SD. I hope to be able to get on every now and again but, unlike previous holidays, my day-long mapping and xp sessions will be out of the window this Xmas. Grr.
Even so Azrael is now on the border or being an Expert. Stibbs is happily mapping away as an Adept and, when I get time, I may have a few more maps for the site.
Friday, 5th December 2003
I've played Azreal most of the week and he's now on the verge of being an Expert tri-class again. To even the balance I spent this lunchtime mapping with Stibbs. I've finished a map of the Sea of Swords and put it online for your perusal. Enjoy.
Thursday, 27th November 2003
Azrael had a couple of accidents over the last few days. I was forced to log out when the server went down and I was wearing more rare items than my level allowed. Needless to say the loss of my two Sentinel's Rings was upsetting. Not though, as upsetting as dying to the Mage in Khmer City. Grr. I worked off his xp hole in about an hour and pushed him up a few levels.
Today I pushed him up further and he's now 21/24/23 and rocking along. I'm getting him four or five levels a day and I'm not really trying. I also went to the donation room and picked up everything that I didn't have in the inventory or wasn't marked down as 'SD3'. Eight new items and seven updated costs a lot when you're still buying identify scrolls but I won't be buying them for much longer anyway.
I have no internet access at home at the moment thanks to the incompetant fools at Freeserve. I've cancelled my account and will take a little while to get a different supplier installed. That means I won't be back online until Monday. See you then.
Tuesday, 25th November 2003
Spent lots of today with Azrael. A few kind members of the Dales spent some time fetching me some equipment - gratefully received - but I still had to level up to 16 before I could rent out with it all. I managed it but also found out my stats. 17 strength and 16 dexterity are fairly good but 13 constitution, 13 intellegence and 14 wisdom aren't so good. Do I kill him and start him again?
Monday, 24th November 2003
I spent lunchtime mapping Shattered Peak, an area attached to the Stonelands. There are some hard mobs there but Stibbs was quite safe. I couldn't map one little bit so I've not added the map yet. I also used Azrael to update three items and add six new items to the item database.
Friday, 21st November 2003
Well, after a little run I finally made Adept again. Stibbs is 18 hours old, level 41 and had 432 hp. Not bad going I suppose. I need to get him up to Armored Like a Dragon and find some equip to keep him invisible before I really get back into exploring. I also spent five minutes going through maps. I have two that are almost complete I'd like to get online as soon as possible and two that need a lot of work. Ah, it's good to be back.
I also managed to check out one of the two maps. It was spot on so you can have a look at Mistledale Sewers if you're interested.
Finally spent some time IDing items with Azrael (why can't warriors learn to read magic anyway) and added five new items and updated 14 of the olders ones.
Wednesday, 19th November 2003
I've been playing Stibbs when I can and have also recreated Azrael too. Azrael, for those that don't know, is my Warrior/Mage/Cleric tri-class human character. Stibbs is now up to level 38 and Az is 11/10/9 at the mo. Levelling a tri-class is no picnic. Az has good Strength, Constitution and Dex but I think his Wisdom might be a bit low. His intelligence too - which is a problem for a mage and a cleric. I'll see when I get to level 16 I guess!
Tuesday, 11th November 2003
I had quite a lot to get on with today but still managed to push Stibs up to level 26. He's flying along. I'm using all the lessons I've learned in the past year, and a lot of the newer maps. I'm still missing one or two pieces of good kit and could do with some nice rings, gloves and a helm but I'll get those in time.
Monday, 10th November 2003
Played for a few hours at lunch today and Stibbs is now sitting at level 15. Much thanks goes to Varda for giving me some good kit to get myself started with and, now that I've been killing evil things, I'm good enough to use it. Still need a few pieces to push me up to Armored Like a Dragon but I'm working on it.
Friday, 7th November 2003
Well. I logged on today after a big break to find that all of my chracters
had been deleted. It's really disappointing to have to start again but twenty minutes later Stibbs was reborn and level five. I'll push him up a little further before picking up the good kit I really need. I'm back again.
Wednesday, 2nd July 2003
Well, half way through the year already. It seems like only yesterday that I was drinking a toast to the new year and Shadowdale was a thing of the past. In the last six months I've added over twenty new maps, fixed a handful of the old ones, fixed the website and added a host of new items. I've three characters working their way up to Adept (Stibbs is already there of course) and I'm happy with the Dales. Very happy.
I spent the last few days mapping. I started with the
Neverwinter Woods but found them small and, frankly, boring. Quite close though were the Ravenclaw Woods and I knew that another map (the three rivers) also linked there so I started mapping. Three days later and
this is the result. I'm not entirely happy that I haven't been able to work out a few things but, if you have time and can be bothered, have a look yourself - see if you can find your way into the Father's crypt and Aggie's Lair.
Friday, 27th June 2003
Updated ten existing items that weren't down as SD3 items. Also added
18 new items, many sent to me by Bloodwulf. Cheers Bloodwulf. Also
updated the credits page to reflect the new contributors.
Monday, 23rd June 2003
I was away all weekend visiting relatives - not all of whom are very
well - but I had a good time and it was good to see the folks for a
while.
Azrael is slowly working up to being an Adept tri-class, something
I've never had before (call it a a lack of patience if you will) and
so I've started to spend more time mapping again. This time I removed
links to Tilver's Gap, as it represented only a small gap between the
Tilvereton Mountains and Moonsea, as well as mapping the tiny part of
the world known as
Selgaunt. It
doesn't really deserve it's own map but it wouldn't fit on any of the
others!
Started mapping the Red Fog graveyard. I've got all the maps (I thin)
but they need writing up. I took all of the equipment I found and IDd
it, and have updated it all in the item database. I'm going to add
some more items this week as time allows. Should get the map up
tomorrow I think.
Well, managed to find a little more time than I had hoped and the map
of the Red Fog
Grayeyard is up. I enjoyed mapping it because of the un-knockable
doors and the puzzles to be solved. Thanks to Ferne for popping along
and providing inestimable advice and encouragement. Cheers Ferne!
Friday, 20th June 2003
I've been playing Azrael non stop for the past week. He had an xp hole
and I managed to work my way out of it then I managed one level before
I died again! I sat down and worked of most of the 15M xp hole in a
day and levelled again the next day. Az is up to 32/37/35 at the mo
and 600K from another level in each school.
I started a couple of maps (the Elevn starting zone for one) but
haven't felt like mapping much. I've added in a few new stats people
have sent me and I've updated some that were from SD2!
Wedneday, 11th June 2003
Finished off the map of the
Goblin
Caves and started picking up some new kit for Azrael. I also
amended the map of the Quickling Forest, as there were a few rooms
that have changed over the years.
Tuesday, 10th June 2003
This week's plan is going well. I've just knocked another 3 million
off Az's xp hole and mapped out the
Three
Rivers, an connecting area that joins up the Troll Moors, Meadow
Creek, the Raveclaw Woods and the Sea of Swords. There are no unmapped
links from Meadow Creek now. Also spent ten minutes making my map of
the Astral
Plane easier to use.
At lunchtime I spent a little time mapping again and made a map of the
Jermlaine Tunnels.
At the end of the day I started to map the Goblin Caves but, as I
often do, blundered head first into a death trap. Goodbye gold,
goodbye equipment, hello poverty, hello hours of finding equipment
again. I wish I could make another character to wear a spare set of
kit - but that would be expensive...
Monday, 9th June 2003
I had a pretty busy weekend, what with running a Magic tournament all
of Saturday and spending Sunday with friends, and so no time for
Shadowdale. Even so, I spent a little time thinking about what I was
going to get on with and this week I'm going to try and lessen
Azrael's xp hole, get Stibbs to 43 and map at least one zone a day.
Starting on that track I finished a map of the
Quicksilver
Gorge, a tough place where the Displacer Beasts hang out. There
are a whole bunch of tough, 80K plus mobs. Good xp but you need to
stay on your guard.
Also managed to link up the Marshes and the Auauroch desert - I
thought there was a zone inbetween but they were only a few rooms
apart. I also added in the map of the
Greypeak
Mountains, which is very small and I wouldn't bother going there
if I was you.
Friday, 6th June 2003
I have, for a change, been reasonably busy this week and so my SD
playing has been limited. Even so I've managed to squeeze in a little
time and the first fruits of that today are a map of
Cormyr Forest.
I managed to grab a little more time and weld Westgate Town onto
Cormyr Forest too, rather than add a second, small map.
At the end of the day I stopped work to map the Overmoor Trail, which actually turned out to be the
Sunset Mountains. Azrael died again but it was my mistake so I can't really do anything about it.
Tuesday, 3rd June 2003
Logged in and decided to get the map of
Kanok Eng
out of the way. Kanok Eng is one of a number of areas that I've mapped
over the years and lost the map between revisions or moves of this web
site. I remembered that it shouldn't take too long and it didn't. I
took the time to rearrange the map list slightly to put starter towns
at the top of this list - should help newbies out a little more.
Also spent a little time tweaking the sd-map-show.pl script
that outputs all of the maps. I added a little space between the keys
and the footer, removed the waste of space between the map and the
keys and added a new feature - local links. If you check out
Meadow
Creek now you'll see that parts of maps on the same page will now
link to each other. It didn't take long but it should make some maps a
little easier to use.
Sunday, 1st June 2003
I've spent quite a bit of time over the last few days mapping out
Meadow
Creek. It's a complex area, with many little areas and I
thoroughly enjoyed it. Stibbs, now an Adept, is great for this sort of
mapping but I do miss the ability to cast 'sanc', heal myself or
recall back to Shadowdale that I have when I play Az.
Az himself is still working his way out of an xp hole - he always
seems to be. I guess I should use Stibbs rather than Az for difficult
missions because it costs me three times as muxh xp every time Az
dies. Hopefully I'll work it off and make some progress getting him to
40 and fireshield - my next big goal for him.
Thursday, 29th May 2003
I've been concentrating on getting Az out of his xp hole and had
gotten him down to about 7M xp to level. Unfortunately for me the
Frost Dragon in
Frost
Mountain decided to turn me into a popsicle. Even so, I still only
need 18M xp to level. I'm starting to see it as only a minor setback,
rather then the overwhelming catastrophy I used to see it as.
Even so I managed to finish the map of the Frost Mountain and it's now
available. Stibbs is nearly an Adept and I may spend some time maxing
him out to level 45.
Tuesday, 27th May 2003
I spent some time over the weekend mapping Frost Mountain,
Lycanthropia and the Manticore Way but, having antagonised mobs in the
first two, I could only get most of the third finished. Azrael, my
primary mapping character now, also died... twice... to Fingolfin, a
very hard mob in Lycanthropia. A 24M xp hole looked very large but I
can easily chip 5M a day off that without really trying.
I'd also like to thank Razz for giving Az and Stibbs some really good
kit: CHEERS RAZZ! They're both really well kitted out and my new Psi,
is starting to look a little better too. Matrix Reloaded for me
tonight, fingers crossed it'll be pretty good.
Friday, 23rd May 2003
Well, the last day in, what has felt to be, a very long week
indeed. I've managed to get a few maps done and quite a bit of tidying
up done to the website (you may have noticed the Items and Maps have
smaller fonts now). I've also added a bunch of new items and been
working on Azrael a bit more.
Today's new map is
The
Thunderpeaks which now joins Lake Yeven, the Tilverton Mountains
and the Moonsea Ride together.
Thursday, 22nd May 2003
I've been concentrating on Azrael over the past week and he's now an
Expert. It's the first time I've managed to get a tri-class up to
Expert as they normally fall into large xp holes and I can't be
bothered to dig them out. With sanc, stone skin, great armor, buffs
and weapons, Az is my favourite mapping character now as he can recall
back to rent at any time or, now that I've mapped
the astral
plane he can get home that way too. Stibbs too is levelling up but
without a ready sanctuary spell and a quick way home, he's just not as
much fun!
I also managed to grab some time this lunchtime to finish off my map of the
Vale of
Frost. It's not that interesting for most players other
that the route through to Frost Mountain, which I hjave yet to map.
Wednesday, 14th May 2003
I started my SD day well by mapping the
Border
Forest. I've started to use 'whozone' a lot more to find
out the real names for areas and I've renamed the Aushendoun Woodlands
to it's correct zone name: Lordaeron. The Forest nicely links up the
Plains, Moonsea, Anauroch and the Tesh Trail! That's what I call
connected.
Well the day is going well so far. I managed to find out what was
wrong with the item scripts and I can add and edit items again. If you
want to add items yourself you need to become an itemstats
editor. Before I'll make anyone an editor I need you to send me some
stats that you've collected. Once I have 10-20 off you I'll make you
an editor temporarily and you'll be on probation. Every item you add
will need to be checked over by me. Once you've passed that you can
add as many as you like - when you like! Email me if you're interested.
Tuesday, 13th May 2003
I've been playing Azrael and Stibbs for the last week or so and am
working on getting Az out of yet another xp hole. Tris really are the
worst for that. Stibbs haas escaped his hole and is racing along,
gaining at least two levels a day at the moment.
I've also fixed the player database and, hopefully, will fix the item
database shortly. If you fancy adding your details in give it a try
and let me know if there are problems.
Thursday, 8th May 2003
Last night Vanashtha helped me out and we nearly kitted out Azrael and
Stibbons again. They're both back in a state where they can explore,
even if they're not up to full strength. Thanks very, very much
Van.
This allowd me to finish off mapping
Anauroch,
the Great Desert. Now I want to get Orofin finished as I've mapped
most of it anyway. Orofin would get me one step closer to Trol Moors,
my current mapping destination. Once there there are a host of zones
close to that I need to map.
Managed to get some time in to finish mapping
Orofin. Fingers
crossed I'll be able to start a map of the Marshes to the north-west
of Orofin today.
WOOHOO! Managed to get the
Marshes
mapped. Only a step away from the
Troll Moors now. I've also found Blackspire Tower and how to get to
Meadow Creek too! That puts me at 60 maps!
I reckon I'm on FIRE today. Just finished mapping the Troll Moors,
where there are some higher level GMs (post Port Mir). I've even had
time to put the map
online.
Wednesday, 7th May 2003
What a weekend. I ran a smallish Magic tourney all of Saturday and
spent a good night out in the company of friends that night. Sunday
and Monday, it being May Day bank holiday weekend, were spent asleep!
Woohoo! I managed to get some quality shopping in too, but no real
time for Shadowdale.
Today I started to level Azrael up a bit more but had a little bad
luck. Even with Sanctuary you can't do much if you miss a bash, and
get dispelled underwater. You can't move out of the romo and soon
die. After that, with a 9M xp hole staring me in the face, I decided
to get a little mapping in and picked the Stonelands as my starting
point. Unluckily for me I stepped straight into a death trap and lost
all my equipment. Donations welcome. I used Stibbs to finish mapping
the Stone Tower and I've now uploaded the map.
Friday, 2nd May 2003
I've managed to get a hell of a lot of playing in over that last few
days, what with free time at home and the boredom of patching servers
at work, and its allowed me to get Azrael out of his hole and well
along the levelling path. he's now 25/28/28 and ROCKING. With the
protective spells of the clerics and mages, the offensive skill and
armor of a warrior and the added punch of mage aggro spells he's
awesome. My main goal of getting this character to 26 in cleric for
sanctuary has now been achived. Stone skin is my next goal, and
getting Az to 30 in all classes. Then I can start mapping again...
Thursday, 1st May 2003
Added a link to the map of Khmer to the maps page and added in a
map of the
castle too. I've had the map for a week but I've been a little
busy. I've also mapped Quimperna Village now and will be adding it
shortly.
I've been playing Azrael a lot more than Stibbs recently, mainly
because Az is in better shape as he can cast Mage and Cleric spells as
well as swinging with a sword - even though Stibbs has twice the HPs!
I've gotten them both killed a few times and, with a tri-class, the xp
hole really hurts but, thanks to a few good friends, I've worked my
way out of a couple and I'm getting close to levelling again.
I eventually got around to adding the map of
Quimperna Village. Enjoy.
Wednesday, 23rd April 2003
Well, weekend was great fun, even if I didn't do so well at the Magic:
The Gathering, English Nationals. Never mind, there's always next
year. I got back on Monday and spent some of Tuesday playing around. I
started maps of Quimperna village, apparently a good place to go for
Medium characters, and also started a map of Khmer while I was there.
Khmer, without the castle, is a reasonable size, but the castle itself
is huge so I spilt it into a serarate map to make life easier
for myself. I finished Khmer not too long after that and have added
a map. I'll get
Quimperna Village and the Khmer Castle done as soon as I get time.
Thursday, 17th April 2003
I know that I go on and on about maps and how they're not designed and
put together properly but I believe that I, and everyone else, is
entitled to their own opinions on game design. A badly designed map
makes moving around the world non-intuitive and detracts from the
gaming experience.
However, mazes are a different story. An area that is meant to
be a maze is a lot different from one that has just been put together
badly. Take the
Troglodyte Tunnels
for example. Here's a map that has been made difficult to move around
but it's a fun, if brief, puzzle to solve it. If items don't move,
mobs don't pick items up and you have enough different ones mapping
any area like this is just fun!
I also mapped down to the Tunnels along the
Ancient
Road while I was at it.
Wednesday, 16th April 2003
Well, my new kitchen is in and it's really nice. I've never had a
dishwasher before but I can see that I'm going to really enjoy having
one! I was away this last weekend, and I'm away the coming weekend
too but I'm trying to get a few more maps added before I do.
I started out today to map out the Thunder Peaks which seemed to link
Lake Yeven and the Desertmouth Mtns. I started at the Desertmouth side
and found out that it was a small area on that side, so I've added it
to
the map
rather than create it's own one. I also managed to find time to join
up the Desertmouth Mnts and foothills, which I hadn't noticed were
actually connected (DOH). Finally I managed to squeeze in time to map
the Moonsea
Ride which connects Stonelands to Tilverton. It's not very
inspiring as it's another of the 'connecting areas' but at least as I
get them done there's less to do next.
Tuesday, 15th April 2003
Nipped on at lunchtime to fix a few holes in the smaller parts of the
map. This time around I only really got to do one new map, that of the
Tesh Trail. It links a few maps together and gives the maps to the
north east of shadowdale a much more 'connected' feeling.
Wednesday, 9th April 2003
I did manage to get online yesterday but I spent a lot of time finding
Varen, the Troll Warrior Guildmaster. You can only go to Kolack in
Port Miramor until you're around level 26. Turns out Varen is a
long way away down through the Desertmouth Mountains and
Stonelands and out the other side. Since I hadn't mapped Stonelands I
figured that'd be a good start.
I managed to get myself into a heap of trouble thanks to unannounced
traps. No amount of skill or thinking ahead can get you out of an area
you had no warning about and is full of doors you can only open if you
could only kill a monster that is much harder than you. Puzzles
like that annoy the hell out of me. Thank goodness for high level
clerics with summon.
Anyway I went back today to finish the map of Stonelands and I can now
get to Varen without thinking too hard. I'm planning on adding a new
section to the site soon with articles about Shadowdale. My first will
be 'Playing a Warrior'. If anyone has any they'd like to send in
please do so.
I finished the day by adding in a map of the Plains of Shadowdale and
the Northern Woods. It took a couple of hours because it was so badly
put together but, hell, at least I can get around it now!
Monday, 7th April 2003
I managed to get some time in to make up a
map of
Moonsea today. I'm not getting much time at home because my house
is a shambles thanks to having a new kicthen fitted! Even so, I've
really got the mapping bug again and I hope to get a few more in this
week before I head away to Whitby, England to a long, drunken
weekend.
Friday, 4th April 2003
I spent a little time today making maps of Lake Yeven, and then the
Ashaba River. I haven't made a map for SD in a long time and was
really enjoying myself until map 'oddities' started popping up. Rooms
that were three moves west of one room, but only N,E,S away in the
other direction. Rooms that overlapped. Paths that crossed each other
when you tried to map them, but didn't in the game.
These maps are down to shoddy design. When I was a kid, and started
programming text adventures, I picked up a book "Adventure Games for
the Electron" by A J Bradbury. He included a long section on making
maps before you start to code and boy was he right. MUDs aren't
the same in many ways I know, but when it comes to puzzle and map
design Bradbury had it dead to rights.
Friday, 28th March 2003
Well, been playing on and off for a few weeks and Stibbs is up to
24. I can get two levels for him in about half an hour if the wind
blows the right way so why is he only 24? Well, I guess that's because
of Azrael.
Azrael is a Human, Cleric/Mage/Warrior that I've created. They're one
of the most powerful classes at higher levels as they can use almost
all the equipment in the game, have all the best spells and can hit
really hard with almost any weapon. As you'll all know you soon
run out of things to spen study sessions on with Warriors but with a
tri- or dual-class character you just use them on the cleric or mage
spells instead! Az is now up to over level 10 in all classes thanks to
Vanashtha and Uvatha, an old friend of mine who's still
playing.
Monday, 17th March 2003
I've been playing Stibbs a bit over the last week and managed to get
him up to over 20 now. He's starting to rock. Even so I'm not doing so
well with equipment so if you have anything good for a Half-Giant
warrior5 email me and I'll arrange to be on.
I've also lost a bunch of old maps that I hadn't had a chance to
update yet *sigh*. Never mind. Unfortunately I also lost my directions
around the desert to the south of Port Miramor, the one with the DTs
in it... guess I'll have to be careful.
Created a new character today too. Azrael is a Human,
Mage/Cleric/Warrior. It's a difficult class to level but powerful
thanks to the cleric and mage self-buffs and the warrior's pure power.
Last but not least I fixed the items today. There were some problems
with the scripts being in an old version of Perl, but there were also
problems with the item database. I've replaced it from a previous
backup for now.
Friday, 7th March 2003
Well, I had a pretty boring afternoon ahead of me at work and so I logged
on to have a bit of a play. I died a few times, and at level 11 that's
a whole host of xp you lose but each time I managed to get back to
where I was. Eventually I managed to level and, with help recovering
bodies from a few players, I started to play a little more carefully
and managed to grab two more levels before I decided it was time to
head home.
The maps all seem to be fixed but, as a few people have pointed out,
the items still look broken. I haven't had much time to fix it because
I've been working on another site (my
Magic web-site) but I'm going to try
and find out what's wrong next week.
Thursday, 16th January 2003
Logged in at the end of work today and wondered over to the small square
to see what was lying around - beggars can't really be choosers. Even so
there was a pile of good stuff so I kitted myself out and headed to my
old, low-level hunting ground: The Elven Forest. Twenty minutes later
I was up to level 5 and well on my way. I'm a bit miffed that 'help' doesn't
seem to work so well, and remembering all the commands is proving difficult
but 'll get there.
Wednesday, 15th January 2003
Well, I guess I'm back.
Since October I've been getting emails every once in a while asking me
to look after the site. "Is it dead?", "Why is it broken?" and a heck
of a lot of compliments about being the best SD site out there back in
the old days. So, after spending a few years out of the loop, I've
decided to start working on the site again.
Over the last few years I haven't really had time for Shadowdale. When
I last played I was in the twilight of my days at a company called
Intracus, later to become Smartgroups. I was very unhappy there for
the last six months and left, leaving over £100,000 pounds
behind me - happiness really is much more important than money guys 'n
gals. I was lucky enough to get the post as IT Manager for a small
start up, and worked there for a while until I, along with the rest of
the IT department, was made redundant. My luck held once more and I
landed the job I'm still doing, Systems Manager for Bath University's
Computer Science Department.
I like my job a lot and, although it's very busy at times, I can
almost certainly find time to put maps and stats online here if you
send them to me. I might also spend some time away from Asheron's Call
and AC2 to get Stibbs back alive and under way - gold and good
equipment are always welcome ;-)
Today I've fixed the item searching CGI's and have had a look at
fixing the player database, it'll take a little time for me to work
out what's wrong with it but I'll get there (I wrote the code in 1998,
thank God I commented it). I'll also spend some time working on
allowing users to edit and add new objects in the coming weeks.
Thursday, 25th May 2000
Added a map that Vanashtha has sent me of the Tilverton Mountains. I
had to go on the SD and check out a lot of links that didn't seem to
go anywhere, but the maps was spot on. Still a lot of maps to add but
I'm getting there.
Friday, 19th May 2000
Added a map that Vanashtha has sent me of Yulash. I've been much more
busy than anticipated, but I'm getting through everything slowly.
Thursday, 11th May 2000
Added a map that Vanashtha has sent me of Orshingal. Cheers Van. She's
sent me quite a few and I'm trying to add one a day now until they're
all on the site.
Friday, 5th May 2000
I've had a break for a while as I've been on sick leave. Even
Shadowdale seems too much effort sometimes *sigh*. I'm feeling a
little better now, so I've put a little effort into the site again.
I've added more details to the map of Shangri-La. Thanks Vanashtha.
Wednesday, 12th April 2000
Logged on and got another 1M xp. Only 3.8M to go now. I need to find a
better weapon. The Titanium Broadsword I'm using is better than just
using my fists - but only just, and I need a weapon I can use against
undead (well, Ringwraiths at any rate) too. Any hints or help welcome.
Tuesday, 11th April 2000
No Quake this dinner time so I logged on to make my xp hole a little
smaller. Manager to spend a productive 20 minutes and got 1.3M
xp - only 4.8M xp to get rid of the hole and level now. I've been
taking out a few more mobs that give me 150k each, maybe I should be
taking newbies round with me to up my score. See y'all soon.
Thursday, 5th April 2000
Well, what can I say. I logged on last weekend to try and get myself
up to level 38 and I had a few accidents. I got drained by a watch
ghost and then got killed by one of the party of adventurers at the
entrance to Cavenauth (and Golothaer). I thought if I used an arrow
they'd come and attack me one by one. They do, but not before they've
summoned all their familiars... DOH. So, 9M xp lost.
I've logged on twice since then and I now need around 6M xp to level
up again. At this rate I should be able to get rid of my xp hole and
start levelling again. I really just need the cash to buy heal potions
and I'm away. Hope to see you all soon.
Oh, one last thing. I can kill the Ringwraiths if I stop using a
weapon: At last ;)
Monday, 27th March 2000
Logged on this dinnertime for a quick play and got myself 700k
xp. I've stopped trying to kill the watch ghost in the Anauroch desert
as it can drain you. It would be fine only there are four skellies in
there too so you can't bash straight away. Something tells me that was
planned... I'm now level 37, with 1.4M xp to level up to 38. It's nice
to be getting harder as I can map more areas and I'm less scared of
dying than I was. Still can't kill the Beholder, or Ringwraiths yet. I
need a +5/+5 weapon.
Sunday, 19th March 2000
I've been on holiday for four days so I haven't been playing, but as
soon as I got back I nipped on for an hour. Stibbons has been getting
tougher over the last week and with the 1.5 million xp I got today
he's now up to level 36. It's getting tougher for me as I don't have
that much time to play (dinner times and the odd hour at home) but I'm
getting there. Only another 1 million to level 37 too.
Apart from that I've nearly finished my map of the Anauroch desert and
will be adding a few other maps over the next week. See y'all around.
Saturday, 11th March 2000
Been playing on and off all week and am now up to level 29. Stibbons
is getting quite hard, but the Ringwraiths are still kicking my
butt. I've had to start levelling in Golothaer so I've added maps of
Cavenauth and Golothaer and am working on some others. I'm really
getting back into things and loving it! See you on-line sometime.
Tuesday, 7th March 2000
Logged on to try and get another couple of levels. I've levelled up to
level 17 over the last week, but forgot to add it to my diary! I
logged on today needing 200k to level and got 500k to level me up to
19. Only 300k to go and I'll be able to set my own title and learn how
to spot (finally). I don't understand why they upped the level you
need.
My route is now taking me down into the Ratman fortress (for around
300k) and then over to Shangri-La to kill a few fiends. I then head
back over to Port Miramor, as the GM in Shadowdale won't help me
anymore *sigh*, picking up a three or four 15k kills along the way.
Life is getting more relaxing with 230hp and some decent armour.
I also now know that I have 17 Con (18 with my runestone) which is
getting me around 8hp per level. I've also got 18/100 strength which
is quite decent (not as good as Stibbons #2 though). The rest of my
stats aren't that great - but who cares *grin*. See y'all again soon.
Monday, 28th February 2000
Logged on with a mission to get 280k xp. I started in the Ratman
Fortress, moved over to Shangri-La for a few fiends and finished up
with a few nobles and buffalo. Finally: one level in one lunchtime.
Looks like Stibbons will start to get a lot harder now. He's 11 hours
old and level 15 with 190hp. Should be a Medium level character by the
end of next week... Hurrah!
Friday, 25th February 2000
Added part of the map of the Newbie University. Over the last four
weeks I've been logging in and trying to get Stibbons some xp. It
takes me two dinner times to get one level at the moment but he's just
on the verge of beging able to level in one dinner time. I'll be back
to Stibbons the cartographer soon.
Wednesday, 26th January 2000
Another part of Infested Tree added. Hopefully I'll be able to
actually finish mapping it soon. My character is now safely a Chump
and
I'm in that middle ground where you need 250k to level, seems to be
two trips to a couple of areas - or two lunch breaks for me. Hope
you're all well.
Thursday, 12th January 2000
Well, it's been a long break. Christmas and illness seem to go hand in
hand around here *sigh*. Most of us in England seem to have the flu!
Other than that I've been working on site for a client, so my
dinnertime wanderings have been cur short. Looks like I'm back for a
while now, so hopefully I'll be getting on with the business of
levelling Stibbons so that I may map a few of the more
interesting parts of Shadowdale.
Thursday, 18th November 1999
Added the map of the Ratman Fortress. Still having to do too much work
everywhere else *sigh*. Hopefully I'll be able to add some more maps and
itemstats over the weekend. Yesterday I managed to get Stibbons up to level
10. He's beginning to find it easier to level as he's got quite a few
hitpoints and a decent weapon and some armor *grin*. Still not like the
old Dracolich-bashing days though.
Monday, 15th November 1999
I've had a lot to do this last month, including flying over to the USA
to do some work and helping a guy with his web site. Time for SD has been
sparse. I managed to grab 30 minutes this dinnertime on-line and picked
up 120k xp for Stibbons. Nearly got him up to a Chump *grin*. Also checked
over the map of the Ratman fortress I have. It seems correct and I'll be
adding it soon (maybe today even). Also got a load of stats to type in.
Thanks to everyone who has sent some in the last month. I'll be mailing
you individually and saying thanks this week.
Sunday, 17th October 1999
After tidying up the flat a little (isn't it amazing how paper builds
up) I started where I left off yesterday. Finished all the changes and
redesigned a few pages. Also added the advanced search page I've been
promising for a while - I'd be grateful for some feedback. I'm happy
that everything seems to be working so I'm going to upload it all to
my live web server and check it out there.
Saturday, 16th October 1999
Well, once again I sat down to implement a redesign of my Shadowdale
web site. This is about the fourth 'look' it will have had, and I
really hope the users like it. Some will, some won't. My plan is to
change everything over to the new look and then add new features (such
as the advanced search page, list of fast walk directions and
stuff). I also hope to be able to get over to SD to help Stibbons gain
a little more XP.
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