Burning Post II

[ThugHeaven]

Burning Post II is a medieval Mud set on the parallel world of Urth. (Don't let the Mud codebase scare you as roleplay is the primary focus, though it has much of the automation of a Mud, primarily combat and some skill based crafts). Burning Post II (BurPs) is as close to a Mud/Mush hybrid as I have seen, worth checking out.

The story so far: The world of Urth is similar to medieval Earth, however magic and demons are real. The primary religion is the Davite religion, which is similar to Catholic Christianity and is diametrically opposed to the use of magic. Those who are suspected of using magic are burned at the stake, hence the name Burning Post.

After a series of wars and inquisitions, a mysterious magical shroud has fallen around the island of New Yarsith and the nearby county of Linden. Demons have been appearing through strange portals, causing much destruction. New Yarsith and Linden county are highly religious while far to the south lies the free city of Oceanwall. Oceanwall is more of a free-city where magic is allowed and thrives, much more chaotic with looser laws.

There are open roles in both the New Yarsith and Oceanwall areas. Want to play a zealous knight with a dirty secret? New Yarsith might be where you want to start. Want to play a herbalist that dabbles in magic? Oceanwall is a good starting point.

Concepts the game needs:
Troubadours- Storytellers, musicians, poets
Reeves- Local law enforcement for both cities
Orderites- Davite clergy in both cities: Missionaries, Priests, Knights, nuns, etc
Merchant/Crafters- Woodworkers, Smiths, Jewelers, etc
Mercenaries- Down and dirty gritty sword for hire types

Those aren't the only concepts, there also other factions that have an active player base such as, tavern owners, Doctors, Chimerists (alchemists), etc. The game is levelless and there is nothing stopping you from delving into another field. Skills are gained through XP and XP is gained through RP, so the incentive to go out and RP is there. Combat is handled through emotes called Cemotes, in which you pose backflipping in the air and slashing (Ok, I'm exaggerating) at your opponent and your skill and code handle whether you hit or not.

The game has a small, mature playerbase and is looking to grow. Come on down and roll up a character, poke around a bit. BurPs is currently gearing up for a new story arc, the staff are open to many concepts and the players are extremely helpful in answering questions.

BurPs wiki: http://www.burningpost2.co.uk/wiki/Burning_Post_II_MUD

Telnet: www.burningpost2.co.uk:4321

See you there!

[BetterJudgment]

@ThugHeaven - I've been casually following this and the other (original?) Burning Post game for a while now just through advertisements on Mudconnector. Something I've wondered is what has led to at least one (or more?) spin-offs from the original game. Is there a difference in story, or is it more a difference in the approach to playing the game? I made a character on the original game (I think) during the time when I was transitioning from ROM/Diku-based "RPI/RP Enforced" games to MUSHes, and at the time I found the game to be a little too heavily coded and underpopulated for me.

[ThugHeaven]

@BetterJudgment - I really can't comment on the previous game. I've just started playing about a month ago, so I can only comment on the game as it is now.

As for it being underpopulated, it has about 18-20 people playing at peak times, but can go down to about 4 during off peak. Sounds about average to me.

[Orpheus]

Hi, Orphy! here. To answer ThugHeaven's question, there's really no 'original' Burning Post anymore, unless someone with access to the original code (which our coder has changed/improved substantially) decided to do something with it. If so, I'm not aware.

The Burning Post II is sometimes just referred to as The Burning Post or BurP. To be honest, adding the II at the end when I created that game has probably hurt me a little, as I've been told people worry that knowledge of the first one is necessary to play the 'sequel'. It definitely isn't. The original game's setting and the current game's primarily (well, not recently) setting are both a certain island, but I did redesign/expand the island before 'BurP II' opened.

If anything, it is a spinoff of the original TI, which was started back in the late 90's. There is another TI-themed game out there. I'd argue that the themes (at this point) except for the very very basic "mages are evil" aspect are quite different. There is a difference in story, certainly, and setting, and overall plot.

Are we heavily coded? Yeah, maybe. But I dunno -- I've played MUSHes and I've played MUDs, and I think it is fair to say we're a decent hybrid of the two.

[Jeshin]

Burning Post II is one of those games that I'd suggest to MUD players looking to transition to MUSHes or MUSH players looking to try a MUD without going full hack and slash. I played there for a little while and never once used any coded systems besides travel and emotes.

[Deleted]

I always thought MOOs were the transition game between MUDs and MUSHes.

[BetterJudgment]

@Admiral said:

I always thought MOOs were the transition game between MUDs and MUSHes.

The MOO I've played is far more elaborately coded than any MUD.

[Deleted]

Well yes they are more elaborately coded but they also tend to contain more RP than MUDs. That is the transition I was referring to.

[Orpheus]

While we do allow OOC chatter, the game's sole purpose is RP. Do people try to make it hack'n'slashy with IC sparring? Eh, that's debatable, but everything a character does is OR SHOULD BE IC.

[Thenomain]

Concerning what @Orpheus just said, I had a thought that I found interesting so I'm saying it out loud:

So, a tabletop session which uses OOC chatter, does not have a "sole purpose" of RP?

At what level does introducing OOC elements make game-play not RP?

How do you even define an "OOC element"? I would probably say "any element that does not directly portray the character's actions".

Obviously the one thought gave birth to a litter of related baby thoughts.

---

So I decided to connect to this game, and did so, and entered a name, and then nothing I typed in did anything. I tried '?' and 'help' and 'out' and 'it will not fit here' and other hilited or emphasized words and nothing happened. This was using the most recent build of TinyFugue.

So I went to the web site to look for the "how to play this game". It was something that @Jeshin asked about Mushes: How do you introduce new people to the game, etc?

I was very surprised, in that light, to find nothing on their wiki for new players. Not even a link on "How to Play a Mud".

I went on to try the suggested Flash-based client, and it gave me a security error. As a last-ditch effort, I used raw telnet (MacOS X 10.10.something) and finally it gave me a prompt if my name choice, "Thenomain", was acceptable. It isn't, but I logged in anyhow.

I found the following message in the connecting room most striking:

Please use the visnet channel (visnet <message>) to ask questions of any
players currently online.  Feel free to contact an immortal or citizen via
the tell command as well.

Ahha, OOC commands! Not just entry-room OOCing, but game-wide OOC commands. The litter of questions in my head begin to stir and hunger for answers. Is this a scent of mild hypocrisy on the wind, or nomenclature that is not making the transition between a sub-culture and those not "in the know"?

Probably the latter.

This came up a lot, too, and was baffling :: <HP:perfect Mv:fresh>(!whererp)

I have stumbled upon something truly alien. I doubt there will be more to follow, as I was mainly looking for what an "RP-Enforced" Mudder considers "RP". It doesn't seem as draconian as roughly stated.

---

Only one more small note: Two spaces after a period. @EmmahSue beat that out of me years ago. It's glaring to me now.

[Orpheus]

I only brought up the OOC thing because I've been told I'm not an 'RPI' because of the OOC chatting. I dunno. I care about theme and people having fun. I try not to get too nitpicky about what makes a game this or that.

Also, used to work for a newspaper and I currently proofread technical stuff for a living, and the standard both places were one space after a comma, so I went with it.

[Thenomain]

Nah, @Orpheus, that was an "argle bargle" thing, like my attitude about ANSI. Let me tell you about ANSI....

(I'm not going to tell you about Ansi. It's culturally important for your game, so I'll let it be.)

Things that convinced me that RPI Mudders are just like Mu*ers everywhere: I got kind of snippishly warned that talking about the codebase + Telnet was opening old wounds. (Kind-of-snippishly because it was couched as a joke, but in that way that said 'we aren't really joking'.) The people answering questions were helpful and very clearly had expectations that were second nature to them.

I will say that with the experience I did have with one of the wizards (immortals?), tho, I wouldn't be going back.

[Tempest]

@Thenomain

Theno, I've noticed the 'none of my commands did anything' thing a lot, and when it happens for me, it seems to be something to do with some MU* clients not handling MUD code very well. PotatoMUSH seems to freeze up on most muds, for example. And it's not really a 'freeze', because the client LOOKS like it's still working, you can change windows/etc, but nothing seems to come/go from the MUD window.

I never encountered that problem with MUSHclient, though.

[Orpheus]

I use MUSHclient, myself.

[BetterJudgment]

It's probably too late to step back from this particular abyss, but to clarify I must have tried The Burning Post nearly ten years ago. My curiosity mainly arose from the game being old and having gone through a couple of iterations, and I was wondering if that represented different approaches to the setting and story, to game play, or to something else. I'm not really interested in round four of "RPI FTW!," but it's my own fault for asking.

[Orpheus]

@BetterJudgment

You probably did try it ten years ago, as I believe that's about when it first began. If you're interested in the history, I'll tell you, but I don't want to bore anyone who isn't. Long and stort, it is a different approach to the setting and story (while keeping the fundamental aspects of the theme intact). The original setting still exists, but the game actually takes place over 500 years after the original Burning Post. Our coder has also made 100s of substantial upgrades to the code.

[Shard]

I just thought I'd share my own opinion on Burning Post. I've been playing the game for over 2 years now, so yes I'm one of those horrible addicts that can't quit a thing that has stolen a chunk of my life away already.

One great thing about BurP is it balances both an attempt to stay true to the theme yet bold enough to bring about true changes from events.
The history is stable, the beliefs are set and the story is focused with the importance of religion and loyalty to the crown that has roots in that religion.
It is the religion that states magic is evil which the religion can then point to the past and show you why we should believe this statement.
An ability to still change? An old foe that should of died hundreds of years ago has proved to have cheated death itself with the use of magic. Through magic more powerful than any mortal, or group of mortals, should ever be able to wield he nearly destroyed us all. (Wonderful story board posts on it in game) He did not destroy the Urth or the kingdom of Linden but he did manage to claim the city of OceanWall and bring to it a new way of living. Davites still are the more populated group of the city. (Though few davites are being played in oceanwall, pity) but mages roam the streets, a prince is chosen by Thandok so long as he can survive and keep order. All relgions are accepted. Still with the failings of the city and the curse seemingly upon the land it must deal with Linden.

We got agriculture skill now.. totally awesome (not that I've tried it yet.. its just THAT new! Come check it out)

Linden is a land where Davism is still the chief religion and the prince of the land now resides in seaview. Knights and reeves train hard for potential threats that loom far too close for anyone's liking. We know what threats there are in ocean wall but what about the threats that are even more dangerous in the cities of Linden themselves? Mage's that refuse to leave the area with plentiful food and better weather, a place where the animals are less likely to try and torment you for sport (or food) The brotherhood is certainly always a presence to be mindful of - with their thieves, spies, assassions.. likely dealing with poisons and such. (Darn those alchemists!)

So much to see!
(I use Chaco.. that no one uses its so ancient.. I've tried zmud, and mudlet also which work. On my phone I use pocketMud)

[ThugHeaven]

@BetterJudgment I've been playing for a short while and didn't know there were other iterations. I just assumed there was a regime change and a new vision implemented.

So I did some poking around and I found another version. From what I can see the other version is a more coded mud, while burning post is a little more stripped down. In a way it's similar to WoD or any other franchise; the races and factions are the same but the story arc is different. I plugged it because it's got a different theme than I'm used to and it's a nice change of pace for me.

I also use mushclient, btw.

[Alzie]

@Thenomain said:

This came up a lot, too, and was baffling :: <HP:perfect Mv:fresh>(!whererp)

Welcome to the world of muds, where you have a status prompt that prefixes almost every line. I wish I could say it was consistent but it rarely is. But as for baffling, is that a joke? Surely even you know what HP is. MV is Movement points. Lots of Muds use that to limit movement around the grid and stop you from speedwalking. WhereRP is likely a system for notifying people you want RP, like one of our wants RP flag systems on +who or +where.

[Shard]

Command: Help prompt
It'll give you options on how to customize that prompt bar.

I'm so use to MUDs I was just thinking you were critiquing how the prompt looked. I tried a MUSH a year or so ago. I was boggled with all.