@arkandel said in Dreamwalk MUSH:

@demiurge That's interesting, but once you get many players won't it get confusing to not know who is responding to whom or follow the conversation at all, especially if there's more than one going on?

Not to say that confusing is a bad thing necessarily.

Yes. It's supposed to be confusing. It's supposed to be a cacophony. You're not really supposed to have a coherent exchange. It's supposed to be stream of consciousness, emotive, etc, but definitely not coherent.

@faraday said in Dreamwalk MUSH:

But what if RP were just a means to the end? What if the game had other goals (like exploring the connections between dreamscapes)? Then spending your limited resource to buy connections to strangers is not only desirable, it's necessary to play the game the way it's meant to be played.

Well, the point of Dreamwalk MUSH is threefold:

• Build up your dreamscape,
• Meet other dreamers (RP, essentially),
• Traversing the dreamverse

Scening is heavily rewarded, but you're discouraged from being too picky about who you RP with because if you fail to level with the people who are actually available to you, you can sort of box yourself out of the game. @Wizz objected to this in part because it might mean you end up dealing with a creepy, annoying, or otherwise frustrating player, and I definitely get his point. However, I think having mechanics that both allow for enclaves to emerge naturally while also directly rewarding you for humoring people is ultimately a good thing. It creates an incentive to be a good player.

@faraday said in Dreamwalk MUSH:

@golgoth said in Dreamwalk MUSH:

I was under the impression that the IC shared connection channel could be used as this central hub. What more would be needed?

From the game wiki, it sounds like in order for two characters to RP with each other, one of them has to: a) create a sympathetic connection, b) build a bridge, and c) pay lucidity to go through that bridge. That means that three characters can't just randomly decide to do a scene together. They all have to be connected first to someplace they can all get to (or spend the points/tokens to do so now).

That's not a criticism; just an observation. The dreamscape mechanic is what makes the game unique. It also may be off-putting to some players.

If there's another way to RP then @Wizz is right - that probably should be clarified in the wiki.

There is one, but it's fairly limited. It's a Collective Unconscious channel, which is anonymized. You don't say anything, someone says it. You can declare who you are, but other dreamers can also declare they are you, for the purposes of tarnishing your reputation in character, mocking you, deceiving others, whatever. I'm hoping, if the game takes off, for it to have a certain cacophony effect that's both fun to read and spew into.
Here's an example of a simple exchange that was had over this:

<Collective Unconscious> Someone says, "I take anything for fare. I take Federation credits. I take Spacecoin. I take BITcoin. I even take obscure currencies like United States dollars. I take fucking gasoline."
<Collective Unconscious> Someone says, "Do you take deuterium fuel cells?"
<Collective Unconscious> Someone says, "Maybe. What do they do?"

So there is a central place to RP, but it is limited, and that is deliberate.

@ixokai said in Dreamwalk MUSH:

But we gotta have some sorta talk. The Communal Unconscious almost brings it but it gets a little overwhelming if more then three people are in it at once, and there's no way to narrow its focus to just one or two people who have captured your interest.

On Bar RP: I think it would be really cool if there were characters that routinely act as hubs or links between many players, and I have nothing against BaRP per se, but I think making it trivial is bad. I'd really like even new players to be behooved to think things through and have to find a way to navigate to the bar.

@wizz Yeah, man. I'm sorry that it didn't work out for you.

But as an aside, all new players will now receive 3 free bridges in addition to the 3 free sympathetic connections.

Here are the ways Dreamwalk MUSH improved today:

• Bridge tolls are now 50 per barrier level, not 25
• Toll recipients now get message for why they are paid
• Gifting now sends a message
• Poses now yield a message
• Starting out lists a reason for being awarded Lucidity
• Idling for an hour is now listed as well
• You can now have messages for getting awarded lucidity
• Bridge tolls go to owner of room being entered
• Starting Lucidity: 5000

https://www.twitch.tv/thestranjer

Live stream of me working on Dreamwalk MUSH. Tell me what needs to be coded.

@secretfire said in Dreamwalk MUSH:

H.P. Lovecraft's Dreamlands

Good recommendation. I should revisit this and see if anything inspiring comes up in terms of how to further program the game mechanics.

@tnp said in Dreamwalk MUSH:

Sounds interesting. One thing though leapt out at me...

and how many words you wrote.

I don't like the idea of encouraging nonsensical purple prose that takes a half hour to write and even longer to interpret.

Yes, I've definitely considered that. But honestly, I think I'd prefer to tolerate purple prose people over one-liners. The calculation of Lucidity per post can be modified and tweaked over time. I'm definitely open to ideas.

@salty-secrets Right now, I don't have a combat system. If I do make one, it will be implemented incrementally, and will be totally custom. Also, being the craziest most powerfulest abstract concept or whatever likely wouldn't matter even if I did institute a combat system, because dreams are essentially magic and you can expel Death itself from your dreams because you thought it wasn't real hard enough.

I wouldn't be worried about getting "pwnt" by God characters.

@emda said in Dreamwalk MUSH:

This does seem like a neat idea. I hope some people come up with universes that play well together.

I'm pretty leery of encouragements for people to just stay connected, but I get the purpose. You mention the 150 lucidity per hour thing. How much does that amount to in relation to lucidity costs for expanding your dreamworld and how much you might make in a scene? How large of a starting dreamscape can a character make off the bat?

Is there any interaction between the universes characters come from, given the emphasis on it being interesting, or would other players mainly come to know about your waking world through whatever elements are pulled into your dreamscape?

I'm glad I wrote a lucidity command that's designed specifically to list this! It automatically updates as I add new features, too, so if you do choose to log on, you can rely on that for accurate information.

Here's what the output of it current looks like on my character:

 ==> Your Lucidity is 339

 ==> Lucidity

 Lucidity is how you get things done. It's how you build new rooms. It's how you describe and name those 
    rooms. It's how you create sympathetic connections to people when you run out of your first three 
    sympathy tokens. It's how you build bridges between people, and tamper with other people's 
    dreamscapes. There are two main ways that are currently implemented to get more Lucidity:

 ==> What Things Cost

  *. Describe Own Room: 500
  *. Describe Other Room: 1500xthe barrier of the room being described
  *. Rename Own Room: 500
  *. Build Room Base: 1500xnumber of rooms you have
  *. Sympathetic Connection: 5000xnumber of sympathetic connections you already have
  *. Barrier Increase: 1000xnumber of barriers room already has
  *. Erect Bridge: 2500xthe total barriers of both rooms
  *. Bridge Toll: 25xthe barrier of the room being entered
  *. Details Home: 500
  *. Details Other: 1000xthe barrier of the room being detailed

 ==> How To Get More

*. Idle. We want you to stay logged on! Even if you're just chatting OOC, that's better than 
    disappearing. For every hour you're online, idling or otherwise, you get 150 Lucidity.


*. Actually Roleplaying. You get Lucidity based on a combination of how many people are in the scene, 
    and how many words you wrote. While quantity doesn't translate directly into quality, more is better 
    ceteris paribus, and it's something that can be calculated objectively.

How much starting Lucidity, if any, is kind of up for debate right now. I'm not sure if you should get any (leery of this), or if you should get like 10,000 (wooo, seems a bit much!), but you should probably get something so you can start scening early.

I might write in a lucidity/gift <player>=<quantity> command soon, so that older players can help newer ones out.

EDIT: The larger the scene, the more you make. It's calculated by: 10 x players x word count, per post you make.

@ixokai said in Dreamwalk MUSH:

I'm intrigued by the weirdness of this. But novel approaches to mushing appeal to me lately.

That's great. Why not give it a shot then?

Techie Stuff

Repository (and relevant branch): https://github.com/TheStranjer/aresmush/tree/dreamwalk/master

Development Cycle: A minimum viable product has been reached, and now it will all be incremental. However, if players actually use this, it will evolve to make it more fun for them, and their input will be greatly appreciated

Shoutout to @faraday for writing the engine this operates on.

Main

Dreamwalk MUSH is a game about dreams built on old MUSH ideas. In it, you are a dreamwalker, a lucid dreamer who can travel to other people's dreams from across dimensions (a Space Marine might have a dream where he meets Alice In Wonderland), and even alter those dreams. In Dreamwalk MUSH EVERYBODY is a builder, but they have to spend Lucidity to build anything, and it's way more expensive to manipulate another person's dreamscape than your own... but it still can definitely be done. (Type lucidity once logged in to see costs)

The point of the game is threefold, to:

• build up your own dreamscape as time passes
• meet other dreamwalkers, and interact with them, and
• explore the infinite dreamverse, hopping between dreamscapes to meet new and unexplored places

Character Creation

Considerations Before Starting

Becoming a Dreamwalker requires you consider a few things. Most importantly:

• who they personify in their dreams,
• what their dreamscape is like,
• which universe your character is native to (optional), and
• what their role in that universe is (also optional)

Who They Are In Their Dreams

Enter with a concept of who they are in their dreams. This is important. It is your character's presentation to all other characters. It is who they are on the inside, which becomes the outside here in the dreamverse. Is The Space Marine a poet? Perhaps instead of defying the norm, he's exactly what you would expect him to be in his dreams: a warrior. Whatever the case may be, have an idea of who they think of themselves as while dreaming.

What Their Dreamscape Is Like

Not who they are, but what they dream about. What are the places like? What are the people in them like? How do things work, what is going on there? Duke Nukem's dreamscape might be full of attractive women in skimpy yet high class attire; starlet outfits and the like. A djinni's dreamscape might reflect the wishes of his masters, and the negative consequences wrought upon them for asking for those things. A Sopranos character might dream about that one time their boss insulted them, over and over. Whatever the case may be, have a compelling idea in mind.

Which Universe Your Character Is Native To

Your character isn't always asleep. When you, the player, are logged off, your character is either awake or in some kind of dreamless sleep. He can't enter people's dreams because he isn't dreaming, but his dreamscape persists when he stops dreaming, allowing other dreamwalkers to enter them, observe them, and even alter them.

People from all different universes dream. Space Marines dream. Alice in Wonderland dreams. Sopranos crime family members dream. There is no limit to which universe you can be in. You can use an existing one, create a derivative one, or make an entirely new one. The only key is that you make it somehow interesting to other players. If you fail to do this, you might fail as a player.

What Their Role In That Universe Is

So you've decided where your character resides, but not who they are. If you're playing an Alice In Wonderland character, you need to know which one; after all, the disposition of Alice is very different from the disposition of the Red Queen. Formulate an idea of their role. It does not need to be fabulous to be interesting. A grunt office worker can be a terrifying anti-hero in his dreams; a person's soul often isn't reflected in their situation.

Actually Making Your Character

Simply create the character and log in to the MUSH using the web client or your favorite real client; the host is dreamwa.lk and the port is 1736. That's all you need to do. When you tell us you're ready, we'll have a private conversation with you about your idea and log it. You don't need to write any of the stuff down, but you need to explain to us your idea in a way that covers all those topics. Then, after we've considered the totality of your idea, we'll sign off on it, approving your character, or tell you what needs to change to convince us to sign off on it.

Lucidity

Lucidity is how you get things done. It's how you build new rooms. It's how you describe and name those rooms. It's how you create sympathetic connections to people when you run out of your first three sympathy tokens. It's how you build bridges between people, and tamper with other people's dreamscapes. There are two main ways that are currently implemented to get more Lucidity:

Actually roleplaying

You get Lucidity based on a combination of how many people are in the scene, and how many words you wrote. While quantity doesn't translate directly into quality, more is better ceteris paribus, and it's something that can be calculated objectively.

Idling

We want you to stay logged on! Even if you're just chatting OOC, that's better than disappearing. For every hour you're online, idling or otherwise, you get 150 Lucidity.

Reminder! The actual game is hosted at dreamwa.lk on port 1736. The website is located at http://dreamwa.lk.

Remember! You can always use the lucidity command for important information