Tank Mage Deathmatch is based on Ben
White's Tank Mage Deathmatch, the
winning entry from April 2000's 16k
Mud Server Competition. The mud
demonstrates the next stage in the
evolution of MUDs -- A fully
integrated browser client. Right now
the technology is only supported by
Google Chrome, but in about a year
every major browser will support the
technology.

NOTICE

You must use Google Chrome to play
Tank Mage Deathmatch.

PLAYING

Each player will start in the
designated start room. You can move
between rooms using, n, s, e, w, u,
d commands, depending on exits. You
will also start with a number of
health points (HP).

The aim of the game is to defeat
other players in magical and melee
combat by spending attack points
(AP) to cause each other damage.
Damage is represented as a loss of
HP. If your HP drops to zero or
below, you can consider yourself
killed, and you will restart in a
randomly selected room.

Powerups also appear from time to
time in selected rooms, and have
various beneficial effects.

COMBAT

Combat is based on attacks and
spells. Attacks are performed by
spending AP; the attacks either
damage the opponent or are blocked.
Spells can be cast by invoking the
required runes at a cost of AP;
spells either protect, do damage, or
are negated if the target has
invoked the negation runes.

Maintaining invoked runes also costs
AP; if the player does not have
enough AP to maintain invoked runes,
then the runes are automatically
invoked.

Every three seconds, you receive
another (HP + 7) / 8 AP to spend, up
to a maximum equal to your HP. No
matter what the cost of something,
if you have at least 1 AP, you can
perform it; this ensures that
players close to death can still do
something useful.

Moving from one room to another
costs 2 AP, and all invoked runes
are revoked. Changing targets also
causes all runes to be revoked.

TARGETING

You will target all your actions at
a specific player. This player must
be in the same room as you for you
to target them. All rune
invocations are recorded relative to
this player. Invoked runes are lost
when changing targets or moving from
room to room.

If you use the target command with
no parameters, then you will target
the first player in the room (other
than yourself). If you want to
target a specific player in the
room, you can enter either their
name or number as a parameter. To
determine their number, use either
the look or who command.

ATTACKS

Attack costs, damage, and negations:
Lunge 1 AP, damage 1 HP, negated by Chop or Block
Hack 1 AP, damage 1 HP, negated by Lunge or Block
Slash 1 AP, damage 1 HP, negated by Hack or Block
Chop 1 AP, damage 1 HP, negated by Slash or Block
Block 3 AP, damage 0 HP

Your attack will be blocked by your
target if one of the negation
attacks was performed within the
last 9 seconds, and it was among the
last three attacks.

COMBO ATTACKS

If you perform certain attacks in
the right order, you will receive a
bonus attack, or combo attack.
Combo attacks can only be blocked by
the target if they have performed
all the listed attacks within the
last 9 seconds, and they were among
the last three attacks performed.
Once you perform a combo, the
attacks you used for it can no
longer be used as defences from
other attacks.

Shield Rush:
Damage: 3 HP
Requires: Block, Block
Blocked by: Block

Forward Combo:
Damage: 3 HP
Requires: Lunge, Slash
Blocked by: Block and Hack

Reverse Combo:
Damage: 3 HP
Requires: Hack, Chop
Blocked by: Block and Slash

Body Strike:
Damage: 3 HP
Requires: Hack, Slash
Blocked by: Block and Chop

Overhead Chop:
Damage: 5 HP
Requires: Chop, Lunge
Blocked by: Block and Lunge

RUNES

Spell rune invocation costs (and
maintenance costs): Maintenance
costs are charged every three
seconds. Invoked runes are
automatically revoked when changing
targets, moving from room to room,
used in a spell, or automatically
used to defend against a spell.
Rune of Air 1 AP (1 AP)
Rune of Fire 2 AP (1 AP)
Rune of Water 1 AP (1 AP)
Rune of Earth 1 AP (2 AP)

SPELLS

Spells can be cast after the
required runes have been invoked.
Area effect spells do normal damage
to the target, and half damage to
all others in the room (excluding
the caster).

Magic Missile:
Cost: 1 AP
Damage: 2 HP
Requires: Rune of Air
Negated by: Rune of Earth

Fireball: Area
Cost: 2 AP
Damage: 6 HP
Requires: Rune of Air, Run of Fire
Negated by: Rune of Water

Stone Skin: Defensive
Cost: 1 AP
Protection: 8 HP
Requires: Rune of Water, Rune of
Earth

Ice Shards:
Cost: 2 AP
Damage: 5 HP
Requires: Rune of Water, Rune of Air
Negated by: Rune of Earth, Rune of
Fire

Poison Cloud: Area
Cost: 2 AP
Damage: 6 HP
Requires: Rune of Water, Rune of Fire
Negated by: Rune of Air

POWERUPS

Powerups appear from time to time in
selected rooms. If there are
players in the room, then the first
player in the room will receive the
powerup. Otherwise, the first player
to enter the room will receive the
powerup. Rune powerups are the only
way to get runes.

The following powerups are
available:

Rune: Earth, Air, Fire, or Water
(randomly selected)
Health Bonus: increase your HP
Sword Bonus: increase your sword
damage, to a maximum of +3
Rune Bonus: increase the damage of
spells, up to +2 per rune

DEATH

After being killed, all your runes
will automatically be revoked. You
may have a random number of runes
deducted, and sword and rune power
bonuses will also be randomly lost.
On return from death, you will
receive a random number of HP, and
will restart in a randomly selected
room.

COMMANDS

score, go , target, target
, look, look , say,
shout, who, invoke , revoke,
cast , attack , help,
quit, i

Shortened aliases are available:
n north
e east
s south
w west
u up
d down
l look
ln look north
ls look south
le look east
lw look west
lu look up
ld look down
t target
ia invoke air
ie invoke earth
if invoke fire
iw invoke water
r revoke
cm cast magic missile
cf cast fireball
cp cast poison cloud
cs cast stone skin
ci cast ice shards
ah attack hack
as attack slash
ac attack chop
al attack lunge
ab attack block

TIPS

When you see a player, use t to
target them. Sword attacks can be
performed using ah, as, ac, and al.
You'll want to use ab to block
attacks. Remember that a single ab
will block attacks for 9 seconds, if
you only use two other sword
attacks. Doing a shield rush
(ab,ab) will remove your blocks and
leave you vunerable to attack.
If you want to do a combo attack,
perform a block first to leave you
at least partially protected from
attack. To block a combo attack,
you'll have to anticipate what your
oppenent is going to perform, and
perform the negation move. This is
virtually impossible if your
opponent has a lot of AP.
The Overhead Chop is the most
powerful combo (chop-lunge). So if
your opponent starts a chop, try to
do a lunge to block it. Then return
with a Forward Combo (slash, since
you already have the lunge). This
also means that if you do an
Overhead Chop, immediately follow up
with a hack to defend against a
Forward Combo. Then you can finish
with a chop or slash for another
combo.

You will want to get hold of
powerups, especially health bonuses.
These are the only way you can
recover lost HP.

Tank Mage Deathmatch is based on Ben
White's Tank Mage Deathmatch, the
winning entry from April 2000's 16k
Mud Server Competition. The mud
demonstrates the next stage in the
evolution of MUDs -- A fully
integrated browser client. Right now
the technology is only supported by
Google Chrome, but in about a year
every major browser will support the
technology.

If your oppenent starts invoking
runes, try to figure out what spell
they're casting. Hopefully you'll
either have the runes invoked
already to be able to counteract the
spell, or be able to quickly invoke
them. Otherwise, try running or
getting stuck into them with your
sword.

Lastly, try not to move from room to
room too quickly, because it wastes
AP.

THE MAP
Here is the current map:

           3
          /
         2--0  15
        /   |  |
       1    |  6--13
            |  |   |
   11-10-8--4--5---9 16
     /     /   |   |
    12----7   14  17


0 The Village Church
1 Wizards' Hall (Rune bonus)
2 The Elevator
3 The Church Attic (Rune Power
bonus)
4 The Village Green
5 The Village Square
6 Bargain Bazaar (Sword bonus)
7 The Deep Well
8 The only road out of town
9 The Esplanade
10 Troll's Bridge
11 The Dark Forest (Rune bonus)
12 Troll's Lair (Sword bonus)
13 The Jetty
14 Harry's Place (Health bonus)
15 The Pub (Health bonus)
16 Swimming at Sea
17 The Corn Fields (Health bonus)