Review Submitted By: Melkior
Author Status: Player
Started on The Burning Post II: A few days ago
Submission Date: Nov 21, 2011
TMC Listing: The Burning Post II
The following review is the opinion of the review's author [Melkior]
and in no way represents the opinions of this website or its staff.
The following review is the opinion of a new character to the MUD.
And among other things, his first impressions.
Burning Post II is a role-play MUD set on the island of New Yarsith
in what is closest to the medieval times where the inquisition was
burning witches on the stake. The game revolves around the brave men
of the Inquisition, who put their lives in the hands of the Lord of
the Springs, to hunt down witches and rid our world of evil, where
every woman sighs 'Ah, what would we do without them?'. Forgive me
if I sound sarcastic. Heretic? Me? No, I am no-- w-what are you
doing.. I am not a witch-- where are you taking me-- AAAAAAAAHHH
Right. And surprisingly, the above theatrics are not far from the
reality of the game. These are dangerous times on New Yarsith, an
island that was recently liberated from the Vavardi-- and purged
(mostly) from the evil of the Witches. The Inquisitors remain ever
vigilant for those who's soul is blackened by the sin of magic, and
minds corrupted by the power of demons wrought forth through
summoning. It is their job to purify and keep the sanctity the soul--
and it is the common man's job to not be labeled a heretic, apostate,
or worse-- a witch.
The dynamics of politics and intrigue lace the backgrounds-- hard to
see, until you find yourself in the deadly trap with only a few ways
out. And sometimes it's difficult to tell which exit is worse.
But it is *FUN*. The reality of the (fantasy) world immediately
captured me and drew me into it's deceptively carefree hands. Now, I
could talk about the theme and dynamics of the world all day, but it
is something one should experience first hand, for nothing I say can
do the game justice. Instead I will move on to the more code-oriented
and character- oriented aspects of the game.
Mages, while evil and powerful, are appable. First character? You'll
most likely get them. Have no idea what to do? You'll find out.
Really, from what I've seen, the staff is very generous and trusting.
I mean, it's not like you won't die really soon if it's your first
char. Ha-ha-ha. Though, don't take my word for it, I've not yet seen
anyone app a mage as their first character.
Otherwise, there are other guilds you can app into. The Inquisition
or one of the other chapters of the Holy Order. Perhaps you'd like to
be a Reeve? They are like the modern day police? I don't think you
even need to app for that. A Knight charged with the safety of the
keep, the city, and to keep the peace? Probably app-free too, unless
you'd like to be a high rank. How about a Bard? Or perhaps a
Chimerite, who are like mad-scientists/doctors. I'm sure they'd like
to cut you up and see what's inside just as much as they'd like to
sew you up together when someone bashes your head in sooner or later.
There are many other guilds, and each one is tailored to what someone
joining the MUD would like to join in and play, starting with
peacekeepers to those who break the law, assassins and thieves.
Doctors, crafters, bards-- You can even be a Noble.
Moving on to combat; Now, the system is incredibly innovative and
unique, as far as I can tell. The only thing Burning Post II and other
MUDs have in common as far as combat goes, is the kill command. And
here, it only initiates combat.
In a fusion of RP and hack&slash, the Burning Post II combat system
shines like a ruby left in the sun. Instead of waiting for rounds and
watching stream of text pass by-- you are charged with doing what you
want your character to do... or, as people put it, what your character
would do. But come on, OOC strategy plays a big role. Call it IC
strategy too, if you want.
To stab someone, you would do the following, 'cemote lunges forwards
and tries to stab Orpheus'. Cemote is combat emote. It is a special
type of emote that lets the game know you are posing something with
the intent to attack and harm, and that the game should look for
keywords. The keywords being *lunges and *stab. The first one is an
attack keyword. Lunges are good for fleet-footed opponents, and stab
is a thrusting keyword. Good for... hurting people. And Orpheus?
Orpheus is the coolest staffer I had the pleasure to know, ever in my
entire life. Including Renzo and Rylai.
Back to combat. Combat includes stances. How well you're skilled in
stances determines your ability to fight, and how fast you generate
Action Points. It also determines your aptitude towards methods of
attack, as well as your primary, secondary and tertiary line of
defense. for example, the Spider Stance is a maneuvering stance. It's
primary defense is Footwork, secondary is Dodge, and the third one is
Parry. If you fail the first, you have a chance at the second, and
then the third. If you fail all of them. Expect to get cut. And when I
say cut, I don't mean taken down to 'scratched'. I mean really get
cut. Characters can receive 'critical wounds'. Ranging from broken
arms, deep gashes that bleed like crazy, and my favorite, fractured
skulls. Now, these aren't the only ones, but I hope you, reader, get
the picture.
But still, no matter where you are, the sense of camaraderie is a
powerful and intoxicating thing. Because things can go very bad, very
quickly, and until you find yourself in the middle of such a really
bad situation(tm) you will not be able to appreciate the full extent
of what it means 'It's good to be alive and have friends'. Because
either one can change. You can be either dead, or have one friend
less. The Inquisition can be real mean. That doesn't mean you can't
play an Inquisitor though. He-he-he, just saying.
And the best part. The game is newbie-friendly. Immediately upon
joining I was met with greetings and very helpful staff and their
helpers (labeled on who as 'Citizen'). They were quick to offer me
wealth of knowledge. And I don't mean point you to a help-file and go
'READ!!'- no, they really took the time to tell me, and explain to
me, things I didn't know. Heck, they might even help me with my
homework, that's how helpful they are. (Ok, maybe not really, I'm
speaking mostly figuratively, but I wouldn't be surprised if they
really did)
If you are looking for a friendly place, and it's really much harder
to die then what I lead you to believe so far, and a place with rich,
capturing, theme-- and innovative and unique code mechanics... This is
surely the place to give a try to.
