SITUATION UPDATE! July 25 2009: Net situation mostly resolved! I will be working on getting Marduk up and running again… FINALLY.
NOTE: Currently, I am working on marduk solo, as Shig is taking some time away. Updates may be slower than normal to the server, but will continue.
NOTE: Memory permitting, I will update this fairly often with any new information I feel should be posted.
UPDATED: March 23, 2009!
See Player Stats section.
Marduk is an RP style server that offers plenty of background, story, quests and more!
Marduk’s history is difficult to generalize, as there are many regions and races, each with thier own culture, background and legends. However, there are some bits of history that do stand out.
The Ancients
Centuries, maybe even mellenia ago, there was an anciant culture that controlled a lot of the world. Thier ruins and influence can be found everywhere.
Not much is known about these people. Who they were, what race they were, or even where they went. Thier ruins, however, speak of a highly advanced race who had seeminly alien or even magick machines. These devices are constantly dug up, many times still functional and used in socienty. But due to a lack of understanding of these ancient devices, there are very few who can repair them, and even those people are limited in what they can do.
The Digger’s Guild
The Diggers are a group of archiologists who focus strongly on research and discovery of the Ancient people.
The Diggers are responsible for the majority of Ancient discovories and circulation of ancient devices in the world. Thier guild halls can be found in most populated regions.
The Races
There are many races in the world. Some people, others violent and ruthless. (more race data in the future. Most, if not all races will be playable)
Overworlds, Dungeons and Adventure Fields, Oh my!
Marduk levels are seperated into 3 main catagories. Overworlds, Dungeons and Adventure Fields. Each type of area offers different styles of gameplay.
Towns and Overworlds are usually ment for Roleplay, shopping, information gathering and where you obtain most quests. Because of this, enemy encounters are rare. At most on a normal day, you might come across an aggitated bear in the woods.
Adventure Fields are usually very action based and crawling with enemies just waiting to show you all the painful things they can do to you. Enemies can drop items and money, or you may find hidden treasure somewhere in the area.
NOTE: current baddies do NOT drop loot, but they will soon!
Dungeons. Like Adventure fields, dungeons are usually overun with enemies. Dungeons are indoors, and usually more challening than an Adventure field. While Adventure field enemies usually are more numerous, the enemies in Dungeons are usually much stronger. Dungeons also offer mental challenges, such as puzzles to unlock other areas or to find special items. Loot in dungeons is overall a much higher quality than what’s found in Adventure Fields.
Player Stats
After looking things over, I finally sat down and got the stat system implimented and reworked a bit. Taking input from various sources into concideration, I decided to go simple. …Yes, compared to the original plans, THIS is simple XD Here’s a run down of the setup!
Level: Your current level, duh!
EXP: Experience Points. Determins when you level up.
DP: Distribution Points. DP is a special kind of currency used to improove your player stats or learn special abilities/spells from Trainers. When you level up, you get some DP, which you then spend at a training facility. Want more strength or like to learn a special combo move with a sword? Find and arena to train. Feel you could be smarter, or know a special spell you wish to learn? Seek out a library, or Mage trainer.
NOTE: Combo moves are an example only right now. Although I’m working on it, there’s no promises that they will be implimented!
Strength: How strong you are. This determins your ability to use certain weapons, learn certain abilities and can unlock special related features in dungeons or puzzles.
Wisdom: How smart you are. More wisdom allows many more spells to become available, and can also unlock special related features in dungeons or puzzles.
Dexterity: Your mobility. This lesser stat, although not often required for anything, is used as a minor damage modifier for weapons. Especially heavier/larger weapons. It can also be helpful to unlock special related features in dungeons or puzzles.
Attack Strength: How powerful your attacks are. This is determined by your strength, weapon power and to a lesser degree, dexterity.
Defense: Your resistance to physical damage. This is determined by your total armor rating, and to a lesser degree, strength (as stronger people can obviously take an attack better than a weaker person in general).
Resistances: These are more or less your magick armor.
Elemental: How well you defend against Elemental damage. There are 5 types. Air, Earth, Fire, Water and General. General resistance will resist against all elements, but is conciderably weaker than a single resistance. Only one resistance type at a time can be applied. If multiple resistance type equipment is worn, only the highest resistance will be applied to your character. Future tweaks might prevent you from even equiping multiple resistance types.
Balance: This is your Karma, or Allignment Points. Good players will take less damage from Evil players, and visa-versa. The further into the alignment you are, the less damage you take from the opposing alignment. Balance can shift depending on your actions, or even what quests you do. Balance can also be used to unlock hidden secrets in dungeons or puzzles.
NOTES: Attack Strength and Defense are currently just swordpower and shieldpower, but will be changed in the future to already reserved stats withing the system as I continue working on the armor and weapon systems.
Enemies!
There are a few different types of enemies. No, I don’t mean “Bandit”, “Undead”, and “Generic Slime type creature.” What I mean, is there are different classes of enemies. From simple baddies, to Boss types.
Baddies. Baddies are usually the easiest encounters, as they are Graal’s default built-in enemy. They are weak and do not drop loot… though may be guarding some nearby.
Enemies. Standard enemies are more versitle than baddies, in that they can use just about any non-unique/special item in the game (unless they actually drop said item when killed). These are scripted, so can appear not just as a humanoid (and badly animated), but as any type of race, creature or monster. These are the most common enemies you will find in the game. They are more difficult than baddies and thier abilities are based off the same stat system players have.
Guardians. These are basically the same as normal Enemies, but are much stronger than thier counterparts. These types are usually found in towns as guards, or final encounters before encountering a Boss.
Bosses. Bosses are the most unique encounters in marduk, as they have thier own special graphics, animations, and abilities. A boss will also scale in difficulty depending on how many players are in a level. The more people around him, the higher his stats will be. This allows people to team up against a boss, but at the same time, not allow people easilly defeat it.
NOTE: Some bosses are actually staff members, and not a scripted enemy. These are special encounters.
Technical Notes
Marduk is a constantly evolving server. Meaning, it’s never done, just further developed. As long as Graal Reborn exists, so will Marduk. There may be periods that seemingly nothing happens, as in, no noticable updates. However, I am always working on things (I’m addicted to making stuff for no real reason).
Uptime Schedual:
Unless I can find a host that’s always up, like our old one, marduk can only be online for certain times of the day. When I sleep or am at work, I keep my computer off to save on energy bills. Sorry, but I will not make any exceptions at this time, so please do not ask.
Time Zone: Eastern (US & Candada) GMT -5:00
Monday - Sunday: 4pm until between midnight and 2am. *
Days off: Start time actually depends when I wake up. I tend to sleep a lot. 4-6pm is more of an average.
*My job scheduel is a little hectic at the moment. I cannot predict what days off I get or whether I’ll have a short or long day. But I never work past 3pm, so the server should be up by 4-ish. Fridays can vary, since I always go out for lunch after cashing my check, so start time is likely around 5.
Comments and Suggestions
For the most part, Shigeru and I build Marduk for fun. An outlet for all our random ideas. But comments and suggestions are always welcome, as I’d like the server to be fun for everyone.
Credits
Much of Marduk is credited to myself and Shigeru, but there are plenty of random bits and pieces that are credited to others as well. The OS Library (Onlinestart library in Kyne) will always have a full list of credits.
