I still miss it, myself, but I’m guessing it’s gone for good.

RIP LO

You were a milestone.

After 17 years of running Last Outpost, Rahjiii is taking a much needed break from the game. The break will be at least a month long, and possibly longer. After such a long run, he certainly deserves a lot of respect for the work and for keeping it going this long.

The jury is still out on whether or not he’ll bring it back again. With all the competition from more graphically oriented games, MUD technology is certainly one that is not getting a lot of attention these days and perhaps it’s time to move on.

As for me, I work in the 3d worlds as well, but there is something satisfying about having a text based game — especially a world that has been so thoroughly and rigorously thought out as Last Outpost — to play in.

Thank you, Rahjiii, for all your hard work and dedication. Know that your efforts are treasured and the experience is one that I will treasure.

You have attained : (mage 20) (warrior 18) (cleric 20) (thief 16).
You have 355(355) hit, 283(290) mana and 100(100) movement points.
You have scored 31263 exp, and have 153181 gold coins.
You have been playing for 19 days and 12 hours.
You are 61 years old.
You are carrying 8 items, totaling 138 pounds.
You have 20 of 20 saveable valuable items.
You have been to 70 zones and have seen %70 of the world.
You have killed %32 of the mobs, and have seen %4 of the items.
You belong to the Knights of the Realm.
You are standing.
The wrath of Set flows through you!
You can detect living creatures.
You can sense the red aura of evil.
You can detect invisible.
You can detect magic.
You feel pumped up.
You feel dexterous.
You feel the strength of youth.
You can see far into the distance.
You sense some divine protection.

Here’s the breakdown on what it all means:

You have attained : (mage 20) (warrior 18) (cleric 20) (thief 16).

These are my current class levels. I’ve maxed out Mage and Cleric and I’m currently working on bringing thief up to Warrior level. My ultimate goal is 20×4, that is, level 20 in all 4 classes

You have 355(355) hit, 283(290) mana and 100(100) movement points.

These are my current levels of hitpoints (health), mana (magic ability) and movement.

You have scored 31263 exp, and have 153181 gold coins.

I’m 31,263 points toward my next level and I’m carrying way too much gold.

You have been playing for 19 days and 12 hours.

This character has been in the game for a total of 468 hours. This represents only a small fraction of the number of hours I’ve actually played this game over the last 10 years.

You are 61 years old.

I’m actually over 100. A spell is keeping my age down artificially. See below

You are carrying 8 items, totaling 138 pounds.

When I type “inv” I see 8 items, including two bags. This is way too much stuff (weightwise).

You have 20 of 20 saveable valuable items.

One of the limitations on characters is that they can only carry so many “saveable” items. Sometimes these are good items (weapons, armor, treasure) and sometimes it’s minor things (like magic mushrooms). I’m carrying two full sets of yashkad boots/gauntlets to give out.

You have been to 70 zones and have seen %70 of the world.

A little math indicates that there must be 100 zones in the world. I’ve seen a lot of it.

You have killed %32 of the mobs, and have seen %4 of the items.

By comparison to the zones, I’ve only killed about 1/3 of the available mobs (mobile monsters) and only seen a very tiny fraction of the available items. I may have actually held them, but if I didn’t “look object” it doesn’t count, so this is a slightly misleading number

You belong to the Knights of the Realm.

I belong to the KtRm clan. In fact I’m the head of it. If you’re over level 7 and would like to join, please contact me.

You are standing.

This is my current status. I could be sleeping, sitting, resting, etc.

The wrath of Set flows through you!
You can detect living creatures.
You can sense the red aura of evil.
You can detect invisible.
You can detect magic.
You feel pumped up.
You feel dexterous.
You feel the strength of youth.
You can see far into the distance.
You sense some divine protection.

I’m currently under the influence of those spells. It varies as time passes.

At any given point in time, everybody is faced with “What do I do now?” The answer isn’t something that comes from outside, but needs to come from the game. While it seems intuitively obvious to me, some people don’t have a clue as to the point of Last Outpost, so here’s your moment of Zen:

The goal is to have fun.

I know, fighting and dying is not — usually — fun, but that’s the goal. There are several other goals.

Make 20th level in your class (warrior, cleric, mage, thief — not college)
Make 20×4 (highest in all four classes)

I realize that when you’re trying to work up thru the single digits, these goals seem a long way off, and if you’ve never mudded before, the experience can be daunting. Toward that end, here are some tips:

1. Food, water, light, armor, weapon. You need these. Make sure you have them. You can’t have too much armor, but don’t waste a lot of time (or coins) buying it. There’s more than enough around.

2. Use your bag. “Put” and “get” are your main commands. “put something bag” or “get something bag” .. if you don’t know if you have it in your bag, try “look in bag” — oh, and “look” can be abbreviated with a single letter so “l in bag” works. If you have more than one bag, “look in 2.bag” might be effective.

3. Corpses are there for you to loot, unless they’re fellow players. Be helpful. You wouldn’t want them to loot your corpse, so don’t loot theres. Also don’t loot the corpse that somebody else killed. That’s considered rude. Commands like “look in corpse” and “get all.coins corpse” are especially helpful. You can’t lift a corpse, but you can drag one. “Drag corpse” will tie you and the deader together. “Drag” as a command by itself will release it.

4. MUD Clients are very useful. They give your session structure so you’re not getting distracted everytime your screen jumps while you’re in the middle of something. There are a couple in the toolbox on blackboard, and some listed on the sidebar of this blog. If you need help, ask and I’ll be happy to help you set one up.

5. Your “next thing” is to make the next level. Sometimes that’s heading out to slay, and sometimes it’s to stay in and practice. Sometimes it’s stocking up on food. What ever you’re doing, remember that your avatar is your representative in the world. You manipulate it in the context of the world. “Why am I here?” should have a clear answer, and that answer should provide the context upon which you can hang your memories of the commands.

If you go to the guild, you are there to “gain” a level or “practice” a skill.

If you go to a shop, it should be to “buy” or “sell” or maybe just get a “list” of the items available.

If you’re hungry, you need to “eat” something — thirsty, “drink”

When it gets dark you need to “hold” a light.

You “wear” or “remove” armor to protect yourself.

You “wield” or “remove” weapons in order to fight.

When you need information you check your “score,” “inventory” your holdings, or check your “equipment”

Sometimes you just need to know how many points you need to get your next “level.”

Keep these in mind. Over time they will become automatic and you can expand on your command set with “kick” or “bash” or “cast”

 ____________________________________________________________________________
 |Movement:                         | Utility:                               |
 | NORTH SOUTH EAST WEST UP DOWN    |  ! BUG IDEA TYPO QUIT SAVE BRIEF       |
 | LOOK EXITS WHERE                 |  FILL GAIN PRACTICE WIMPY LAZY CAMP    |
 | SLEEP WAKE REST SIT STAND        |  COMPACT ALIAS                         |
 | LOCK UNLOCK OPEN CLOSE           |                                        |
 |  -----------------------------------------------------------------------  |
 |Objects:                          | Information:                           |
 | GET DROP PUT GIVE WEAR GRAB      |  SCORE HELP INFO WHO NEWS TIME WEATHER |
 | INVENTORY EQUIPMENT EXAMINE EAT  |  CONSIDER LEVELS WIZLIST CREDITS       |
 | TASTE POUR WRITE DRINK SIP JUNK  |  GLANCE SKILLS PROMPT COLOR QUEST      |
 | SPLIT                            |                                        |
 |  -----------------------------------------------------------------------  |
 |Combat:                           | Communication:                         |
 | KILL WIELD FLEE                  |  SAY SHOUT TELL ASK WHISPER            |
 | KICK BASH RESCUE BACKSTAB CAST   |  GOSSIP AUCTION YELL GSAY CLAN PRAY    |
 |  -----------------------------------------------------------------------  |
 |Further information is available by HELP  to see the list of help |
 |scrolls, then HELP  to read an individual scroll.  For starters: |
 |                                                                           |
 | NEWBIE RULES SOCIAL SHOPS INNS CLERIC WARRIOR THIEF MAGIC CHANNELS CLANS  |
 |___________________________________________________________________________|