The Life of a Brigand
Damocles
Greetings all. My character's name is Damocles, on the Chesepeake.
Some of you may recognize it...I'm fairly well known in the area
around the cemetery north of Britain.
Before I go any further, let me say now that I'm a thief and a killer
(and even worse, I'm not a roleplayer ;). I ride about dressed all in
black, robbing those who I do not know. If they attack me, then I cut
them down...people usually aren't expecting a thief who can fight, and
I can fight very well. I cut my teeth as an anti months ago, and after
I went dastardly ( my own choice, as I was bored and sick of the
hypocrisy implicit in most antis, wanna be pkillers that they are)
discovered what it's REALLY like to have people attack you without
warning at any time or place. I've learned at the feet of many a PvP
master.
I'm not without mercy. If I rob someone and they ask me politely for
their stuff back, or if they fight well and with honor, then I will
generally return their items. I've actually made many friends this
way. If they swear at me and say things like "im gona go get my dread
u fagit!!", then I keep what I've taken. There are many newbies I've
helped out when they needed it, when they come asking the lone "red"
if they can shoot at me or test their spells out. I help my friends
when they need it, and don't betray a trust given to me.
I enjoy fighting and I enjoy killing, but I'm not totally beyond
redemption. What I have, I've earned. I've never used any of the
various little cheats people employ to raise their character's stats
or loot houses.
Which brings me to a story I'd like to tell.
The other night in the graveyard a guy came in by the name of Conis.
He was a stranger and obviously didn't know the area, so I trotted
over quickly dipped my fingers into his backpack. They came out with
his keyring.
He was most distressed by this, but this was an unusual event and I
wasn't prepared to give them back without some dealing. As I started
this process, however, he came under sudden attack from the cemetery
regulars. It turns out he was dastardly...I can't tell things like
that as a dark lord without bringing up the doll. He was quickly
overwhelmed and lay at my feet.
I took only one item, a rune, on the off-hand chance that it would be
one to his house. Which is exactly what it turned out to be. I quickly
recalled to it and went inside. It was full of goodies and also had a
trapped Earth Elemental, which had obviously been used to macro up
skills and possibly notoriety (there was a trapped horse as well).
I made a quick decison, based in part on the perceived exploit but, to
be honest, mostly on the stuff there: I was going to loot it dry. So I
went and got some friends of mine and we all proceeded to clean it out
completely, leaving absolutely nothing left.
Now, you can call me scum for clearing out the house, but I used
perfectly legitimate means to get there. To be honest, I found it hard
to feel pity for anyone stupid enough to be carrying a key ring just
inside his pack, and to have a rune and key ring on you at the same
time is beyond belief. I freely admit, however, that I was after the
loot as much as anything else.
But I am who I am. I let people make of it what they will.
Russell
And it's guys like you who make UO such a joy to play.
Damocles
On Mon, 08 Jun 1998 20:24:24 -0500, Russell <russ...@ix.netcom.com>
wrote:
>And it's guys like you who make UO such a joy to play.
>
Actually, I would argue that it is people like me who make the game
fun for some people. Maybe not for you, but what's a game without some
kind of villain? Especially one who's not just another dread out to
kill everyone in sight, who doesn't cheat, and who helps people if
they happen to be his friends.
Damocles
On 09 Jun 1998 01:42:20 GMT, cop...@aol.com (Coppage) wrote:
>Not trying to be sarcastic.....but whats the point of your story??
>Seriously....I honestly dont get it. Was it just a story of your..... for lack
>of a better term.... adventure? Are you feeling guilty and want to come clean?
> Thats about the only two things I can think of. I doubt its the latter. So I
>guess its just a story. Don't think you'll get many more requests for your
>courageous tales here. At least my stories are meant to be stupid.
>
>Cyclone on Napa
I just wanted to tell the story. I'm sorry if it's not up to the
admittedly high standards of your writings.
It wasn't courageous, it wasn't a rescue of someone in need, it wasn't
a flight from evil dreadlords. It's just a true story of a night in
UO.
I really could care less if you read it or not. I know your little
ditties leave me yawning, so I ceased reading them weeks ago. But to
each his own.
Coppage
UbuRex9
Does every "role-playing story" (I use these terms loosely) about UO need to
involve honor and knighthood and fair maidens and other shite like that?
That's why I found UO so stale and maddening. One was either a self-righteous
knight of Sosaria or an incoherent servant of Satan. Even the so-called
role-players had the imagination of a ten year old boy who'd spent one too many
nights reading dime store fantasy novels.
If I got a dollar for every noble knight, or humble shepherd, or jolly jester,
or stoic ranger, or devilish murderer I ran into on UO, baby, I'd be a rich
man, now. It's rare you encounter a player who actually understands things
like nuance, subtlety, and depth.
+Ubu Rex+
Giles Hjort-Tyson
I personally think any house with a nontame animal or NPC inside should be
looted and burned to the ground. As far as Damocles being a murderer, he is
better then most. He doesn't force anyone to attack him, the only people he
kills are those who attack him. It sounds like he is just a thief with some
good self-defense skills. I recently killed a couple healers to get down to
dark lord just to see how people react to seeing me. It really wasn't that
bad, I'm on cats, only one group attacked me and they actually stopped when
I hid and explained that I wasn't a pkiller or thief. Of course I lied, I am
a thief, but I only steal from those who attack me first. Also, I haven't
played much after turning dark lord, so maybe I have just been lucky, I
know there are some npks who will attack anyone below neutral.
The Dark Lord Drakantus, Grandmaster warrior
Damocles wrote in message
<49FC1CA2FC25BEB6.D6C1D4B1...@library-proxy.airnews.ne
t>...
El Lèmur
UbuRex9 wrote:
<big snip>
> It's rare you encounter a player who actually understands things
> like nuance, subtlety, and depth.
>
> +Ubu Rex+
One of the problems with the things you have suggested is that
nobody listens to you..at least when you are playing something
that's not part of a 'plot' or whatever, people might a LITTLE
more attention.
I used to have a fisherman/cook I used to play with for when
my guild had quests and such. I would light a fire in the
street, cook my fish, and make vague comments which would
give the location of the quest. The only responses I got
from passerbys was that I sucked because I lit a fire that
caused them to lag and that I should get some combat skills
because fishing isn't a moneymaker.
--
. . Lemur Dragon
* oo www.udic.org
* / \./\ Let's Play 'Save Those Lemurs!'
*/_()_()\ - ("Frink! Woo! P'tang!")
The Master
Damocles wrote:
> Gree
OK, so the neighborhood bully has grabbed another puppy and set it on fire, and
now comes around here to gloat. What's the big deal? You want to be told you
did a good thing? Go find yourself a pk site. And take these other thieves
with you.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Remove the NOSPAM_ to reply.
Damocles
Do you really have such a limited outlook on life? How sad.
I'm sorry if I'm not yet another knight on my way to slay the dragon.
You sound like someone who wants only villains that are pre-cooked and
programmed by OSI, like those two liches who every so often create
monster spawns for people to go kill. If they can get there before
10,000 other players do, that is. Joy!
You play the game your way, love, and I'll play it mine. Each of us is
equally necessary to the whole.
John Wagner
Giles Hjort-Tyson (kar...@email.msn.com) wrote:
: I personally think any house with a nontame animal or NPC inside should be
: looted and burned to the ground. As far as Damocles being a murderer, he is
: better then most. He doesn't force anyone to attack him, the only people he
: kills are those who attack him. It sounds like he is just a thief with some
: good self-defense skills. I recently killed a couple healers to get down to
: dark lord just to see how people react to seeing me. It really wasn't that
: bad, I'm on cats, only one group attacked me and they actually stopped when
: I hid and explained that I wasn't a pkiller or thief. Of course I lied, I am
: a thief, but I only steal from those who attack me first. Also, I haven't
: played much after turning dark lord, so maybe I have just been lucky, I
: know there are some npks who will attack anyone below neutral.
is a Pvp type and generally run away or avoid them; dastardly people
fit your thief and newby types who forgot noto query. So who would a noto
find safer to kill and loot? Dastardly or Dark? Raise your noto up to dast
and go to a dungeon, see how long you last...
John Wagner, Moonbat (blue), ii, (formerly dast bard), Catskills
Legion
>Damocles wrote:
>
>> Gree
>
>OK, so the neighborhood bully has grabbed another puppy and set it on fire, and
>now comes around here to gloat. What's the big deal? You want to be told you
>did a good thing? Go find yourself a pk site. And take these other thieves
>with you.
>
> _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
>Remove the NOSPAM_ to reply.
>
This is not a non-pk group. This is a UO related newgroup. He is on
topic and you don't agree with him. Isn't the net fun?
Jaquar - Lake Superior
(it's a Q not a G)
Reavers Website : http://www.huneyvaughn.com/reavers
Damocles
There's a little known bug that imposes a nasty choice on red players
who get into PvP fights with blues: every time they go to target
someone with a spell, the noto query comes up. You don't actually lose
noto, but the time it takes to clear the damn thing off the screen is
often the difference between winning and dying. So you either play
with that handicap or you leave your noto query off, which inevitably
means that you'll target someone by mistake. I went from dastardly to
dark lord again because of that yesterday.
As for dungeons...I went to Deceit with some friends (all Noble or
Great Lords) yesterday for the first time in weeks. Within 60 seconds
I was under attack by 3 NPKs. They knew I wasn't a pkiller, they just
saw an easy target.
If you're red in a dungeon, you not only have to watch out for
marauding bands of pkillers (who target me as quickly as they do
anyone else), you have to suspect any unknown blues of being potential
NPKs. Even in Hythloth, where you'd think the sheer danger of the
place would keep most people from attacking you. Not only that, but no
one else can heal you because of the noto loss on casting beneficial
spells on reds (I really respect the handful of people who are willing
to heal you anyway).
I chose my fate and I accept it, but I am looking forward to the
Reputation patch. I can finally go back to a dungeon.
On 9 Jun 1998 09:44:27 -0400, jwa...@paladin.cc.emory.edu (John
Wagner) wrote:
<snip>
Clinton
I heard that! My character on Atlantic, The Noble Lord Blacke-Adder, tells
his stories at every opportunity. I don my antlers to Defend the Herd ("The
Herd" being the thousands of slaughtered newbies) and am told by antis that
my AR must suck. :) I hide when PKs approach and attack when their mana is
low. I am merciless in my quest for vengeance and care not one whit for
helping GLs. Don't they get it? I am the "Defender of the Herd!" I'm
there for the newbie who can't be, not for the GL who can. Plus, my
character is an inveterate coward. He can't help it, though, he's an old
veteran suffering with Combat Stress Disorder. Why do they assume that all
Lords are automatic allies or something? I have another agenda!!!
I do love the Serpent's Cross Tavern on Atlantic (near Yew). There I hear
many interesting and complex stories (as well as a few boring, standard,
pulpy ones) and love to spin my own tales of combat fatigue on the front
lines against the gibbering undead (complete with flashbacks!), as well as
the even sadder (though, also, oddly, funnier) tales of my battles with the
rigors of age.
El Lèmur wrote in message <357D16...@together.net>...
Clinton
Amen comrade!
Damocles wrote in message ...
>
>Do you really have such a limited outlook on life? How sad.
>
>I'm sorry if I'm not yet another knight on my way to slay the dragon.
>You sound like someone who wants only villains that are pre-cooked and
>programmed by OSI, like those two liches who every so often create
>monster spawns for people to go kill. If they can get there before
>10,000 other players do, that is. Joy!
>
>You play the game your way, love, and I'll play it mine. Each of us is
>equally necessary to the whole.
>
Coppage
Who said he was off topic? I asked what his point was. And if he plays a "bad
guy" in UO, roleplaying or not, I'm against him. He obviously dislikes my
postings as much as I dislike his.
Cyclone on Napa
Coppage
I went back and read your first posting. In it you say that you are "a thief
and a killer". Your words. You also admit to robbing people and killing them
if they fight back.....yet in this post you claim that some NPK's "knew" that
you "weren't" a pker. Which is it? you admit to killing players, but claim
not to be a pkiller? Also, you claim to be well known on your shard...how do
you know these blue players didn't know you? Maybe you stole from and pked one
of them or their friends who defended himself. Just using your words about
being a well known "thief and killer". I hope you can stoop to reading
another of my little ditties!
Cyclone on Napa
Dundee
>I personally think any house with a nontame animal or NPC inside should be
>looted and burned to the ground.
Considering animals only stay tame for 8 hours tops, this would be
anyone with so much as a housecat.
--
Dundee of Lake Superior - Skep...@SPAMISantisocial.com
Townstone proposal and Other Stuff:
http://dundee.uong.com
Drakantus
There is such thing as a stable, and in any case the only reason to keep a
pet in your house would be for role-playing, and well gee that seems pretty
cruel to keep a cat in a house with no one around to feed it. Seriously,
that isn't what I ment. I should have said untamable instead of untamed.
Still I have seen a lot of houses full of sheep and/or trapped grizzlies
obviously used to macro. Farm animals should die if kept in a house, it's
silly, and I don't see why a bear would stand in the corner just because a
couple chests are in it's way. The only legitimate animals that should be in
a house are cats and dogs, and it just happens I have never seen a players
house with either inside. You don't keep horses in a house, you keep them in
a stable. You must draw the line somewhere. You can't say it's okay to have
one bear but you can't have 3, and it's hard to say why it's okay to keep a
healer but not 12 fire elementals. Even if you are allowed to keep cats and
dogs, some moron will think it's cool to fill his house with 37 cats,
completely messing up the spawn. Pets are fine, my main character is an
animal tamer, but they don't belong in houses. This is of course just my
opinion.
The Dark Lord Drakantus, apprentice alchemist
Dundee wrote in message ...
Damocles
There's a difference between being a killer and being a pkiller, at
least as the term is commonly defined. By your definition, anyone who
engages in combat with the purpose of killing another player, be it an
anti, a duel between enemies, etc., is a pkiller. Strictly speaking
this is true, but "pkiller" has come to mean someone who sits outside
a dungeon and waits for the first guy to come along and then slams
him. I don't do that.
And yes, they were noto hunters, before they attacked me they killed
some poor guy who accidentally flagged himself. In their words, "he
flagged so he died".
Besides, I didn't say I don't deserve it. I was just explaining why I
don't go to dungeons.
Damocles
I don't dislike your postings, I'm just not interested in them. I
didn't feel any desire to jump in and say "Coppage, your stories are
shit, get off this newsgroup." Parody away the evenings for all I
care.
I think it's rather amusing that you're "against" me, but if it makes
you feel better than by all means.
The Master
Damocles wrote:
> Do you really have such a limited outlook on life? How sad.
ATTACK! ATTACK! ATTACK! ATTACK! ATTACK!
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
The Master
Dundee wrote:
> On Tue, 9 Jun 1998 00:41:22 -0400, "Giles Hjort-Tyson"
> <kar...@email.msn.com> wrote:
>
> >I personally think any house with a nontame animal or NPC inside should be
> >looted and burned to the ground.
>
> Considering animals only stay tame for 8 hours tops, this would be
> anyone with so much as a housecat.
I once tamed a bear, logged off, and the next day (more like 16 hours later) it
was still there, and still my tamed pet. Maybe we're talking about 8 ours
playtime?
--
The Master
Legion wrote:
> This is not a non-pk group. This is a UO related newgroup. He is on
> topic and you don't agree with him. Isn't the net fun?
This is not a "This is not a non-pk group" group. Fun, eh?
Dundee
>I once tamed a bear, logged off, and the next day (more like 16 hours later) it
>was still there, and still my tamed pet. Maybe we're talking about 8 ours
>playtime?
Maybe the server crashed and time warped some time before you logged
in to sometime after you logged out. Tame animals stay tame for 8
hours, tops.
Dundee
On Tue, 9 Jun 1998 19:56:55 -0400, "Drakantus" <kar...@email.msn.com>
wrote:
>I should have said untamable instead of untamed.
Ah, that makes much more sense.
>Still I have seen a lot of houses full of sheep and/or trapped grizzlies
>obviously used to macro. Farm animals should die if kept in a house,
Well, there aren't any barns or yards though - and sheep won't re-grow
their wool as quickly when they are tame as when they are wild.
>The only legitimate animals that should be in
>a house are cats and dogs, and it just happens I have never seen a players
>house with either inside.
I have a pet Panther. Used to have two pet bears, but they ran away.
Never macroed with them - just re-tamed them, fed them, and then did
it again the next day.
>completely messing up the spawn. Pets are fine, my main character is an
>animal tamer, but they don't belong in houses. This is of course just my
>opinion.
One thing the play guide recommends for guarding houses is tame
animals.
It's not *our* fault they won't stay tame long enough.
I do agree that anything untamable shouldn't be in a house. When
hirelings "quit" they ought to leave and monsters shouldn't be in
there to begin with.
Actually, this thing with monsters being "trappable" with chests,
flour sacks, etc. is all kind of absurd anyway. I remember doing the
*same thing* in Ultima III to create a "safe zone" around Britain.
The player/party icon could move through chests but monsters couldn't.
You'd think they'd have fixed that by now. ;-)