Games - Ancient Anguish

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	Games - Ancient Anguish

Ancient Anguish (commonly refered to in-game as AA) is a fantasy themed MUD based on the Amylaar driver which operates on LPC code. Coding for the mud by Zor and Drake started in 1991, and it opened to the public on February 2, 1992. It is completely free to play, but has been supported by player donations since 1994.

Ancient Anguish is based on a map-coordinate system rather than linked areas, which contributes to the immersive feeling of entering another 'world'. Areas are then placed on the 20,000+ room 'map' and tied into the geography and history of the fantasy world, called Oerthe. In addition, the mud claims a describe-all policy for all areas, whereby any item/object/feature should respond to as many of the five senses as possible, adding to the immersive qualities. (Note: not all older areas conform to current Balance/describe-all policies.)

Administration & History

In the early 1990s, most MUDs were housed on university mainframe computers, either illicitly or with tacit approval from the computer science department (many of whom played or created the games they hosted!). In late 1993, Ancient Anguish faced the threat of being shut down by the Swiss university that hosted the game, Technische Hoehescule Zurich, for excessive bandwidth usage. Hundreds of players made donations totalling more than US$7000 and bought a SparcStation 2 workstation, relocating the MUD to Washington, D.C..

At the same time, Zor (who functioned as God, or chief administrator, at the time) abdicated his singular authority over the MUD and turned over control to a new God, Amante. Together, Zor and Amante codified the laws of Ancient Anguish and a Senate of Wizards was established with Amante as the Senate President. The Senate appoints Archwizards of Law, Balance, Quality Control, etc. The Senate consists of the Arch Wizards of the different functional administrations, plus additional Senators at large, usually previous administrative heads or particularly prolific contributing wizards. In 1995, Amante abdicated his role as Senate President and the Senate assumed complete control over the MUD.

The MUD later moved again to the West Coast of the United States and continues to be supported entirely through voluntary donations. In February 2006, it moved to a new site in Michigan.

It remains one of the most popular LPMuds on the internet today, despite facing stiff competition from commercial and/or graphical MMORPGs. Ironically, Ancient Anguish has been cited by original Everquest designer Ryan Palacio as being heavily played by the Everquest development team .

Ongoing Development

New code is continually added to the game by a team of volunteer 'wizards'. Once a character achieves a certain level of expertise and accomplishment in the game, they can elect to become a Wizard. Wizards go through an educational process where they learn about coding enhancements for the game, develop an idea for a new area, and proceed to build it. These new areas go through a process of validation to ensure they meet the thematic, quality, and balance/playability requirements of the game, and are then opened to all players.

In Ancient Anguish' history, over a hundred wizards have contributed new enhancements to the game .

Classes & Combat

On Ancient Anguish, a player can choose between fighter, mage, ranger, cleric, shapeshifter, necromancer, paladin and rogue for their character class.

Several years ago, a major overhaul of the combat system was coded, creating a skill-based system that gives an edge to fighters who lack the powerful spells/special abilities of other classes. At the same time, a wide variety of non-combat abilities are available, including fishing, weaving, and seduction.

Guilds

Players can join different guilds on the game, for social or adventuring-related benefits. These guilds include the Eldar, the Scythe, the Bears, the Monks of Antana, the Courts of Chaos, the Knights of Drin, and the Society of the Raven. Each guild has its own purpose and restrictions, along with a guildhall and guild-oriented chatline.

[ Visit the complete Wikipedia entry for Ancient Anguish ]

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