Games - Ishar

	Games - Ishar

Ishar is a free Multi-User Dungeon (MUD) game that is available by telneting to ishar.com on port 9999. Ishar has been in operation since May, 1994, and as of June, 2005, typically has about 25 players online during peak hours.

Ishar is available to people all over the world in every country, and is completely free of advertising, mandatory donation, or fees. Within Ishar, a person takes on the virtual form of what is popularly called a "char", or character, with their own gender, race, and class of adventurer.

Ishar is set in a fantasy world, with a sword-and-sorcery theme. Players are free to interact with each other, free of moral laws and rules. However, the only general rule of Ishar, released by the Gods, is "Don't make the game less fun for others."

Gameplay

Introduction

Players will start out as a lowly level 1 character with only a single experience point in one of two cities - Mareldja or Cadain. From there they must battle against mobs (computer-created characters within the game) to gain experience points. Periodically their total will reach the required number of XP needed, upon which they can level up. Spellcasters can learn new spells with each level they gain, whereas warriors and thieves can gain new skills. The number of XP required to level doubles each level.

Players are given health points (HP) and movement points (moves), both of which are recovered slowly as the game goes on. If a character's HP goes to 0, they are stunned but will recover; if the total goes below 0, death will follow. Movement points allow characters to move from room to room, taking movement points depending on their load and the terrain. When the total goes to 0, characters cannot move again until they recover. Spellcasters will receive spell points as well (mana) which allow them to cast spells. The points taken depends on the spell used - for stronger spells the cost will be higher and for weaker, it will be lower. The cost of all spells will decrease as the player levels.

At the beginning of their quest, players must specify which class, race and gender they wish their character to be.

Classes

In playing Ishar, characters can choose one of five different classes of player. No class is better than another as they all have their own strengths and weaknesses.

Magicians

The magician has the weakest physical capability of any class. This weakness is more than made up for by the Magician's plethora of offensive spells (e.g. Magic Arrow, Flaming Hands, Frostbite, Lightning Bolt and Fireball) and stat-increasing powers (Armor and Strength). This the class with by far the greatest magical power.

Clerics

As the Cleric's power is supposedly of divine origin, his physical power is much better than that of a Magician. The spells of a Cleric tend to be based on defence rather than offence; Clerics learn many healing spells, which can replenish HP and cure poison, blindness and paralysis and disease, and offensives such as Flamestrike and Harm.

Necromancers

Necromancers have more physical ability than Magicians but less than Clerics. Their spells tread the thin line between offence (e.g. Bone Shards) and defence (Empower and Rigor). Their special abilities are based around the use of corpses, which they can resurrect to use as their slaves.

Thieves

Unlike the previous three classes, Thieves do not have magic. Their skills are suited to their class as they learn how to pick locks, backstab people and climb to hard-to-reach places. They can steal money from other players and mobs, but this is taken in a dim light when discovered.

Warriors

The most powerful physical class, Warriors learn a range of combat skills from Kick and Bash to Rescue. They are usually the backbone of any strong group as they can take (and deal) the most physical damage. Warriors are the easiest class to raise thanks to their offensive abilities.

Races

Players may choose one of several races:

Human (+1 vs. Disbelief)
Elven (+2 vs. Spells, +2 vs. Disbelief)
Half-Elven (+1 vs. Spells, +3 vs. Disbelief)
Gnome (+1 vs. Spells, +2 vs. Petrification)
Dwarf (+1 vs. Petrification, +1 vs. Poison)
Hobbit (+1 vs. Spells)

Commands

As it is a text-based game, players must enter typed commands to order their character to perform actions. Most commands can be abbreviated to their first three letters, but this takes time to become proficient.

Basic Commands

N, E, S, W, Ne, Se, Sw, Nw, Up, Down - These commands order characters to move to the first room in that direction.
look - Without a target, it redisplays the room description; with a target, the player is given a description of that object or a list of that person's equipment.
wear - Orders the character to wear a piece of equipment on any part of their body, although some things can only be worn in certain places. Without a body part supplied, the system wears it on the most suitable position.
remove - The opposite to 'wear', this command makes a character remove a piece of equipment.
equipment - This gives the player a list of what their character is currently wearing in terms of equipment.
inventory - This gives a player a list of what their character is currently holding in their inventory.
score - One of the most important commands, it gives a player a list of information about their character, including their level, class, race, alignment, current XP total, XP needed to advance to the next level, the amount money on their person, the amount of money in their bank and any spells currently active on them.
cast - Allows a spellcaster to use any spell of their choice on a target, as long as they have sufficient mana to allow it.
sleep - When sleeping, a character recovers HP, moves and mana faster than at any other time except for when a Heal spell is active on him. However, it blinds characters to the room they are in, allowing other players to steal the contents of their inventory or attack them.
rest - In this state characters will recover at a slower rate, but they can still see and perform many actions.
stand - Orders the player to come out of sleep or stop resting.
eat - If a character is hungry, he will recover HP more slowly, so eating something is usually a good idea.
drink - If a character is thirstly, he will recover movement points more slowly, so drinking some water from a container is useful.

[ Visit the complete Wikipedia entry for Ishar ]

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