AD&DRPG

AD&DRPG

World of Active Worlds

Owner(s)	Founder DM Mercury
Founded	November 7, 1999
Configuration	P350 N,W,S,E 40 Users
Rating	?
Running?	✘
Website	The Fourth Age

AD&DRPG, or Advanced Dungeons and Dragons Role Playing Game, was a private gaming world owned by DM Mercury. The world was open to tourists. AD&DRPG was the oldest continuously running role-playing environment in the Active Worlds universe, existing since 1999.

The technology used to run the world is available for purchase, and exists in other worlds such as Carina. A project is currently underway in a private galaxy to create a new version of the game, known as The Fifth Age.

History

Beginnings

AD&DRPG began on November 7, 1999, named 'Admdrpg' at the time—it was a trial world. Its purpose was fantasy role playing, which was achieved with simple dice bot scripts and stats commands using Preston bots. The project moved a month later on December 4, 1999, to the Vector Scape universe under the name 'AD&DRPG', which it remains named to this day. Development of the simple role playing game continued here until the creation of DM Aide v0.1, created using Microsoft Visual Basic 5 and MrGrimm's VB SDK. This bot marked the beginning of the current system used in the world, and featured automatic character creation, clickable monsters, buyable armor and weapons, player vs player, and only one race/class combination.

Return to Active Worlds

The world returned to the Active Worlds Universe on April 8, 2001, though it was not opened to the public until April 14. The world was very small—a p10/8 -- but in that space were two towns and over 40 monsters to fight. The world saw success and continued expansion through this year, and on October 17 with the upgrade of the bot to v0.2 came many new features. This includes a questing system, 60 monsters and 80 items, and multiple races. Teleport spells were added, and whisper-only input was added to the bot. This expansion also ushered in the next generation of the world, known as the Second Age.

Growth

On April 5, 2002, the world was upgraded to a p25/16 with expansion room limited and a bot rewrite on its way. This was realized on May 24, when DM Aide v0.3 began construction and the world was closed for development. Roughly two and a half months later the world opened anew—the Third Age. This game featured multiple equipment slots, new upgradable guild/class system, monsters, quests, player vs. player, and huge environments. New introductions include spell combat and a staff to speak of. The world was popular enough to justify an AD&DRPG t-shirt.

The success of this version led the staff to begin working on a massive new project -- The Fourth Age—in Flagg004. The world size of this project was a p50. In early 2003 celebrations were held to usher in the coming of the fourth age, and the world was closed for several weeks until April 3, when DM Aide v0.4 was released and the fourth age began. The world size was upgraded (at the last minute) to a p80/15. Monsters now spawned and respawned, miscellaneous items existed, the hall of heroes was created, the spell and skill systems became much more robust, and a custom chat bot was created. The fourth age is perhaps to most contributed to of all the AD&DRPG projects—featuring contributions and efforts from over 100 members of staff through the years.

Gameplay

Upon first entry, players that enter the world are prompted to choose a race—each of which have different benefits and cons depending on what sort of class the player decides on. Once decided, the player is teleported to the town of Merinel on the Mid-rift continent. If the player starts with any gold (GP) they may buy weapons and equipment from the local shop, choose a guild, and begin the game by leaving Merinel.

Progress in the game is made by engaging creatures and other players in the world in combat. Successfully killing a monster rewards the player experience points, gold, and occasionally an item. These can be sold and gold can be traded for better equipment.

External links

• Mercury Online Games
• The Fourth Age Official Page