Tele-Arena

History

Tele-Arena was one of the very first multi-user dungeon style battle role playing games for The Major BBS. First developed as modifications to the stock Teleconference (hence the name), it eventually became a very large module in its own right.

In 2005, Elwynor Technologies acquired all rights to Tele-Arena (along with Tele-Arena II and Battledroids) from Sean Ferrell. The sale of software rights included a provision that provides a royalty to Ferrell in the event that Elwynor ports the game as-is (or with very, very minor alteration) to another non-BBS platform. There is no royalty for a substantially improved/changed game, and Sean Ferrell retains no rights to the Tele-Arena name or intellectual property.

Game Information

The original versions of Tele-Arena were modifications to the Teleconference, but all commercial versions were modules. The module is a traditional MUD (multi user dungeon), where you create a character, improve the character skills, use weaponry and armor, explore a world, and fight. The fighting includes other users as well as computer-controlled opponents in Arenas located throughout the game world map.

There were two versions of Tele-Arena marketed - the original, which had minor variants (e.g., Tele-Arena Gold) based upon map changes, and Tele-Arena II. Tele-Arena II introduced a slightly modified version of the game's engine, a new client/server UI (optional), and a completely new, albeit smaller, largely unfinished world map.

Controversy

When the game was first marketed, the game was limited to one system per area code. Sysops would negotiate a price directly with the author. Unfortunately, there were several claims of Sorcerer's Guild selling multiple copies within an area code, breaking exclusivity.

There are reported to be several people looking for reparations and/or unpaid money from Sorcerer's Guild.

Ultimately, much of this could be attributed to the popularity of the game and the frustration from System Operators when they could not acquire a copy for their system.

Gameplay

When you first enter the game you will be asked two questions. The first is which race you would like to be. The second is which class you would like to be.

Race refers to your physical appearance and characteristics. Some races are better suited to certain classes than others. The races currently common in the world of Tele-Arena are Elves, Dwarves, Gnomes, Humans, Goblins, and Half-ogres.

Class refers to your profession or calling in life. The current classes available are Warrior, Sorcerer, Acolyte, Rogue, Hunter, Druid, Archer, and Necrolyte.

There are also six basic statistics dealing with the physical and mental characteristics of your character. There are two mental and four physical characteristics. These are intellect, knowledge, physique, stamina, agility, and charisma. Intellect deals with how smart or intelligent your character is. Knowledge has to do with how wise or knowledgeable your character is. Physique is used to describe your character's strength and physical build. Stamina tells how healthy your character is as well as how much endurance he/she has. Agility is used to describe your character's dexterity or physical coordination. Charisma deals with your character's physical appearance as well as how influential they are.

There are two other statistics that you will have to keep track of in order to survive. These are vitality and health. Vitality describes how much physical punishment your character can take before death occurs. This damage may be inflicted upon you by the weapons or spells of other players or by the many monsters that wander the land. If your vitality reaches zero, you die. Health describes your current state of health including whether or not you're poisoned, hungry, thirsty, or just healthy.

Further Information

• Introduction to hand-editing Tele-Arena data files
• Adding to the Tele-Arena map using MSG files.
• HTML Maps for Tele-Arena - HTML maps courtesy of Dave K. (Vector)