Remember Project M? Where you could spawn as an NPC?

[busted]

Does anyone remember project M, where you could spawn as orc, gnoll, rat etc?

This would be amazing for custom content. Food for thought

Details from http://www.tski.co.jp/baldio/patch/20011107.html

Tonight we have patched something to the PvP servers that many players have been waiting for. The ability to play that gnoll, orc, or the cute and fuzzy rat. On your character select screen you will notice another button in the upper right part of your screen called "Monster". Clicking this button will randomly place you in a low-level NPC in a random zone. You will be given full control of the creature to do with it what you like. You may hunt and kill other creatures. You may even attack other players.

Some things to remember when playing your own personal monster (NPC).

You will not be able to interact with players or NPC's other than moving and hitting attack.
You cannot speak, trade, sell, or do anything else that a player can do.
You will spawn with normal loot for the monster you are playing and Player Characters will be able to kill you for loot and experience.
If you are a spell casting monster you might want to take a moment to memorize some spells.
Once you die, you will return to the character select screen where you may choose to return as another NPC or play your normal character.
You may gain experience, levels, and skills as this NPC, but once you die, it is all lost. You will need to start over the next time you choose to be a NPC character.
You can't zone as a monster. If you try to cross a zone-boarder you will lose your progress and return to the character-select screen.
Monster PCs (MPCs) can not loot, sell, or gain items. They only get what they start out with.
This ability to play a monster is being implemented for PvP servers only as we have no plans to implement non-consensual PvP on a non PvP server.

However, we are still working with this system. We may find other ways to implement Project M on the non-PvP servers that are acceptable. We aren't done looking at the possible uses of this new feature.

[Ghost of Starman]

I do. I distinctly remember logging in as a snake in Blackburrow and chasing players around, it lasted for such a short time that I legit thought it was a fever dream when I was a kid until I got older and realized it was a real thing that happened.

[MeHateBoss]

I logged in a few times while this was going on. So many possibilities. I played as a Kerran Monk, and definitely spawned in as a Mage pet at one point (an actual player's pet). Didn't disobey...too much lol

[Jimjam]

Peak classic imo

[magnetaress]

I just want to be a lvl 60 rattle snake in ec with wizard spells :p

[Endorra]

I definitely killed at least one person as a fire beetle or similar. I waited for noobs to attack mobs and then beelined for them while they were engaged.

[NegaStoat]

On Fennin Ro back in the day Project M dropped and I lucked out with spawning in as an Orc Shaman near orc hill in Faydark. I had all of 4 spells on my spell bar. I remember feeling sad that I didn't have SoW but I did have Drowsy and I abused the hell out of it. Really fun evening, constantly coming back as a different orc.

[Braselton]

I sooooo want to spawn as the AOW.

Let someone pull me as normal, let them put me in my corner then turn and ignore everyone but the clerics.

Muhahahahah.

And IF you could zone out to WL to chase down the peasants that dared attack you in your home? Mow them down as they run for their lives!!!!!!!!

[nilbog]

I am a big proponent of this and would like to see it included in some way, maybe even expanded upon.

[Jimjam]

I am a big proponent of this and would like to see it included in some way, maybe even expanded upon.

I love this. You are the king of true classic spirit.

[Christopher]

I am a big proponent of this and would like to see it included in some way, maybe even expanded upon.

Will Project 1999 have Guild Wars?

[Swish]

I have fond memories of a bunch of us all realizing we're players not NPCs all beelining for the nearest newbie and taking him/her out. Best memory was in Nektulos as a large spider taking out a necromancer who was trying to med on the newbie log.

People say they don't like EQ pvp, but then there's always fond memories of Project M. It's pvp and you like it.

[magnetaress]

I sooooo want to spawn as the AOW.

Let someone pull me as normal, let them put me in my corner then turn and ignore everyone but the clerics.

Muhahahahah.

And IF you could zone out to WL to chase down the peasants that dared attack you in your home? Mow them down as they run for their lives!!!!!!!!
Gms should sorta randomly do stuff like this without warning as "events" gotta play it cool and act like AI for a bit to sell it then go all truly G-d of war :p

[Imago]

“This ability to play a monster is being implemented for PvP servers only as we have no plans to implement non-consensual PvP on a non PvP server.”

This should be true here as well. Any Project M NPCs should spawn on Red.

Would give players a reason to log in to Red as Player Characters, and would give Blue characters a way to check out Red without investing too much time/emotion into it.

[Ananka]

I enjoyed being a monster in the Commonlands and I would totally just act like a animal in a non-threatening manner. I had a dream of waiting for freshly made level 1 characters to appear and I could be their little monster buddy but that was unfulfilled.

I wish I snapped photo's of what it looked like to log in but I don't recall that part at all. Does anyone remember how we logged into it?

[Ananka]

I think we had to download stuff to do it and I think it was handled like playing on the test server but I'm having only the faintest glimpse at old forgotten memories.

[Elrood]

I assume that once you logged out any progress on your monster was also lost just like zoning?

[Imago]

I assume that once you logged out any progress on your monster was also lost just like zoning?

Correct

[Rader]

I am a big proponent of this and would like to see it included in some way, maybe even expanded upon.

that, that would be beyond awesome

[Trexller]

I am a big proponent of this and would like to see it included in some way, maybe even expanded upon.

you better be serious

otherwise this is a worse tease than a woman in lingerie talking dirty in your ear for 6 hours and then just going home

[mcoy]

Really wish I had given this a shot during live.

-Mcoy

[Rygar]

Really wish I had given this a shot during live.

-Mcoy

Same here... back in the day we were all doing that hussel for pixels and levels. Ain't nobody got time to play as an NPC. But on P99 would be sweet.

I seem to recall threads about people saying player NPCs would move in certain ways to communicate. I imagine it would be classic to charm a player NPC then buff it with some equivalent of haste/aego and then cancel charm and let them go to town on newbs.

[One Tin Soldier]

you better be serious

otherwise this is a worse tease than a woman in lingerie talking dirty in your ear for 6 hours and then just going home

If you haven't done anything in six hours I don't blame her for goinig home.

I remember project M. I used it as much as I could in the short time it lasted. It was fun but I think people would get tired of it fairly quickly to be honest.

[Trexller]

If you haven't done anything in six hours I don't blame her for goinig home.

well do ya want it done fast, or done right? huh?

[loramin]

Same here... back in the day we were all doing that hussel for pixels and levels. Ain't nobody got time to play as an NPC. But on P99 would be sweet.

[Ennewi]

https://web.archive.org/web/20020319180858/http://slackman.com/sunrunners/shots/Daveena_Snake.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/801suc5.jpg


https://web.archive.org/web/20030930192808/http://www.ralloszek.net/ubbthreads/showflat.php?Cat=&Board=rpdiscuss&Number=2167&page=0&view=collapsed&sb=5&o=&fpart=1

Re: Project M new
#2180 - 11/08/01 11:01 AM
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Oceana,
Before I run off to write that post I talked about previously I wanted to add my perspective to this.

My character whacked a chasm crawler in EK last night, that had just finished off a Carrion Spider. Having never seen a Spider/Snake fight before, I figured it was some Player running a MoB. The snake hesitated to attack me after I buried an arrow in it, guess he conned me and realized he was going down, or perhaps the AI really does have those two MoBs fight one another?

Several guildmates were jumped by a group of gnoll casters in LR that behaved remarkably intelligent, and were quite irate at being beat upon by MoBs that previously ignored them (not sure about that, but it seemd that was the implication).

I think that as player we may need to be more on our toes now, because stuff that previously left us alone may jump us if we are in range. Hehe, my warrior may be able to find work now as a true bodyguard!

As to how RPing may be affected, unfortunately it appears VI hasn't taken that into account, perhaps they should have restricted monster choices to humanoid/intelligent creatures?

It would be interesting to see the monsters emoting (they are capable of that, I know because I played a Fire Beetle in FP for a very short while, forgot the guards don't like bugs LOL)

Turvagor Mormegil

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Re: Project M new
#2199 - 11/08/01 04:46 PM
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I tried it on Test Server 2 times and I was a Lion and a Misquito...

I know some have issues killing Lion's but everone will kill a Misquito :-P

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Re: Project M new
#2214 - 11/08/01 08:56 PM
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OK tried test some more on this project M..

I was:
A skeletone (SK)
A Lion (EK)
A Orc Centerion (Blue) (Crushbone)
A Gnoll (BB)
A Giant Rat (Sewers of Qeynos)
An Orc Warrior (Orange) (SRo)
A Minotor (Gorge)
A TabPole (Ogre Land)

Now it wasn't the players I had to watch out for... It was other MPC's... Every time I died was to a MPC... Whats up with that??

Also I wonder if players could get on and PL a MPC to the highest lvl creature of the zone it is in?? You cant zone :( But you can get exp :)

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[Rygar]

Did I miss something, are ezboards now viewable again?!

The guild list in that link goes to guild website message boards and posts are accessible:
https://web.archive.org/web/20031111023733/http://pub83.ezboard.com/fascension10244frm3.showMessage?topicID=2235.topic

[Encroaching Death]

Glad to see the Snake NPC has a Kick button

[Jimjam]

Very odd seeing reported maximums for atk/ac on the npc ui. I wonder why that is.

[mcoy]

Very odd seeing reported maximums for atk/ac on the npc ui. I wonder why that is.

You see max 1000's in lots of old screenshots though?

https://www.firesofheaven.org/threads/first-everquest-3-screenshots.9033/page-2

-Mcoy

[Jimjam]

��

[tiadashi]

I remember spawning as a skeleton in the field of bone quite often and pissing off enough people that they grouped up and whacked me - although sometimes I would spawn in completely dead zones and had nothing to do - it was an amazing and exciting concept I would really like to see this again

[Trungep99]

I remember playing with this feature and it would spawn you in unpopulated zones half the time like lake rathe. The most fun was when you were in newb zones.

[Gustoo]

I am a big proponent of this and would like to see it included in some way, maybe even expanded upon.

nilbog is so red

Lets look into that when red 2.0 hits velious though.

[Evia]

Everyone in this thread touched on what it was like back when they implemented this feature.

It was fun but you got bored quickly. It would often put you in obscure zones that nobody was in. There were some fun interactions I remember having with players tho.

The most memorable was when I spawned as a spider in upper guk and fucking with these 2 trolls and an ogre who I'm assuming were grouped up. They would try and hit me once and run away assuming I was a real npc and would follow them. When I didn't, they did this awkward shuffle as they peaked back around the corner to see where I was. I kept this up until they just gave up trying to pull me (assuming I was just bugged) and I sniped the ogre when they were trying to med up and were wounded. The two trolls eventually chased me down to avenge their fallen comrade...but it was funny watching players go WTF because you weren't acting how a mob should act lol.

[Jimjam]

It was only in for such a short time.

I think that is a part of it’s enduring nostalgia. It wouldn’t work as a long term feature of red.

To recreate it’s fleeting moment in the sun I’d suggest it be something that is only rarely toggled on. For xp weekend holidays and stuff. Especially as these tend to be thr busiest times on servers.

[rhold]

I only tried it a couple times. Was a willowisp in WC and a lion in WC. There were no actual players in zone, no communication with anyone and it got very boring very fast.

Maybe if I had lucked in to a better placed mob it would have been different?

[Ennewi]

To recreate it’s fleeting moment in the sun I’d suggest it be something that is only rarely toggled on. For xp weekend holidays and stuff. Especially as these tend to be thr busiest times on servers.

Or even as a random chance of M upon when logging in, adding a rare but potentially costly inconvenience to raiders when it quakes, who would then have to log out and back in to access their elves. If a player wants to go through the hassle of doing that repeatedly to try to gain access to Project M, by all means. A decent QoL change might be to let the player choose the "starting" zone, just not the monster.

[Chortles Snortles]

i spawned as an orc in tox, couldn’t find anyone to kill so never tried again

[Trymv1]

Spawned in Qeynos Hills as a higher leveled Gnoll with a weapon in one of the few attempts and absolutely caused a lowbie riot that forced a higher level to come murder me.

Much more fun than like like... lvl 2 rat outside Surefall that got shanked almost immediately.

[Sarkhan]

I remember playing all night with this and then the next day it was gone. It was very fun and you could even gain exp as a monster but I never found out if you could actually level because I'd always die. Once you killed any other npc you became KoS to all other monsters if I remember correctly.

[cd288]

I have fond memories of a bunch of us all realizing we're players not NPCs all beelining for the nearest newbie and taking him/her out. Best memory was in Nektulos as a large spider taking out a necromancer who was trying to med on the newbie log.

People say they don't like EQ pvp, but then there's always fond memories of Project M. It's pvp and you like it.

I mean, I enjoyed it because of the unique aspect of being a mob and also the funny ways you could fuck with players as an npc. I don’t think I’d feel the same with normal eq pvp

[Borak]

Spawned in Qeynos Hills as a higher leveled Gnoll with a weapon in one of the few attempts and absolutely caused a lowbie riot that forced a higher level to come murder me.

Much more fun than like like... lvl 2 rat outside Surefall that got shanked almost immediately.

Hah that could have been awesome. As in, pretend to run away, and get somewhat near Holly Windstalker and a bear, watch mayhem ensue when the bear attacks the player.

[Trymv1]

I remember playing all night with this and then the next day it was gone. It was very fun and you could even gain exp as a monster but I never found out if you could actually level because I'd always die. Once you killed any other npc you became KoS to all other monsters if I remember correctly.

I also remember getting exp but I'd get killed before getting full bars.

Got close on one attempt then someone swooped in on me.

[Cen]

My best kill count was spawning in Oasis of Marr as a wizard madman. I played like a pvp wizard and ran off to hide med murder someone and repeat.

[Rygar]

There's no open bug thread I noticed about Project M, but just posting a log here from someone in Everfrost that claims it was rare but he spawned as a level 9 orc (which let him give it to the newbs easier).

Note that in the /who list you show up to yourself and you can /con other mobs and you have that specific mob's faction

https://web.archive.org/web/20020829194101/http://pub101.ezboard.com/fthetribunaldotorgfrm16.showMessage?topicID=177.to pic

Well, here's a log I found:

[Thu Nov 08 00:49:34 2001] Welcome to EverQuest!
[Thu Nov 08 00:49:34 2001] You have entered Everfrost.
[Thu Nov 08 00:49:39 2001] Players on EverQuest:
[Thu Nov 08 00:49:39 2001] ---------------------------
[Thu Nov 08 00:49:39 2001] [ANONYMOUS] Solipse
[Thu Nov 08 00:49:39 2001] [ANONYMOUS] Bacco <Myth and Magic>
[Thu Nov 08 00:49:39 2001] [ANONYMOUS] Wiquet
[Thu Nov 08 00:49:39 2001] [ANONYMOUS] Gadh
[Thu Nov 08 00:49:39 2001] [ANONYMOUS] Calmon <Halas Empire>
[Thu Nov 08 00:49:39 2001] [3 Rogue] Berlon (Barbarian)
[Thu Nov 08 00:49:39 2001] [ANONYMOUS] Shannaq <Alluring Spirits>
[Thu Nov 08 00:49:39 2001] [ANONYMOUS] Narcev
[Thu Nov 08 00:49:39 2001] [5 Shaman] Zondain (Barbarian)
[Thu Nov 08 00:49:39 2001] [9 Warrior] a snow orc trooper (Unknown) <-- Yours truly!
[Thu Nov 08 00:49:39 2001] There are 10 players in Everfrost Peaks.

Stupid undead cretins don't like anyone:

[Thu Nov 08 00:50:14 2001] a skeleton scowls at you, ready to attack -- looks kind of risky, but you might win.
[Thu Nov 08 00:50:18 2001] a snow orc trooper looks upon you warmly -- looks kind of risky..you might win.
[Thu Nov 08 00:50:26 2001] an ice goblin scout regards you indifferently -- looks like a reasonably safe opponent.
[Thu Nov 08 00:50:36 2001] a wooly mammoth regards you indifferently -- what would you like your tombstone to say?
[Thu Nov 08 00:50:44 2001] a wooly mammoth regards you indifferently -- what would you like your tombstone to say?