The American Riviera MUCK

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The American Riviera MUCK (formerly House Rancourt MUCK) is an invitation-only, tightly-administrated MUCK run by House Rancourt. In theme, it is a real-world-based furry game set in modern day California. It opened in January 2006, and new characters are available by invitation or approved request only. Guest login is not permitted.


 * Website: http://bauhaus.sytes.net/riviera/
 * Ran from/to: Early 2006 - present
 * Motto: 100% Furry, 100% California.

Geography
The American Riviera MUCK spans one hundred and sixty miles of the California coast, from Guadalupe down to Venice, California. Current highlights of the grid include a fictional tiny coastal mission town between the cities of Santa Barbara and Lompoc, California named San Paolo, the cities of Santa Monica and Westwood, El Capitan State Beach in Gaviota, and the sprawling, fictional Tulemash State Park. The MUCK features a realistic transportation system with inter-zone travel restricted to vehicles, with a public transportation network for characters without vehicles. New development continues to expand the grid to include Beverly Hills and the City of Industry, with plans to build the San Francisco Bay area, Santa Catalina Island and Lake Tahoe in 2007.

San Paolo is a fictional tiny coastal mission town between the cities of Santa Barbara and Lompoc, California near El Capitan State Beach, which serves as one of the epicenters of social activity on The American Riviera MUCK. A former vacation destination for movie stars in the Forties and early Fifties, its economy quickly crumbled when Palm Springs and Big Sur gained popularity, and today, survives largely due to its hosting the factory that ghost-produces metal products for the Franklin Mint. San Paolo is reactionary, insular, at times prejudiced and extremely behind the curve in terms of culture and sophistication, and at the same time, is eerily beautiful, with its abandoned estates of its golden age, beautiful unspoiled coastline and the ruins of Mission San Paolo just to the north of the city.

Popular spots for MUCK regulars include Tulemash State Park (which includes a massive subterranean tribute to the original Colossal Cave Adventure game), the Santa Monica Promenade and Pier, Mel's Original Temptation Diner (a tip of the hat to "The New Temptation II Diner" on FurryMUCK), and a mysterious (and difficult to enter) nightclub on the Santa Monica Pier called Arcadia.

Technology
The code base of The American Riviera MUCK is fairly sophisticated, including a third-generation modular @desc morphing package, several options for vehicle code, a modified version of Jessy's FindRoute code for getting around, a working cell phone network, and a custom MUCK-wide currency system which cyclical paycheck collection for employed characters. Also included in the code base is Arcadia, a masquerade nightclub in which characters interact as alts, almost a "MUCK within a MUCK," or perhaps "a LARP within a MUCK."

Atmosphere
The social climate of The American Riviera MUCK is focused heavily upon IC roleplay, with prospective characters carefully evaluated by the increasingly-misnamed "Trifecta" (which has since grown to five senior wizards) and roleplayed events reviewed before they are blessed as canonical to the game story. Its tight management style and heavy emphasis upon the importance of a coherent, approved main story might remind some players of GenesisMUCK or Brazilian Dreams MUCK. In exchange for many of the freedoms found on "anything goes" social MUD's like FurryMUCK and Tapestries, The American Riviera MUCK offers a tighter-knit player base with many more opportunities to roleplay and develop characters within a strong game setting.

Wizards

 * Dusty Rancourt - head wizard, NPC/canon authority, site owner and administrator, "benevolent despot," mad MUF/MPI scientist, deity, zone admin (San Paolo), policy authority.
 * Kiarrh - player relations, head of helpstaff, NPC casting expert, zone admin (Miracle Mile).
 * Traveller - MUF/MPI backup, zone admin (San Paolo), player relations.
 * Brandy - Multiple zone admin and zone superstructure admin, builder wiz extraordinaire, policy and player relations, neokitsune allure.
 * Wakan - Zone admin (Tulemash), policy enforcement backup, multi-zone geographic expert, free stern looks.

Helpstaff

 * Katya - new player assistance, general and specific MUCK commands, building, geography, policy assistance, minor MPI, bundt cake.
 * Silver Norwood - new player assistance, general MUCK commands, geography, simple building assistance, no MUF/MPI, kindness.