IceLegends SMP
A vanilla-first Romanian Minecraft SMP built for clean 3–4 month seasons.
The Problem
Running a community SMP means balancing plugin depth against vanilla feel, managing a world-reset cycle, and keeping operations simple enough for a solo admin. IceLegends SMP solves this with 11 carefully chosen plugins, strict feature gating per a "vanilla-first" principle, and fully automated backups and world resets.
My Role
Designed, configured, and deployed solo — server architecture, 11-plugin selection and configuration, LuckPerms permission model, economy and nation design, Docker infrastructure, and Cloudflare Tunnel ingress for Dynmap.
Highlights
- PaperMC 1.21 on Docker with a hard 11-plugin cap — every plugin is justified and none are redundant
- Towny nations with seasonal quests (Quests + Citizens NPCs) and a single manually-spawned MythicMobs boss per season
- AureliumSkills passive bonuses only — active abilities disabled to preserve vanilla combat (P-01)
- DiscordSRV bridge logs every death, join, and chat event to dedicated Discord channels in real time
- Daily automated backups with 7-day retention; resource world resets every Monday at 05:00 via cron
Stack
Constraints
- Solo admin — every operation must complete in under 10 minutes (P-02).
- Vanilla-first (P-01): if any plugin disappeared tomorrow, the game must continue unchanged.
- 11-plugin hard cap — every addition must displace something or prove unique, irreplaceable value.
System Architecture
Key Trade-offs
The decisions worth defending — what I chose, what I turned down, and why.
Plugin count cap
Chose
Hard cap at 11 plugins
Rejected
Unlimited plugin stack
Each plugin is a maintenance surface and a potential conflict point. The cap forces prioritisation and keeps the dependency graph legible for a solo admin.
Public ingress for Dynmap
Chose
Cloudflare Tunnel (no open ports)
Rejected
Expose :8123 directly via UFW
No origin IP exposure, free DDoS protection, and zero firewall rule maintenance — the same pattern used by the IceLegends portfolio site.
AureliumSkills scope
Chose
Passive bonuses only, active abilities disabled
Rejected
Full AureliumSkills feature set including active combat abilities
Active abilities alter vanilla combat — a direct violation of P-01. Passive bonuses reward playtime additively without changing the combat model.
Season lifecycle
Chose
Full world reset every 3–4 months
Rejected
Incremental map expansion with no reset
Resets keep the world fresh, prevent terrain exhaustion, and give every new player an equal start — critical for community health in a small SMP.
What I'd Do Differently
An honest retrospective — the stuff I'd change with more time, more users, or a second pass.
- 1Add a staging compose stack so plugin updates can be tested before touching the live season — one bad update cost several hours of rollback work.
- 2Move backup storage off-site from day one; local-only archives are a single hardware failure away from a full season loss.
- 3Wire Dynmap as a named Docker service rather than relying on the host port, so the Cloudflare Tunnel config survives container IP reassignment on restart.
Technical Deep-Dive
Architecture, specifications, and implementation details.
06 — Quests & Storyline
"Season 1 storyline, NPC quest givers, daily quests — all optional
#Philosophy
Quests are 100% optional. A player who ignores the quest NPC entirely is not disadvantaged compared to one who completes everything. Rewards are comfort (coins, tools) — never power (OP items, unfair advantages).
#Season 1 — "Umbra Senină" Storyline
The world has no memory. An event called Tăcerea (The Silence) erased all history. Players are survivors who woke up at the forest's edge with nothing. Something survived from the old era, deep underground. It does not want to be forgotten.
#Quest Chain
##Q1: Prima Zi (First Day)
Trigger: Automatic on first join
Objective: Talk to Bătrânul NPC at spawn → collect 32 wood
Reward: 200 coins, 16 bread
NPC Dialog: "Ah... altul care s-a trezit. Bun."
"Nu întreba de unde ești. Nimeni nu mai știe."
"Taie 32 de bușteni. Arată-mi că ești real."
##Q2: Rădăcini (Roots)
Trigger: After Q1 completion
Objective: Join an existing town OR found a new one
Reward: 500 coins, iron tool kit
NPC Dialog: "Un om fără rădăcini e un om pierdut."
"Găsește-ți locul în această lume."
##Q3: Umbra Sezonului (Shadow of the Season)
Trigger: At 60% of season duration (manual unlock by Admin)
Objective: Participate in Boss Fight with minimum 5 players
Reward: Permanent title "Veteran S1", 1000 coins
NPC Dialog: "L-ai simțit? Ceva se mișcă în adâncuri."
"Nu poți face asta singur. Ai nevoie de aliați."
#Daily Quests (Repeatable)
| Quest | Reset | Objective | Reward |
|---|---|---|---|
| Culegătorul | 24h | Collect 64 of any crop | 80 coins |
| Vânătorul de Noapte | 24h | Kill 20 mobs at night | 100 coins |
| Comerciantul | 7 days | Buy 1000 coins worth from shop | 300 coins |
| Exploratorul | 7 days | Discover a new biome | 200 coins + 500 skill XP |
#NPC Setup (Citizens)
# Bătrânul — Quest giver Q1, Q2, Q3
/npc create Batranul --type VILLAGER
/npc select
/npc name &6&lBătrânul
/npc trait questnpc
# Negustorul — Opens ShopGUI+
/npc create Negustorul --type VILLAGER
/npc select
/npc name &e&lNegustorul
/npc cmd add -p /shop
#Reward Balance Rules
- No OP items as quest rewards (no enchanted diamond gear, no totems)
- Coins should represent 1–3 days of casual active play per quest
- Titles are cosmetic only — no permission differences
- Q3 reward is the most valuable — rare, only available once per season
#Related Documents
- Boss fight (Q3 prerequisite) →
07_boss_events.md - Spawn NPC placement →
09_spawn_design.md - Season timeline →
15_season_lifecycle.md