LIMITS ZCHECK STANDARDS OBJ-LIMITS OBJECT-LIMITS ZONE-LIMITS OEDIT-LIMITS OEDIT-STANDARDS OBJECT STANDARDS: |Applies Type |Maximum | Minimum | |================================================== |Str, Dex, Int, Wis, Con, Cha | 3 | -5 | |Class | Do not use. | |Level | Do not use. | |Age | 10 | -10 | |Weight | 50 | 1 | |Cost | 1000 | 1 | |Hitpoints, Mana, Movement | 50 | -50 | |Gold | Do not use. | |Experience | Do not use. | |Armor Class Values | 10 | -10 | |Armor Class Applies^ | 10 | -10 | |Hitroll & Damroll | 5 | -5 | |Saving_throws^ | 2 | -2 | |Weapon Damage | 50 | 1 | |================================================== ^These applies should be negative to benefit the player. MOBILE STANDARDS: See @RMEDIT STANDARDS@n Never use outrageously large numbers. This will crash stock OLC. There are limits on TBA to prevent crashes. But, it is just a waste of time to set large numbers or applies that unbalance the game. You will be made to fix them if you want your zone used or approved. Zcheck (level 31+) checks a zone for these and other standards. See also: DAMAGE, POSITIONS #31 LEVELS Usage: level level level The level command lists the experience required to attain all levels in the game. The level command followed by a number shows the required experience for the level above and below the argument. The level command with a number range will show experience required within the given range. #0 CONTROL-WEATHER Usage : cast 'control weather' <'better' | 'worse'> Accumulative: Yes This spell will change the "course" of the current weather. Example: > cast 'control wea' worse See also: %WEATHER%, WEATHER #31 IS-NPC NPCS IS_NPC ISNPC This is short for is non-player-character (mob). See also: MEDIT-NPC-FLAGS #31 TEDITOR Usage: tedit [file] Allows editing of text files online. Files available to be edited: credits news motd imotd greetings help ihelp info background handbook policies wizlist immlist Perhaps you meant @RHELP TRIGEDIT@n #31 CLSOLC Usage: CLSOLC Clears the screen just before you enter the main OLC menu. See Also: TOGGLE #31 EDITORS Editors are what builders use to create their worlds. See also: OLC, REDIT, OEDIT, MEDIT, ZEDIT, SEDIT, TRIGEDIT, TEXT-EDITOR #31 @@ The @@ character is used as a colorcode. If you see it, try toggling color to complete. If this still does not work you must not be able to view colors. Many people have asked why use the @@ as colorcodes while others use &. Welcor of TBA changed this because of trigedit. A builder who enters: if %actor.is_pc% && %arg% would only see: if %actor.is_pc% & %arg%. No big deal, but this could get confusing to newbies when you tell them AND needs 2 & and they will only see &. The second problem is that trigedit also uses the special character & to denote mob/obj pronoun: IT, YOU, HE/SHE: &%obj%. So putting in colorcodes in echos returns garbage itititit etc. if done improperly. The fix is to use the escape character \& in trigedit. See also: COLORCODES #31 AEDIT-MENU ACTION-EDITOR ACREATE SOCIAL-EDITOR Syntax: aedit Aedit is an online action (social) editor that allows you to create socials on the fly. Anyone can add new socials just ask a level 33 or above to set your OLC to 999 and explain how it works. Use astat to see examples. Here is the much coveted list of $ codes applicable to socials: $e he/she/it person doing social $E he/she target of social $m him/her person doing social $M him/her target of social $n char name person doing social (your name) $N char name target of social (other persons name) $s his/her/its person doing social $S his/her target of social $t body part of victim $p object See also: ASTAT, SOCIALS, AUTOSAVE #31 VNUMS FIND-ITEM VNUM-OBJ VNUM-MOBILES Usage: vnum { room | obj | mob | trig } Returns a list of the virtual numbers of the room, object, mobile, or trig which have the specified keyword. Examples: > vnum obj ring 1. [ 904] a platinum ring 2. [ 203] a seashell ring 3. [ 2588] a small emerald ring > vnum mob dragon 1. [ 1] Puff 2. [ 908] the dragon turtle 3. [ 208] the Master of Illusions See also: VSTAT, TSTAT, VIRTUAL-NUMBERS, LOAD #31 JEWELS GEMSTONES MINERALS DIAMONDS Jewels: http://www.allaboutjewels.com/jewel/glossary/ Gems and Minerals: http://www.minerals.net/index.htm #31 HIDDEN-DOORS . HIDDEN-EXITS HIDDEN-ROOMS HIDDEN-OBJECTS HIDDEN-MOBS SECRETS UNSEEN Hidden objects and mobs are not listed in the room descriptions but are still present and may be acted upon by players. This is done by starting the l-desc with a period (.). Unless a player has holylight on they will not be able to see it. To make things easier please please include the keyword "hidden" on the object or mobile. .This is a hidden object/mob. This long description can only be seen with holylight. This normal description can be seen by anyone. To make hidden exits or secret doors use trigedit. See also: %DOOR% #31 DATE AM PM Usage: date Shows the current real time. (Not a social) #31 DC Usage: dc DC (DisConnect) is used to disconnect a socket. If used on a playing socket, the player will lose his/her link, but, unlike PURGE, will not extract the player or dump the player's inventory on the ground. DC is also useful for disconnecting people who have accidentally left themselves at the main menu, or connections sitting in the "Get name" state. See also: USERS #31 SPECIALS SPEC-PROC SPECIAL-PROCEDURES SPECPROC SPEC_PROC Special procedures are used to allow certain complex functions to rooms, mobs, and objects. They are written by coders and are normally not created by builders. If you have something you wish to assign a special procedure to talk it over with a coder. The most common special procedures include: Postmasters, banks, guildmasters, pet shops, and boards. If your zone requires any of the above mudmail your coder after your zone is complete. Most of the things possible through special procedures can now be done through trigedit. To create a postmaster make a mob, set one of the keywords as "postmaster," set the NPC flag SPEC, and load it to the room via zedit. Then have your coder add to spec_assign.c:110: ASSIGNMOB(#, postmaster); NOTE: # = the mob/obj vnum. To create a guildmaster make a mob, set one of the keywords as "guildmaster," set the NPC flag SPEC, and load it to the room via zedit. Then have your coder add to spec_assign.c:69: ASSIGNMOB(#, guild); A player can practice at any guildmaster, it is the guildguards that usually limit who can access what guildmaster. @RTSTAT 133@n To create a bank make an object, set it to type OTHER, add keyword "bank" and load it to the room via zedit. Then have your coder add to spec_assign.c: 138: ASSIGNOBJ(#, bank); To create a board make an object, set it to type OTHER, add keyword "board" and load it to the room via zedit. Then have your coder reference boards.c for the remaining instructions. To create a petshop see: @RHELP PETSHOP@n. In all cases special procedures need to be added in by a coder. Once your zone is complete mudmail your coder for the additions you want including type and mob or object vnum. See also: POSTMASTER, PETSHOPS, BANKS, GUILDMASTER, BOARDS #31 WORK Most new builders underestimate how much work it takes to build a good zone. Do not expect to finish everything to perfection in one week. Do not plan a 500 room metropolis as your first zone. The typical new builder will start a grand project only to find themselves over their head with work after two weeks with no end in sight. The result is almost always a sloppy, hastily finished product or a perpetually unfinished one. Either way the builder ends up discouraged and their zone is unusable. To prevent this from happening all you have to do is PLAN. The more time you spend planning the easier time you will have building. There is nothing worse than making half a zone and then running out of ideas. You then have to start making more ideas up and they will not fit well into the zone. See also: PLANNING #31 PLANNING There is a wide range of mistakes that builders can make when starting a new zone. Zones that have had extensive planning before creation avoid most of these mistakes. Do you know the MUD? Most MUDs are meant for role-players. Do you know what the environment of the MUD is? Have you looked at the zones others have built? I would suggest playing a mortal to at least level 10 before attempting to build anything to get a feel for the realm. Most importantly, have you read the background story? I was amazed at how few people read the background story. MUDs have themes, and it will always benefit you and the MUD to follow them. The best builders come to a MUD saying "I can build anything, what does the MUD need?" The first thing to do when sitting down to build a zone is just that - sit down and think about it. A zone should always start out on paper long before it reaches a MUD. Every zone starts with an idea or a spark. From there, develop it. Pay attention to what kind of zone theme you want to create. Is it meant to be generic hack and slash experience zone? A wealthy populace to fill the player's purse with gold? A quest for a special item? The possibilities are limited only by your imagination. The important thing to remember is that zones are built for players. Ask yourself, would you want to play in this zone? To help brainstorm I suggest you check out the many different zones available on TBA. All zones are required to have a zone description room in the first vnum of the zone. Goto 1900, 2700, 2900, 20000, 14500, or 15100 for some good examples. Feel free to look at any of the other zones listed under show zone. Beware, some may be unfinished and poor examples. Assign VNUMs to your rooms/mobs/objects beforehand and write them down. Do not try and remember every VNUM you used mentally. Make lists of your mobs and objects. You can always add to the list later. After you have done all this you will already have a huge head start on your zone. Planning will pay off in the long run. All in all, the best way to make an area interesting is to use variety, intelligence, and imagination in building. Try to imagine what it would be like for you to walk through and what you might try looking at or doing, and then try to incorporate that into your area. Show your area to others and take their advice. By taking all of this extra effort in creating your area, you will be rewarded by leaving a lasting memory of your area in the minds of many players. do not let your area fall by the unfinished wayside! Work on it a little every day, even if it is only one or two rooms worth of work. Likewise, do not fill space by just making more of the same mob or duplicate room descriptions. Take your time and do a thorough job, not one that is only superficially good. It is recommended that you write out your descriptions on some kind of text editor or word processor on your own computer before putting them on a MUD. You can then cut and paste your descriptions in as needed. The advantage to this method is that if you accidentally wipe out your work on the MUD you will have a ready backup. Be careful cutting and pasting to the MUD; if you send too much text at once you will be disconnected. See also: WORK, CARTOGRAPHY, LOCATION, THEME, PLOT, SIZE, ALIGN, BIAS #31 CARTOGRAPHY The reasons behind mapping are simple. It solidifies what you are planning to build into MUD terms. Also, though final products rarely are an exact copy of the map, they provide a concrete reference for you to look at when the builder's block question rears its ugly head "Hmm, what do I build next?" Lastly, not all players have nifty clients especially made for MUDding with automappers, etc. We would not want those poor unfortunate souls to be at more of a disadvantage than they have to be... and maps are highly important to knowing a MUD, even if you keep them all in your head as a few players do. A specific map is required so that the rooms can be linked together in a way that makes sense geographically. It is the most annoying thing to be playing a MUD whose rooms are not geographically correct. A very important aspect of each room is the position of other rooms in relation to it. Great care should be given to making the rooms link logically. A player who moves north, east, south, west should find themselves back in the same room from which they started. Having an area geometrically correct makes it much easier for a player to visualize it, and thus increases their enjoyment of it. See also: AUTOMAP, TBAMAP, ASCII #31 LOCATIONS It is very important to know where an area is going to fit in with the world before it is written. This may seem very obvious, but it is a painful truth that many people make areas without regard for where they will be placed on the MUD. A character should not be walking around in an idyllic happy forest and suddenly come upon an arctic wilderness. Likewise a character should not venture a couple steps outside a main human city and find themselves in an ancient elven homeland. Plan where your new area is going to go and make sure it does not grievously conflict with surrounding terrain, climate, politics, mythology, and races. The best thing to do, of course, is to integrate your zone seamlessly with the rest of the world rather than allowing for one connecting point and sealing the zone off from its surroundings in all other directions. It is not easy to do this, and it is not always even possible. But it is worth spending some time working on the rooms that link the zone as you first conceived it. If it is a city, the main gates probably are going to open out onto an existing road, not into the middle of a forest. Give some thought to using a few rooms to link the "main" part of your area to a spot that is already in the MUD (be creative - as well as roads and pathways, there are waterways and other means to reach places). If it is more of a wilderness-type area, then the way it links might be a bit more vague, and it might link in more than one place - when was the last time you saw a forest, field, or desert that could only be reached in one way? As important as where the zone should begin is where it should end. A city or even a village might have walls and a logical "edge," but if you are working with wilderness or even just the surroundings beyond the city itself, it is hard to know where and how to draw the boundaries. Natural formations seem like the perfect answer -- rivers, mountains, and so on -- BUT (and I think this is a huge but) the problem with these is that they are extremely prominent geographical features and are not a good "throwaway" solution. If you are writing forest room upon forest room and think you will never get to the end, do not just write in an insurmountable mountain range or a gratuitous river. That will lead to questions like, "What is on the other side of the mountains, and why can not I approach them or even see them from anywhere else?" or "Why did this river suddenly come to an abrupt end as soon as I left this forest?" Far better is to do something on a smaller scale -- the trees just get too dense to move on... do not assume that your area has only one or two points of entry. Try and make your area accessible from at least two different points, preferably in different directions. Try and leave at least one possible exit on each "side" of your area in case something needs to be linked to it later. TBA allows builders to create whatever their hearts desire and we have no MUDwide theme. Because of this your zone will be isolated from all others and should be designed to be added easily into any MUD. For location you should plan the geographic environment: Forest, tundra, city, port, etc. #31 THEMES The theme for an area is its reason to be. A theme can be simple. Like, a homeland of a few loose-knit families of storm giants. Or, a part of the sea where a merchant ship from Anon is engaged in battle with a pirate ship. Themes can, and should be elaborate and include insight into the history of the zone, how its society and economy work, current plots or conflicts going on in the area, and how other people in the world view the place. The more work you put into the theme the better it will be, and the better other areas will be that build off of it. Discuss your ideas and concepts with others to help develop them to their fullest. Zones should be well fleshed out stories that catch the visitors attention and bring out their curiosity, making them want to stay for more. The descriptions should be well fleshed out, bringing images into the players minds, and there should be challenges and tricks that the player will not expect. Try and build a mini quest into part of your area so that characters can do something active rather than feel like aggressive tourists. If you are building a wilderness area, perhaps include some kind of hidden/trapped treasure one can find. If you are building a populated area, think about having some mystery that a player can uncover. Built-in quests make a good area great. Another way to make an area interesting is to create some sort of plot line for it, or a coherent theme, rather than a collection of haphazardly related rooms. The plot can be complex like infiltrating a castle to garner the war plans of the evil Lord Zygol, or simple like ridding the caves of goblins, or anything in between. Often the plot in an area can be advanced by some fairly simple puzzles or descriptions. This can be done with the help of triggers. TBA allows you to build anything you would like. Themes could include: sci-fi, futuristic, medieval, present day, ancient history, Jurassic, western, Chinese dynasty, etc. #31 ZONE-SIZES SIZES Make sure to have some idea of how many rooms total you will use. Make a definite decision. 20, 40, 80, 100. Try and shoot for a multiple of 20. We have no minimum amount that we set for a zone in terms of how many rooms. But, we do limit new builders to only 100 vnums for their first zone. Make a quality zone and we do not care how many rooms it is. If this is your first area, keep it small. Even under 50 rooms! You will soon see this is a fair amount of work and gives you quite a bit of room to accomplish what you have in mind. Once you have completed something of this size and are proud of your work, you can always add to it or make another larger zone later. If this is not your first zone, decide how many rooms you will need and divide it up into 100 room zones. A cluster of small areas that get phased in gradually is much better than one gigantic area that is never completed. Trust us when we tell you a 300-room area will never be finished without Herculean effort of which most of us are not capable. #31 ALIGNMENTS Many good areas stick to a defined level range, such as 10-20 or 25-30. Do not try and make your new area cover the entire range of levels. Every area should have its moment in the sun. Conversely, it would be nice if there were something really unique and challenging to do at every stage in a characters history. Your area might be the most successful if you can gear it for a range of levels that people believe is otherwise boring or neglected. You should always try to match your mobiles to the area and the players you want to play there. For example, you should make the mobs in the area a similar level to the players you want to play there since a level X warrior should be able to kill a level X mobile if the warrior is at full health. Also, the quality of objects or mobiles should be matched with their level. Will your area be mostly good, neutral, or evil. If it is mostly good or mostly evil, is it strongly good or evil or just weakly aligned? In any case try not to make your area completely homogenous (equal). In neutral communities there is going to be some evil and good elements, and likewise with other communities. To some extent this goes along with the question about zone level, consider what seem to be "gaps" among the zones in the world as far as good or evil aligned areas for a particular level range, and try to fill those needs. Everyone's first tendency is to make extremists--The ultimate evil hell area, or the blindingly good paladin fortress. Keep in mind that there are many layers in between, and these are often more interesting. See also: ALIGN #31 PLOTS The plot of a zone is the main story of the zone. Such as: hack and slash, rescue the princess, find a precious stone, kill the dragon, or forging a special weapon. Most builders do not take the possible ecology or economic effects of an area into account. By this, I do not mean having a mini-model of an actual ecological environment, but rather having things that make the area seem more plausible. The best things to put in to make an area more plausible are useless objects that actually add atmosphere to the area. Food sources for the mobiles in your area are always necessary to fleshing things out, as are creating import and export goods for cities, complete with customs houses. Your zone should have a strong plot that is incorporated throughout. This can be done by using the different descriptions available. Mobile look descriptions and extra descriptions such as: trails, scrapings on the wall, etc. Trash objects can be created that are notes or maps. When designing your area and the plots within, you should always consider what kind of player you want playing in your area. Keep the levels and types in mind (i.e. role-playing, power-MUDder, etc). In doing so, try to have fun building the area. Make it well rounded and something that you enjoy looking through afterwards. If you find something you do not like, edit it and change it until you like it. It is always best to build when you are not bored of the area, since building when you are bored almost always turns out uninspired and boring areas. If you are having problems developing a plot try visualizing a story that happens in your zone. For example, say a princess is captured somewhere and her relatives are looking for her. Next, you drop some clues to her whereabouts by putting conversations in the looked at description of mobiles. You can set up some mobs so that when you look at them, you get "You strike up a conversation with the shopkeeper. He chats with you about the rise and fall of the price of wheat. Looking at the candy jar he sighs. You ask him why, and he relates a sad tale of how he has not seen a little girl who used to come into his store in a long time." Granted, this is not as elegant as a trigger, but not everyone can write them. The point is that you interpret the looked at description as something more than just looking, you can view it as a static conversation. You can then go around the area and throw in a few room extras leaving a trail to where the princess is. You can also put some extra descriptions on useless items lying about to indicate where one may find the princess. Once at the princess, you could have her relay a story of the location of a secret buried treasure in her looked at description, a nice reward for the rescuing hero. You can set up the buried treasure in a hidden container with no long description. Give it a short description of "the ground" so they get the treasure from the ground, and only know where this object is by the tale of the princess. When your players stumble upon something like this, they love it. #31 DESCRIBING Writing good descriptions requires inspiration and imagination before all else. There is nothing particularly difficult about writing for a MUD, but there are a number of common, fatal mistakes new builders typically make. If you read through this tutorial, you should be able to avoid the common pitfalls, and thus insure a long life as a builder. Remember that your job with descriptions is to create an interactive environment that the player sees, hears, feels, etc. This means that your number one goal is to be eloquently descriptive. Writing for a MUD was once explained to me as writing a story for the mortals of the realm. As you go through the zone, it unfolds into different twists in the plot. Try imagining writing a small book when creating your descriptions. A few builders wing it, which I highly discourage. The best zones I have ever seen have always had much forethought and planning before the builder process began. Do what works best for you, everyone has their own style of building. Use it to your advantage. Use adjectives. Sad, Angry, Dirty, Nice, Morose, Gleeful, Enraged, Filthy, Pleasant, Melancholy, Ecstatic, Pestilent, Comfortable, Depressing, Blissful, Spiteful, Smutty, etc. A thesaurus is great for this. @Chttp://m-w.com/@n An interesting area will always attract more players than a bland one. There are many ways to make an area interesting. Try to be as descriptive as possible. Do not hold back on writing extra descriptions. Players are so accustomed to not having richly described areas that finding an extra description can often be a real treat. Also, one oft forgotten thing to describe is the door exits. Describing all of these can give a feel of standing out in a field and seeing something like: To the north there appears to be a plume of smoke. The fields stretch off towards the large hills on the horizon. Many players (both experienced and first timers) read the descriptions carefully the first time they walk through an area, and having many extra descriptions helps them fill out their idea of what things actually look like. When writing the numerous descriptions of the area, make them interesting to read! Nobody likes to read room after room of stupid one-line descriptions. Vary each description as much as possible. One of the greatest joys for most players is finding new and interesting rooms, items, treasures, and monsters. For those of you familiar with role-playing games, this creative use of descriptions and atmosphere should be quite well known to you. Consider looking over other areas you enjoy before building your own, to use ideas from that area. Remember: You do not want to bore your players to tears. There are four types of descriptions a builder can make. Room, Mob, Obj and extra. Room descriptions are simply what players see when they walk into a room. Mob and Obj descriptions are what players see when they look at the Mob or Obj. Extra descriptions are unique because they can be used on either rooms or objects and can be seen when a player types "look ". See also: REDIT-DESC, REDIT-EXTRA, OEDIT-EXTRA, MEDIT-D-DESC #31 YOU Many head builders prohibit the use of "you" in any descriptions. This is done because so many new builders use it incorrectly. A builder can and should describe everything without "you". But, in my opinion telling a writer not to use certain words is like telling a painter not to use certain colors. The key problem with using "you" is that it forces a player to think in your terms, not the players. Do not think for the character. Instead, write descriptions in such a way that they will cause the reader to think what you would like all by themselves. Innocent uses of the word "you" are easily written in other terms, and getting used to writing descriptions without it means you do not have to constantly be on guard for the incorrect usage. Do not describe a player's emotions in the room, leave that up to your descriptive text to evoke the emotions in the player, since that will make things much more exciting to the player (do this by never using the word "you"). Some people believe that it is best to describe locations in the third person all the time (i.e., never reference the player). Never tell a player how they feel. If you want a sad description, do not tell someone they are sad, write the description to make them weep. Same goes for scary, happy, disgusted, etc. You name it, make them feel it. Do not simply say they are. Thinking for the character is one of the most common mistakes new and old builders make. Whenever you are tempted to write something that directly states a character's thoughts, actions, or reasoning ask yourself if it can be done a different way (it always can). Do not ask questions in any description. Remember, a player should be able to see what they look at as if they are doing so in real life. Here are some examples of "thinking for the character" descriptions: BAD: You shudder in fear as you look upon the evil statue of Marhuk! GOOD: The massive statue of Marhuk glowers down upon everything with an awful malicious expression. BAD: You proceed cautiously through the tunnel, weapon drawn. GOOD: The dark tunnel appears empty, but it is impossible to know what might lurk just beyond the veil of darkness. BAD: The dragon is large and looks very angry at you. GOOD: A massive dragon roars in anger, steam billowing from its nostrils. BAD: You stand in a big room, it is very dark. GOOD: Shadows cower along the tall walls and almost seem to be moving. The floor is made of heavy stones, which are very dark in color. The ceiling is quite some distance above the floor, small objects hang from it, ruining the smoothness that is characteristic of the rest of the room. See also: GRAMMAR #31 FAQ FREQUENTLY-ASKED-QUESTIONS 1. Can I add color to my area? Yes, you can. Just type in all the color codes. Just remember not to color mob or obj keywords. @RHELP COLOR-CODES@n. 2. What the heck is a VNUM? A VNUM, or Virtual Number, is just a way to keep track of the items in the game. 3. I'm building an area, but I don't want to be redundant with words. Invest in a thesaurus. Makes a world of difference, and if that doesn't help, just make up your own words for things you create (just be sure to describe them very well. Use @Chttp://m-w.com/@n for an online thesaurus and dictionary. You can @Rtell m-w @n to lookup a definition. 4. Where can I learn Trigedit? Here! Welcor is now the developer of trigedit. We have extensive help files, examples and tutorials. @RHELP TRIGEDIT@n and check out all the related help files. @RHELP EXAMPLES@n for the best examples. 5. When are you officially dead? When you reach -11 hit points. Duh, everyone knows that. 6. I just tried the track command suddenly all my rooms went from NOBITS to *. How can I fix this? That is normal, it will reset itself. #31 SWORDS This help file is designed to remove a few misconceptions concerning swords and swordplay of ages past. The undertaking will be to discuss what a sword actually is and is not. As we think of them today, the blade of the sword is constructed from a varying combination of iron and carbon. When considering the material to make a blade from, there are two main factors that should come to mind. The first factor is toughness, as in how resistant the metal is to change in shape. This factor allows to blade to take and hold a good edge. The problem with a metal that is excessively tough is that it has a tendency to be brittle, meaning that when struck tiny pieces of the material break off, or even have the sword snap. The next property is the material's resilience or flex. This is the opposite of toughness in that a material with high flex won't snap and chip. The problem with a material with excessive flex is that it will dent easily and can bend if enough pressure is applied to the blade. It is the job of the blade smith to find a material with the best combination of toughness and flex so the sword withstands the test of time and battle. I pointed out this fact to show how some "modern" materials are not good for making swords no matter how good they seem to be. An example of such material is diamond which is the toughest material on earth but is extremely brittle so it would not be good to use as a sword blade. Carbon steel is still the best material to make a sword from, however there are still many kinds of carbon steel. The ratio of iron and carbon in the material determines how tough or flexible it will be. A few other misconceptions about swords that are almost universal: One is the mass of such weapons as the claymore and other large blades. In recorded history, there is no sword that was ever intended for use in battle that weighed over 11 pounds. Claymores were generally 6 to 8 pounds. For some reason it is thought that knights lugged around 50 pound whoppers that were a foot thick and other such nonsense. Something people also are not quite correct about is the ability of swords to easily cut through hard materials such as wood and metal. A sword will not chop down a large tree in one stroke or split an anvil, but it will do a great deal of damage to flesh and bone even if the victim is wearing armor. Finally, if you would like to know any more about historical swords, contact Shamra or visit the international sword forum at http://forums.swordforum.com. -by Shamra See also: WEAPONS DAMAGE #31 WEAPONS DAGGERS OEDIT-WEAPON When you create weapons, try to help round out the distribution of weapon types. What I mean by this is that there are tons of swords already in the game, but not that many pole arms or flails. You are probably going to get a few groans from the immortals if you create yet another sword while neglecting the other weapon types. No weapon may ever exceed 20 pounds in weight and do not forget backstabbing is only possible with piercing weapons. So often builders always make the biggest and baddest weapons with little consideration of reality. Before you make a weapon, think about who will be using it, how much should it weigh, how much damage should it inflict. Use common sense. A two-handed battleaxe should always do more damage than a dagger. Otherwise, why would I be a warrior and able to use large weapons if I can be a thief and use a dagger that does more damage? Warriors should have the best weapons. Mages should have the weakest. Weight is important enough to mention again. A weight of 18, means only a player with strength 18 or up can wield it, perfect to make weapons restricted to only warriors, and it also makes a mage with the strength spell very important. Each race and class has their advantages and disadvantages, use them. Some permanent effects such as sanctuary and armor should be reserved for armor not weapons, basically weapons would most often benefit the wielder with some sort of detection spell, not protection. Also remember that some classes should not use certain weapons, so weapons have to be within limits, or the game will be unbalanced. See also: SWORDS, DAMAGE #31 SIGNS A sign can be made by creating a room extra description with keyword sign or by loading a NOTAKE object to the room with an extra description sign. Object Example: @RLOAD OBJ 10403@n, @RLOOK SIGN@n. Room Example: @RGOTO 7318@n, @RLOOK SIGN@n. #31 NUMDICE DAMDICE NUM-DICE DAM-DICE NUMDAMDICE DICE DAMAGE-DICE HITPOINTS MODIFIERS WEAPONS-DAMAGE WEAPON-DAMAGE HP-DICE HP-BONUS DMG Different weapons, mobs, spells, and traps cause different damage. 2D5 means the damage will be calculated by rolling a 5 sided die twice. This is leftover from such games as D&D. Where a questmaster determined damage by rolling a die. d. 3d5 means a five sided die will be rolled 3 times. This could give a range of results from 3 to 15. An alternate and easier to understand method would be to think of the worse and best case scenarios. Example: 5d8. The first number is always the minimum damage: 5. Because worse case scenario would be rolling ones every time. The best case scenario, or max damage, is simply 5 times 8. Meaning you roll eights every time: 40. So 5d8 gives 5-40 damage. 6d7 means 6-42. 4d5 is 4-20 points damage. The question often comes up as to what damage a weapon should inflict. I will attempt to explain. To understand damage you first need to know hitpoints. A player starts with 10 hitpoints. Then they gain a certain amount depending on their class when they level. Stock tbaMUD uses the following: Magic Users gain 3-8, Clerics 5-10, Thieves 7-13, Warriors 10-15. So a level 1 Warrior will have 20-25 hitpoints. Now, let us apply common sense. A weapon that does 25 points of damage could kill a level 1 player in one hit. While a weapon with a damage of 1-2 points (1d2) would allow for several rounds of combat and a chance to flee. A level 30 warrior would have 310-460 hitpoints. So a weapon with damage of 50 would be okay. That is why we suggest 50 as max weapon damage. To keep things simple I would suggest weapons only do damage equal or double to the players level. Average damage is calculated by this formula: ((DAMDICE + 1)/2) X NUMDICE 4d5 = ((5+1)/2) X 4 = 3 X 4 = 12 points average damage. Which makes sense since 4d5 would give damage between 4-20. See also: STANDARDS, %DAMAGE% #31 SPATIAL-ORIENTATION BIAS Do not use direction bias. Words such as behind, in front, to the right, etc. should never be used because you never know which direction a player is facing. Use cardinal directions; north is always north. Do not assume that characters have been in this room or surrounding rooms before. For example: "This room is even colder than the surrounding chambers." If you have not been to all of the surrounding chambers, or have teleported in somehow, this would make no sense. Another common problem is "This path continues to climb steeply uphill." If you were coming from the uphill direction, would not it be climbing downhill? Do not use movement bias. This means that when writing a description, do not say "You are walking on a path" because you never know. The player could be flying, levitating, slithering, crawling, stomping, or anything in between. Do not use time or season bias. This means that when writing a description, do not say "The sun shines powerfully through the window". At night, that will not make sense. Also take into consideration all the different races and classes. Some races and classes may not need air, food, or water. Some may not have feet, clothing, eyes. Pretty much anything is possible, so know the MUD and its mortals before you start building. Try to make your area interesting for all the major character classes, not just warriors or mages. Build in parts where thieves and clerics have a special part to play. By the same token, do not assume all anyone wants is +damage equipment. #31 ERRORS SYSERRS INVALID There are many common errors new builders cause. To simplify things they have all been included in this help file along with how to correct them. 1: Errant Rooms ------------ 1: [ 1233] Rumble's Room The most common are exits to 0 (the void). This happens when a builder modifies a room exit but does not include an exit room vnum. These errant rooms are listed by the command 'show error' The fix is simple, remove the exit by purge exit in redit exit menu or by using 'dig -1' 2: SYSERR: Object # (oedit-s-desc) doesn't have drink type as last keyword. (oedit-keyword) Another common error is caused by how shop code handles drink containers poorly. In order for shops to display a jug as a jug of they must have the drink type as the last keyword. It is good practice to put the drink type as the first and last word of an objects keyword (older versions of CircleMUD expect it first). i.e. a shot of whisky should have the keyword: whisky shot whisky a cup of slime mold juice keyword should be: juice cup slime juice 3: SYSERR: Mob #5 both Aggressive and Aggressive_to_Alignment. Another harmless error. If your mob is aggressive there is no need to also make it aggressive to certain alignments since AGGR means it will attack any player it can see. Choose to make it aggressive to an alignment or aggressive to all. 4: SYSERR: Object # (oedit-s-desc) has out of range level #. A simple one. Limit spell levels to the levels available, on TBA that would be 1-34. 5: SYSERR: Object # (oedit-s-desc) has negative weight (-2147483644). SYSERR: Object # (oedit-s-desc) has out of range level #2147483647. These are really annoying. This happens when you use numbers larger than necessary. This will actually crash many older versions of CircleMUD. Just do not do it. Use realistic numbers. 6: SYSERR: Object # (oedit-s-desc) uses 'UNDEFINED' spell #. There is no spell zero. Either select a spell or put -1 for none. 7: SYSERR: Object # (oedit-s-desc) contains (5) more than maximum (3). When making a drink container you will set how much it initially contains on creation and the max it can hold if a player were to fill it. Common sense tells us that you can not create a container that initially holds more than the max you set. To simplify the max must always be greater than or equal to the initial amount. 8: Char is already equipped: (medit-s-desc), (oedit-s-desc) This happens when someone tries to equip a mob with one or more object in a single location. HELP ZEDIT-EQUIP for all the possible object equipping locations. All you have to do to fix this is pick a different equip location that is not used. See also: TRIG-ERRORS, ZEDIT-MISTAKES, SEDIT-MISTAKES #31 TRIG-ERRORS TRIGEDIT-ERRORS TRIGEDIT-MISTAKES These are numerous and I will add them as people ask questions about them. Make sure nohassle is OFF. Command triggers (and some other functionality) will not work for level 32 and above. For mob triggers make sure the mob can see the actor, set INFRA in DARK rooms. AFF_CHARM prevents triggers from firing. As a general rule always use an ID (%actor%) not a name (%actor.name%) unless you actually need to display the actors name. GOOD: %send% %actor% Hi there, %actor.name%! GOOD: %teleport% %actor% 0 GOOD: %force% %actor% kneel %self.name% GOOD: mkill %actor% BAD: %send% %actor.name% Hi there, %actor.name%! BAD: %teleport% %actor.name% 0 BAD: %force% %actor.name% kneel BAD: mkill %actor.name% Another common mistake is the mis-use of set and eval. GOOD: set fruit apple GOOD: set num %random.5% GOOD: eval num 4 * %random.3% GOOD: eval text %%txt[%num%]%% GOOD: set num 5 GOOD: set command %cmd% %arg% BAD: eval num 5 BAD: eval num %random.4% BAD: eval fruit apple BAD: eval command %cmd% %arg% See Also: ZEDIT-MISTAKES, SEDIT-MISTAKES #31 CYGWIN README.CYGWIN README-CYGWIN COMPILER SHELLS http://www.tbamud.com/files/README.CYGWIN See also: CODING, DOWNLOADS #31 TILDES ~ On tbaMUD a tilde is used in the world files to denote an end of line. This way the files can be saved and read. Because of this adding a tilde in any of the editors on older versions of CircleMUD could make the MUD unbootable. See also: WORLD-FILE #31 DISCONNECT FLOOD OVERFLOW CUTOFF CUT-OFF ENTERING-TEXT This commonly happens to new builders when they try to enter too much text at once in the text-editor. To prevent this simply enter a sentence or two at a time. Hit return then enter another sentence then repeat. The MUD prevents people from entering large strings of text to keep the CPU from getting bogged down. A return is required at least every 256 characters. If this is not done the text will simply be cut off and lost. So enter each sentence separately and when done type /fi to format with indent. See also: TEXT-EDITOR #31 BUFFERS DEFINES MAXSIZE MAX_SIZE MAXBUFFERS MAX_BUFFERS define MAX_SOCK_BUF (24 * 1024) /* Size of kernel's sock buf */ define MAX_PROMPT_LENGTH 96 /* Max length of prompt */ define LARGE_BUFSIZE (MAX_SOCK_BUF - GARBAGE_SPACE - MAX_PROMPT_LENGTH) define MAX_STRING_LENGTH 49152 define MAX_INPUT_LENGTH 512 /* Max length per *line* of input */ define MAX_RAW_INPUT_LENGTH 1024 /* Max size of *raw* input */ define MAX_MESSAGES 60 define MAX_NAME_LENGTH 20 define MAX_PWD_LENGTH 30 define MAX_TITLE_LENGTH 80 define HOST_LENGTH 40 define PLR_DESC_LENGTH 4098 define MAX_SKILLS 200 define MAX_AFFECT 32 define MAX_OBJ_AFFECT 6 /* Used in obj_file_elem */ define MAX_NOTE_LENGTH 4000 /* arbitrary */ define MAX_LAST_ENTRIES 6000 /* arbitrary */ define MAX_HELP_KEYWORDS 256 define OLC_SCRIPT_EDIT 82766 define MAX_BOARD_MESSAGES 60 /* arbitrary -- change if needed */ define MAX_MESSAGE_LENGTH 4096 /* arbitrary -- change if needed */ define MAX_CMD_LENGTH 16384 /* 16k should be plenty and then some */ define MAX_SCRIPT_DEPTH 10 /* maximum depth triggers can */ define MAX_HOUSES 100 define MAX_GUESTS 10 define MAX_MAIL_SIZE 4096 define MAX_ROOM_NAME 75 define MAX_MOB_NAME 50 define MAX_OBJ_NAME 50 define MAX_ROOM_DESC 2048 define MAX_EXIT_DESC 256 define MAX_EXTRA_DESC 512 define MAX_MOB_DESC 1024 define MAX_OBJ_DESC 512 define MAX_ROOM_NAME 75 define MAX_MOB_NAME 50 define MAX_OBJ_NAME 50 define MAX_ROOM_DESC 1024 define MAX_MOB_DESC 512 define MAX_OBJ_DESC 512 define MAX_TRADE 5 /* List maximums for compatibility */ define MAX_PROD 5 /* with shops before v3.0 */ define MAX_SHOP_OBJ 100 /* "Soft" maximum for list maximums */ define MAX_OPER 4 #31 DTS NEAR-DEATHTRAP XP FIGHTING HEALTH DIE DYING DEATHTRAPS DEATHS %DEATH% DEAD STUNNED INCAPACITATED MORTALLY-WOUNDED DEATH-TRAPS TRIG-DEATH TRAPS TRIGEDIT-DEATH A player will be in the following state at the listed hitpoints. Dead: -11 (dead!) Mortally Wounded: -6 (will die) Incapacitated: -3 (will slowly die) Stunned: 0 (will recover) DEATHTRAPS Rooms that will kill mortals on entry. All dropped items may be junked. Since many people are not a fan of DT's I suggest a more painful and slow near death trap: Example: @RTSTAT 3008, 12000, 6100, 6300, 41004@n See also: TRIGEDIT-MOB-DEATH, ROOMFLAGS, GROUP, SCORE #31 APOSTROPHES The apostrophe is something else that is incorrectly used quite often. Here are a couple of quick examples to show its uses: Fred's sister is Doris. Correct. This states that Fred has a sister named Doris. Fred's sisters' dog is named Rover. Correct. Rover is the dog that belongs to the numerous sisters of Fred. Fred's sister's dog is named Rover. Correct. Rover is the dog that belongs to the *single* sister of Fred. Fyre asked his writing group about those possessive plurals and here is the response from his top flight editor who makes her living in Switzerland doing impressive loads of copyediting. "The horses' manes" is correct; the "ess apostrophe ess" form is only used in proper names: Travis's albums, Maris's pendants My source is the Chicago Manual of Style, used in the majority of publishing houses in the States. And another supportive professor of English ... who has won several major writing awards recently ... "the horses' manes" is correct. The possessive form of a plural word that ends in "S" is formed by adding only an apostrophe. The possessive form of a plural word that does not end in "S" is formed by adding "apostrophe S," as in "women's hemlines." We rest our case. Now do whatever you want...after all, it is your area. #31 OBJ-NOTES OBJECT-NOTES BOOKS PENS NOTES QUILLS NEWSPAPERS POSTITS POST-ITS OBJ-TYPE-NOTE PAPERS TYPE-NOTE With Object Type NOTE you can then use the A-desc to write what you want people to see when they read it. Players will then be able to write on the note by holding a PEN. If you want to create a book I suggest using object type OTHER. That way players can read/look book but can not overwrite what you put in the a-desc. To make a long book you have to use the extra descriptions with keywords like 1 2 3 etc. Since the buffers can only hold so much text. You would need to include instructions, something like this: to read another page type read #. The player would type read 1, and would actually read page 1, then type read 2 and so on. See Also: NOTE, MAP #31 CWG BUDDHA SUNTZU RASPUTIN CIRCLEMUD-WITH-GOODIES CWG is short for CircleMUD with Goodies. It is a customized codebase free to download from http://cwg.lazuras.org/. It comes in three versions: Buddha, Suntzu, and Rasputin. CWG is also nice enough to host the tbaMUD forums and downloads section. See also: RESOURCES #31 SOURCES RESOURCES CODEBASE FTP DOWNLOADS DOCUMENTATION WTFAQ FORUMS GROUPS Source: http://tbamud.com/ CWG: http://cwg.lazuras.org/ Trigedit: http://tbamud.com/Oasis_DG_pages/contents/downloads.htm GDB: http://www.cs.clemson.edu/~ihcho/courses/cs360/common/gdb.html Documentation: http://tbamud.com/ http://www.circlemud.org/cdp/wtfaq/ http://developer.circlemud.org/contrib/ You should join the following forums and mailing lists. Learn how to search them for any problems you have: http://tbamud.com/ http://cwg.lazuras.org/ http://groups.yahoo.com/group/circle-newbies/ http://post.queensu.ca/cgi-bin/listserv/wa?SUBED1=circle&A=1 http://mudconnector.com/ Other stuff: http://share1.esd105.wednet.edu/bishopcj/EYES_on_IKE/graph_templates.htm http://www.42explore.com/writing.htm http://www.pastebin.com/ See also: CYGWIN, CODING #31 PLR CSH SITEOK LODRM INVST KILLER - Player is a player-killer THIEF - Player is a player-thief FROZEN - Player is frozen DONTSET - Don't EVER set (ISNPC bit) WRITING - Player writing (board/mail/olc) MAILING - Player is writing mail CSH - Player needs to be crash-saved SITEOK - Player has been site-cleared NOSHOUT - Player in not on the shout channel NOGOS - Player is not on the gossip channel NOTITLE - Player not allowed to set title DELETED - Player deleted - space reusable LOADRM - Player uses nonstandard loadroom NO_WIZL - Player shouldn't be on wizlist NO_DEL - Player shouldn't be deleted INVST - Player should enter game wizinvis CRYO - Player is cryo-saved DEAD - Player being extracted. See also: FLAGS, PRF #31 PRF CHAR-FLAGS PC-FLAGS NO_TELL PLAYER-FLAGS BRIEF - Player has enabled brief mode. COMPACT - Player has enabled compact mode. NO_SHOUT - Player can not see shouts. NO_TELL - Player can not see tells. D_HP - Player can see their HP. D_MANA - Player can see their MANA. D_MOVE - Player can see their MOVE. AUTOEX - Player can see exits. NO_HASS - Builder is safe from aggressive mobs, triggers will not work. QUEST - Player is on a quest. SUMN - Player can be summoned by other players. NO_REP - Communications will not be repeated. LIGHT - Builders can see invis and in the dark. C1 - Player has color set to brief. C2 - Player has color set to normal. BOTH: Player has color on. NO_WIZ - Builder can not see wiznet. L1 - Builder has syslog set to brief. L2 - Builder has syslog set to normal. BOTH: Builder has syslog set to on and will see ALL logs (spammy). NO_AUC - Player can not see auctions. NO_GOS - Player can not see gossips. NO_GTZ - Player can not see grats. RMFLG - Builder can see roomflags, mobflags, and objflags. D_AUTO - Player stats auto displayed. CLS - Player is due to be saved on next autosave. BLDWLK - Builder is Buildwalking. AFK - Player is AFK. AUTOLOOT - Player has Autoloot enabled. AUTOGOLD - Player has Autogold enabled. AUTOSPLIT - Player has Autosplit enabled. AUTOSAC - Player has Autosac enabled. AUTOASSIST - Player has Autoassist enabled. See also: FLAGS, PLR #31 CAPITALIZATION CAPITALISATION CAPITALIZE CAPITALISE Do not capitalize everything. Only capitalize the first letter of a full sentence and proper names. Do not capitalize s-desc unless it is a proper name, like Bill. Random capitalization is distracting and serves no real purpose. See also: REDIT-NAME #31 BLEEDING This is what happens when you use a color code and do not finish it with @@n which turns it back to normal color. The term "bleeding" came about when someone failed to do this and Rumble bashed his head against the wall so many times that it became a bloody pulp. At least that is the rumor. #31 STYLISTICS ELASETH STYLE @nunpublished work © 2000 Elizabeth Hoefling Last Modified: Feb 19th, 2004 @celaseth@@tbamud.com@n @cDisclaimer@n: The opinions herein belong solely to Elizabeth Hoefling. Some games look for different things when building, but overall any zone made by these rules should be good for most MUDs. @cThe Beginning of a Zone@n: The first thing to do when sitting down to build a zone is just that - sit down and think about it. Every zone starts with an idea or a spark. From there, develop it. Pay attention to what kind of zone you want to create. Is it to be an exp zone? Gold/money? Equipment? Quest? A combination of each or something else entirely? Evaluate the idea. Would you want to play in this zone? After you have this part worked out you're ready for the second step, mapping it. Some really neat people prefer to map with graph paper, but that's not necessary. Any paper will do. The reasons behind mapping are simple. It solidifies what you're planning to build into mud terms. Also, though final products rarely are an exact copy of the map, they provide a concrete reference for you to look at when the builder's block question rears its ugly head "Hmm, what do I build next?" Lastly, not all players have nifty clients especially made for mudding with auto-mappers, etc. We wouldn't want those poor unfortunate souls to be at more of a disadvantage than they have to be... and maps are highly important to knowing a mud, even if you keep them all in your head as a few players do. When creating your basic map, it is also a good idea to number the rooms on your map so you can keep track of vnums by the last two or three digits as well as know exactly which room is where if you need to go back and change something. It saves you having to dig through several vnums trying to find that one place where you have to reconnect an exit. Just create each vnum with the corresponding map digits and it is smooth sailing. Now that you have an idea and a map, it is time to actually start building. And this is where the term stylistics comes into play. These are the do's and don'ts of building that surpass simple knowledge of olc. Some of these rules depend on the kind of mud you play, but most are tried and true for a nice, all around, every-mud-can-use-it zone. @cElements of Style@n: Most of us know that many players do not read descriptions, but that the mud environment would be ever better if people did. As builders, we want them to read because we're not only putting a lot of work into what we do, but because these descriptions and the areas they represent intrinsically represent the virtual world of your game. All descriptions should encourage players to read. First, by being well-written and simply bearing artistic merit. Second, by ensuring that they are absolutely necessary to achieve the goals of the game! If your game is made for experience and equipment gathering, and failure to read descriptions directly impedes this goal, then players will learn to read everything. If your game is made for exploring or role-play, most of your players probably already read them Â- because knowing their environment is a basic requirement of play. In any case, builders exist to ensure that the goals of play are supported by game descriptions. Game environments benefit from complexity, especially complexity that comes in a palatable form (such as simplicity). There exists a certain pleasure in discovering depth anywhere, especially if it is truly a discovery. Hiding deep meaning behind descriptions, areas to find, special items, unique nooks and crannies to spend time socializing, and hints that point to these things elsewhere outside of your own zone is an excellent idea. In fact, if you don't wish to be building descriptions no one will read, you should employ special secrets Â- most especially on games where knowing one's environment does deeply affect a character's development. No matter what kind of zone you are building, keep it interesting throughout! Most rooms or things that belong to a zone should play an actual part in the world. If building a residence does nothing but add rooms, don't bother adding it. It is entirely possible that small parts of the zone are there entirely for flavor, or to provide a place of a specific atmosphere to the game for certain types of play. This is fine, but make certain that your zone fulfills the game's basic design. Plain and simple, if these elements do not exist, the zone isn't interesting and is not worth building. I suggest having something special every three or so rooms, even if it is only a minor addition that doesn't even connect to the zone itself. Such as finding a sigil of office on a door, or old burned bones in a ditch on the side of the road. @cStylistics - Rules and Explanations@n: 1) Write complexity into your zone. If you don't write well, you probably shouldn't be the sole builder of your zone. Instead, seek the assistance of someone who adds creative merit to your descriptions. You can do practically everything from plot to secrets to minutiae, even write the zone in full and just ask someone you know who writes well to Â'say it better' and rewrite what you intended to have there all along. Novels have editors, and so should any zone. 2) Add secrets! Reward players for participating in the game that the zone represents. Always include at least one interesting thing per three or so rooms. For example, have a bench in the garden or a table loaded to the room. Many objects don't have to do anything, just break up the sparse rooms. A good amount of these things should do something to enhance a player's gaming goals, however, for the sake of forcing the player to read what you're taking the trouble to write. Don't forget to add difficulty levels as well. Not all secrets should be highly difficult to discover. In fact, most zone-defining secrets should be the easiest for a player to discern and puzzle out, harder enigmas become the reward for replay or truly deep thought, unnecessary for those of lesser time/intellect/interest to simply relax and enjoy the game. @cNote@n: Remember that gaming goals define a game, so H&S zones will want to reward with good equipment or experience while RP games may wish to add something social such as access to a special area their guild can take over with relative privacy, etc. @cRecommendation@n: document these somewhere for easy admin look-up. 3) Never, ever repeat yourself. Do not clone rooms without a specific reason. Saving time or energy is not an excuse. Players who play in zones with multiple copies of a description stop reading the descriptions. The zone becomes monotonous, and hence the mud based upon it shares that failure. If a zone bores people, why play it? Much more importantly, why build it? We're talking about a great deal of work here. Changing a description by one or two words counts as copying as well. If you feel that a teacher at school would even consider calling your two descriptions plagiarism when compared to each other, change them. Repetition is redundancy. Who wants something they're working on for several weeks to be seen as redundant? 4) If a builder uses fantasy, they must make the relations necessary for players to suspend disbelief. Builders, of course, attempt to circumvent reality and shape it to their will. Properly suspending a player's disbelief requires acceptable explanations for it to work, ones that allow them to draw on their own experience and understanding of their environment. For example, let's say a player walks north and returns to find themselves in a different place than where they left. Why did that happen? If this isn't something a player expects as a result of their actions, or a reason hasn't been offered to explain away the situation, the builder fails in suspending disbelief. Instead, players think it is broken, or it is an OOC attempt to screw them over, etc. So, if the physics of your world do not match the physics in our world, inform your players through your descriptions as to why their assumptions fail. 5) If a zone is overly complicated, simplify it. Creating something that has nothing to do with promoting zone's purpose in which a player must solve to gain anything from the experience only frustrates players. This does not mean don't make the zone complicated or difficult, but use good judgment as to what is overly provoking to a player in a useless manner. A good rule to follow is that if it is complicated and has nothing to do with a zone's quest or purpose, don't make it necessary to achieve that purpose. My favorite example for this "abuse" is adding secrets and failing to leave hints in descriptions about how to solve or find them, such as a maze without even telling the player why they're in one or leaving any clue on how to solve it. If they cannot achieve their goal without solving a puzzle, that puzzle must be directly related to that goal. 6) Rely on words to keep it interesting. Don't feel the need to extend a zone simply for the sake of scale. If you're pressured to write bigger descs or make more rooms, relax. The best zones are usually very small and a description's not limited to the number of times someone has to enter 'w' to go down the road- you can say something's any size you feel like making it with words alone. Remember, words are the main tool of describing things, not special code effects, number of rooms, or colors. These things alone never convey the feeling of a complete zone. @cThe Polish @n(I.E. Picky Stuff) 1) Do not use the word 'is' in descriptions. It is generally accepted by the literary community that the active voice is more powerful and eloquent. Dodging the use of this word enriches descriptions in another way as well as forcing you to use the active voice. It is easy to describe something as it is red, it is big, it is heavy... and the word 'is' becomes repetitive. 2) Do not to use the word 'you' in descriptions. It creates almost 90% of direction bias and movement method errors, as well as the classic "telling the player how to think or feel". In any case, the small percent of innocent uses of the word 'you' are easily written with other terms, and getting used to writing descs without it means you don't have to constantly be on guard for these three blunders. 3) Never tell a player how they feel. If you want a sad description, don't tell someone they're sad, write the description to make them weep. The same goes for scary, happy, disgusted, etc. You name it, make them feel it. Do not simply say they are. 4) Be extremely careful when building with color. Especially if you're adding it to your room descriptions. Try not to use more than one, and usually you shouldn't use them in the text at all, only in the room title. On objects and mobs this rule is more relaxed, but if it is part of what the player automatically sees when entering a room, it is probably best that it not be too colorful and should only have 1 alternate color in it. Color is the hardest thing for many good builders to learn how to use properly. Don't be disheartened or surprised if asked to change even a minor amount of color. If you use color, -always- terminate the color correctly according to your mud's system. 5) Never put a period at the end of a room title. Write all titles as you would the title of a book, capitalizing all words except for a, the, and the few excluded prepositions like 'of'. Short descs on mobs and objects should always include the article or a measure word like 'some'. Long descs must have the keyword of the object in it. In fact, it is usually best to write the keywords -after- writing the short and long descs. A player should never have to guess what the keyword is to affect an item. If they can see it, they should be able to refer to it. 6) Never describe a mob that's loaded into a room in the room description, and if the mobile is sentient (like a humanoid or race), it simply must be a mob and cannot appear in the room description. An example such is butterflies circling a bush. That's fine if the butterflies are not supposed to be sentient and are not loaded into the room. You should never describe drunks at a bar in the room description of the bar, instead put them there as mobs. 7) Always write extra descriptions and ALWAYS add at least one extra desc to all objects including all of the general keywords so that the player can look at whatever they pick up. Always. If your game supports a certain type of description in addition to the typical ones, such as exit descriptions, use them consistently. 8) Any noun in the room description that cannot be adequately described should either have an extra description in the room or outright exist as an object to represent it. This goes even if the idea of the object being of use is a mere smokescreen. 9) When building streets or any other generic structure with a name, give it a meaningful or fanciful name. The Main Street is boring and overused in almost all cities. Each city on a mud should have streets with unique names. Same goes for the "Central Building" or " West Wall". 10) If you describe an object, mob, or anything else in the room desc, do not add it to the room and vice versa. This means if I describe a table in the room desc, it should not be a visible object for the player to see in the room. The reason for this goes back to the idea that you should never 'repeat yourself'. 11) Try not to describe objects that a mob is wearing in their look desc, and never do it if you're actually going to load the eq onto the mob. The player will see it twice when looking at the mob. 12) Do not write about the considerations of a player or thought processes. Don't ask questions in a room desc. Try to describe the looks of the mob you're writing about in the look-desc. The trick of making a mob say something when looked at can be handled with scripts, and a player should be able to see what they look at as if they're doing so in real life. Remember that your job with descriptions is to create an interactive environment that the player sees, hears, etc. This means that your number one goal is to be eloquently descriptive, but to do it in such a way as to simulate natural input as well as possible. 13) Never just describe the important things in a room, always try to describe the room in its entirety, given the acceptable space. Do not focus only on the information a player needs to know. Things that are important, like that special hammer, or the doorway behind the painting should be found not because they are the only thing the player sees, but because of hints or thought based on everything they see. For example, if I walk into a room and see blank walls and a description that simply screams 'This object is important, more important than anything else at all!', people won't think on what they're seeing and will lose a great deal of the point of descriptions in the first place. In addition, do not do the opposite and make something else seem of importance that is not while trying to hide the true answer. Such misdirection will lead to player dissatisfaction... the thing that we are trying to avoid wherever reasonable. 14) Room titles should be original in nature. This means for the most part, do not copy room titles. A person should be able to look, and by title alone, know exactly where they are. There are exceptions (like roads), but try not to make them too common, and you can break those room titles up with prepositions, etc, as well. Ex: Thistledon Road by a Willow 15) Room titles should pick out the most important thing in the room or give the room a name to go by. For example, 'By a Patch of Daisies' if daisies are the most prominent thing or a name such as 'The Green Room'. Try not to describe the title in the description of the room as the only item in the room. In some cases, if the room has a name, try not redescribe the title with the same words. For example, if the room title is 'By a Patch of Daisies' there really is little need to add the daisies to the room desc. It is acceptable to do so, but be descriptive in these instances instead of repetitive. @cRules of Practicality@n: 1) Make sure the zone has a main goal. Every zone should have one before it is built. If it is defeating the necromancer in the tower, setting the prices of the local stables, giving someone a realistic role-play environment, or just killing everything in sight, make sure you know what it is supposed to be before you start building. 2) Anything a player can see, he or she should be able to refer to. Be certain that your keywords are intuitive. 3) If a mob is not humanoid they probably don't have money, and don't go around wearing all that much by the way of clothing. It is unrealistic for them to have it, so don't give it to them. If you want to reward the player for killing them, give them a pelt, teeth, claws or something to be sold. See rule #14 for more info. 4) There should be between three and eight lines of text in a room desc. Proper grammar should be used at all times in said text. Going over 8 lines can be a bad idea because of the limit of player scrolling and how daunting that amount of information becomes in a single dose. If a description stretches too long, don't hesitate to go back and cut points out to make into extra descriptions. Extra descriptions improve zones, use them a great deal! If a room does not have extra descriptions, it is not a worthwhile addition to a zone. 5) Do not use direction, movement, time or season bias unless the ability to recognize these things is built into the game. If you can write descriptions that will only be seen in winter, writing a winter description adds to the game. If this isn't possible, writing a winter description detracts from the game, even if seasons aren't coded. If they are recognized, and you're just too lazy to write descriptions for every possibility, do not mention the possibility at all. For a simple reminder: Direction Bias: This means that when writing a description, don't indicate or insinuate that a player is going or looking in any one direction. An example of a violation of this rule is "The castle lies before you in all its glory..." The player may, after all, be leaving the castle, in which case it would not be before them, but behind, making the description unreal. Movement Bias: when writing a description, don't say "You are walking on a path" because you never know, the player could be flying, levitating, slithering, crawling, stomping, or anything in between. Time and Season Bias: when writing a description, don't say "The sun shines powerfully through the window" unless you can swap day descs for night ones. At night, that desc is still the same, so the sun shouldn't be shining. Seasonally, the leaves on a tree should not appear autumn reds, browns, and yellows unless you can make that description only show during that season. @cNOTE:@n If you would like to use this information for your game, you may do so so long as you copy the entirety as is, keep Elaseth's copyright label at the top of it, and make any corrections as specific to your mud in parenthesis. If you wish to use this as a basis for your own building stylistics document, please copy-paste this into a text file and provide a link or help-keyword to it for those who wish to see the original. Thanks!@n #31 ZONE-COMPLETION COMPLETED-ZONE COMPLETION Spell-check your zone before you submit it for the final walk-through. If there are a million spelling errors, we will not look at the zone until those are fixed. Make sure your Zone Description Room in 00 is complete. It should list absolutely everything of importance about your zone. @RHELP ZONE-DESC@n for the requirements. You can also use the extra description 'credits' if you wish. Be sure all your mobs have been auto-rolled by setting the level in medit. This is required for balancing. Also be sure everything meets the standards under @RHELP STANDARDS@n. One last thing you could do to ensure you have built a quality zone is to read or re-read TBA zone. It is too much info to absorb the first time through and I guarantee it will give you new ideas and help you fix common problems. We have to review a lot of zones with a limited staff so any help you can give us by double-checking your own zone is greatly appreciated. Upon completion of a zone notify any of the staff and MUDmail Rumble. Your zone will be looked over and corrections will be MUDmailed or emailed to you. Do not take this personally. Everyone makes mistakes and everything we do is meant as constructive criticism. #31 ZONE-DELETION DELETION To prevent accidentally deleting someone's zone and causing conflicting OLC access I have made the following guide. If someone does not login to the mud for over three months, and does not mudmail me (Rumble) to let me know of an expected absence their zone may be deleted. I use show areas to list all zones and then go through one by one using "last ". If they have not logged in for over three months I then "stat file " and check that they have the proper OLC set, and that they do not have the NO_DEL flag (I set no_delete on players that tell me they are going to be absent for a while). If they have not been on for three months and do not have NO_DEL set I then "show zone #" to double-check the zone and builder assigned. I then use r/m/o/s/tlist to check if they made anything of value that could be donated. Once I am positive it is safe to delete their zone I set their OLC to -1. "stat file " to be sure it worked and then delete the zone from the server. #31 BITVECTORS NOBITS BITS Bitvectors are used within the code to represent certain values or flags. When no flags are set it is displayed as: NOBITS. These flags include such things as DARK PEACEFUL INDOORS etc. NOBITS means no flags are set. #31 GRAMMAR GRAMMER TIPS Love thy dictionary. Be sure to check the spelling of your work. Medieval words can be particularly tricky and elude electronic spell checkers. A good dictionary, however, will help you spell archaic words. Whenever I am building I use our Merriam Webster dictionary link on TBA to check any tough words for proper spelling. Test it out @RTELL M-W DEFINITION@n. We hope to add a thesaurus soon! Goto @Chttp://m-w.com/@n until then. I have found that a good principle to make is to avoid the use of all contractions. For example, if you mean to say "it is", do not use "it's", spell it out. This will help differentiate between "its" (which means 'belonging to it') and "it is". Another set of problem words to take note of is the "they're", "there", and "their". The first can be avoided because it is a contraction, the second is not here, but there, and the final one means that it belongs to them. One final instance to take note of are "to", "too", and "two". The first is used when you want to say something like 'the passage leads to there', the second should be used in situations where there is an excess of something, such as 'too much red paint was used to cover the walls there'. The final one is the number 2 (two). As far as obscenity in descriptions is concerned, we have no problem with using it in humor or description. If your description involves the use of some slang or 'bad' words, no biggie. Just don't abuse the use of any words. We don't want the MUD filthy, just fun! See also: APOSTROPHE, YOU #31 BREATHE BREATHING THINKING My final words to you as a future builder, remember a few basic things. The chances you create the biggest are slim. The chances for creating the best are always there. Finally, this is not a job. This is for your enjoyment and the satisfaction that when you complete your area that hundreds of players will walk through the rooms and enjoy what you have created for them. There is never a rush. Relax, enjoy, learn, and do not forget to breathe. #31 BALANCE BALANCING "Game Balance" is a term that brings a different thing to mind for every person that hears it. What is most important about game balance is to keep in mind what each zone is designed for. For example, high-level players, newbies, or small groups. The objects and monsters found in the area should match the level, abilities, and needs of the players expected to use the area. Most players do not like to be given vast treasure with no difficulty in getting it, but on the other hand, nobody likes to fight the most difficult mob on the MUD and get nothing for doing it. Zones should not be impossibly hard or absurdly easy. Understandably, builders want their zones to be popular, but they sometimes attempt to achieve this goal by purposefully making their zone unbalanced, adding powerful weapons or armor with no harmful side-effects or mobiles that are easy to kill yet give massive numbers of experience points. Such zones are destined both to become very popular and invariably to bring about the death of the mud. Every zone, every room, every object, every mob, will be checked before being implemented into the game. Do not waste everyone's time, (ours for having to recheck your zone, and yours for having to fix any problems we find) keep the balance. See also: STANDARDS #31 PREREQUISITES CONSTRUCTIVE-CRITICISM Do you own a dictionary? Can you write in complete sentences? Builders are expected to be able to write decent descriptions. Good MUDs will not use zones that are grammatical nightmares. The goal of the Builder Academy is to develop great builders, part of this requires a grasp on the English language. We understand English is not the first language for most people, but that is no excuse if you wish to be a builder. Most MUDs are not going to spend the time to teach you proper English. At the Builder Academy we will try. But, it will take more effort on your part than ours. Once you start your zone we will review it and make suggestions to redo or fix parts. This is perfectly normal and should not in any way be interpreted as an insult. The comments you receive may include a lot of nit-picky details but once you are an experienced builder and have gained our trust and respect we will not be going over your work as closely. Try and learn as much as you can from this test and review process. Keep it in mind as you work on future projects. It is the most direct and concrete way for us to teach you how to build. Everyone wants builders, but they want quality work more. We would rather have one good zone than ten mediocre ones. #31 SNOOP Usage: snoop [player] Snoop allows you to see everything another player types or can see. This will be displayed on your terminal preceded by a '%'. To prevent abuse snooping someone is logged in the system files. Snoop is meant to assist teachers in helping builders and to ensure players do not cheat. With builders it allows you to see what they are doing wrong and correct them. It should be used in conjunction with the send command. Snoop shall only be used to assist people when building and enforcing rules. It is not meant as a tool for spying. Type snoop or just snoop to stop snooping. See also: SEND #31 SEND Usage: send [target] SEND displays the message to a particular person. This is meant to be used by teachers to send text to builders while in OLC. Combined with the snoop command this allows a teacher to see and tell builders what to do. Here is a little shortcut alias I use. alias sa send alambil @M@@MRumble sends you:@n@@n $* With this I just type: sa . This will use color to catch his attention and will list my name since send does not automatically show who the send is from. Wiznet is now viewable while in OLC so if the MUD isn't too crowded you can use that as well, but do not spam other builders. See also: TRIG-SEND #31 EVERYTHING ANYTHING When I help people I usually ask them what they need help with. All too often they tell me: everything. I can not teach people everything. It is up to each individual to learn what they can and then ask informed questions. The help files here are extensive and are continuously being developed. Read through all of the TBA zone starting at room 3. Inform yourself and then ask an informed question in which I or the other staff members will be able to help with. See also: NEWBIE #31 ASCII-ART ART @G ___ ____ /' --;'/ ,-_\ @Y\ | / @G/ / --@yo@G\ @yo@G-\ \\ @Y--(_)-- @G'` ` @y|-|@G `` ' @y|-| |-|@mO @y|-@m(\,__ @Y..@y|-|@m\--@M,\_@Y.... ,;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;,. ,;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;, ;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;,@n By Zierk Such art is highly recommended and adds flavor to a zone. Specifically, maps are always helpful to players. ASCII Text Generator: http://www.network-science.de/ascii/ http://www.degraeve.com/img2txt.php See also: COLOR, AUTOMAP, TBAMAP, CARTOGRAPHY #31 ABBREVIATIONS ABBREVS We have added abbreviations so you do not have to type everything exactly as it appears. This also means that when you enter keywords in OLC you do not have to list all forms. i. e. the keyword rumble could be used to cover anyone who types rumble rumbl rumb rum ru. #31 ZONE-DESCRIPTION-ROOM ZONE_DESCRIPTION_ROOM 00 EXAMPLE-PROPOSALS EXAMPLE-ZONE-DESCRIPTIONS ZONE-INFO TEST-ZONE TRIAL-ZONE ZONE-DESCRIPTIONS ZEDIT-DESCRIPTION Your zone proposal should be cut and pasted into your "Zone Description Room", which will be in room 00 (first room in your zone). In this credit room you should update your zone proposal as required to keep a summary of any important information about your zone. This room will have no exits and should only be accessible by immortals. It is there for you and the immortals that come after you to get a basic idea of the zone without having to explore the whole thing. If you have any planned links or possible exits or entrances to another zone, make sure that you list them there. For examples goto the following rooms: 8600, 10600, 20000. Add anything to this room that you think would make it easier to administer the zone on a MUD. See also: REPORT, PLANNING, PROPOSAL #31 PROPOSALS GUIDELINES ZONE-PROPOSALS PROPOSITIONS PROPOSE REQUESTS CRITERIA Congratulations, you must have completed your first trial of building one room/mob/obj. Your next task is to submit a zone proposal to prove you have what it takes to properly plan out your first zone. It is extremely important that you put some forethought into what you will be creating. Remember, zones are built for others to play. Be sure to make it something a player will enjoy. A zone proposal consists of an informal MUDmail to your Head Builder. It should contain: the location, level, alignment, theme, plot, size, and any other important notes about the zone. Detailed descriptions and help files are available in the hallways starting from room 14 and 15. One last word. No one here is being rushed to finish their zone, we have no deadlines, so take the time to give your zone character. Required Reading: @RHELP PLANNING, HELP STYLISTICS@n See also: EXAMPLE-PROPOSAL #31 LITTERING Do not load mobiles or objects in other people's zones. Especially in TBA zone and immortal rooms. #31 OFFLINE-EDITOR CIRCEDIT CWC A few builders prefer building on their home computer instead of on a MUD. I DO NOT recommend this since there are no good offline programs. But if you do not have Internet access and want to still work on your zones feel free to try them out. I have used CircEdit and the newest CWC seems to be even better. Old editors: ftp://ftp.circlemud.org/pub/CircleMUD/contrib/olc/offline/ #31 CAPITAL-LETTERS AT-POSTMASTER-MAIL-RUMBLE GOTO-3 I meant for you to type exactly what is in red not to check the help file ;-) i.e. @RGOTO 3@n not @RHELP GOTO 3@n #31 ACRONYMS TERMINOLOGY VOCABULARY Here are some common terms used in building, and TBA zone: OLC: On-Line-Creation, the ability to create rooms, mobs, objects, shops, and triggers on-line. Desc: Short for description. Flag: A bit-vector that tells the mud that a particular monster, object, or room has a certain quality. (i.e. Dark, Magic, Aggressive) This will be explained more later. Mob: Mobile. A monster. Obj: Object. VNUM: An obj, mob, room, shop, or triggers unique identification number. Stands for Virtual Number. Zone: Used synonymously with area. Trigger: Used synonymously with script. TBA: The Builder Academy. PC: Player Character. Not a mob. NPC: Non Player Character. Mobs. #31 SUGGESTIONS I have been MUDding for many years, I then became a builder, then an immortal, then an imp, and finally a coder. I am writing this because I am tired of seeing the same problems with the majority of newbie builders. First of all I'd like to say that while building can be fun it is also hard work, a lot of people who have never built do not seem to realize it. I have taught numerous people how to build. They start on one small area usually 50 rooms or less, they are all excited and gung-ho and get off to a good start but then somewhere along the line they realize: "hey, building is not as glamorous as I thought, it doesn't pay, and it is actually very hard work." Then they quit, which I respect more than the ones who I teach how to build, give them an area, and they sit around making a "special room for themselves" or take advantage of the builder commands and equip themselves to the hilt or they sit around and complain because they are not promoted in the first week. I do not ask for much from builders, I let them build anything they want, if there is something special they want that is not in the code we will put it in (as long as it is reasonable of course) I don't ask for long hours and I don't sit looking over anyone's shoulders, I don't even require a builder to have experience, I am more then willing to teach someone, what I am unwilling to do is let someone take advantage of me or my MUD which is mostly what I find happening with newbie builders. I know I am rambling and I assure you I do have a point and here it is: *drum roll please* Building is hard work! It is a form of expression and creativity. What kind of areas you build generally reflects on what kind of person you are. You do not have to be a good speller but you do need a good dictionary/thesaurus. @RHELP M-W@n. Sometimes building can seem like a thankless job and sometimes building can be a reward in itself. Building a few areas, even a few good ones, does not make you an Immortal or an Imp. It takes more than building to be one of those and it entails even more work. Respect others and they will respect you. The more detailed an area the better it is. Always choose Quality over Quantity. Put some pride in your areas, develop a style of your own. Try new things keep it interesting, if you become bored with building an area take a break and play a mortal or do something else, don't take advantage of builder privileges. Treat others as you wish to be treated. One more warning I would give to builders before they take things personally or get insulted. Everyone has their own ideas on how to run a MUD, what it comes down to is whoever owns the MUD makes the final decision, so it does not matter how good you think your idea is, it may never be used if the owner does not like it. Plain and simple. You see this on every MUD. So please keep the ideas coming, but do not try to force them onto anyone. Be constructive, not critical about peoples ideas. Everyone is allowed their opinions. Be original, finish what you start, have fun, and don't forget to breathe! #31 CALENDAR CALENDER MONTHS WEEKS DAYS HOURS The tbaMUD calendar consists of 75 seconds per hour, 35 days a month and 17 months a year. Days of the week: the Day of the Moon the Day of the Bull the Day of the Deception the Day of Thunder the Day of Freedom the Day of the Great Gods the Day of the Sun Months of the year: Month of Winter Month of the Winter Wolf Month of the Frost Giant Month of the Old Forces Month of the Grand Struggle Month of the Spring Month of Nature Month of Futility Month of the Dragon Month of the Sun Month of the Heat Month of the Battle Month of the Dark Shades Month of the Shadows Month of the Long Shadows Month of the Ancient Darkness Month of the Great Evil Trigedit example that mimics the TIME command: @RTSTAT 36@n See also: DATE, TIME #31 FOUNTAINS DRINK-UNITS OEDIT-FOUNTAINS After selecting object type FOUNTAIN you must then select C) Values to set the capacity of the fountain. The first number is max drink units (-1 for unlimited). The second is the intitial drink units (this must be 1 or greater). The 3rd number is liquid type from the following: value 0: Max drink units. -1 for unlimited. value 1: Initial drink units. Must be 1 or greater. value 2: see below value 3: 0 for not poisoned. Otherwise, the number of hours until the poison burns off? value 2: The type of liquid in the drink-container, one of: --------------------------------------------------------------- | Type nr. | Effect of Liquid On: | |@u | drunkenness Fullness Thirst @n| | WATER 0 | 0 | 1 | 10 | | BEER 1 | 3 | 2 | 5 | | WINE 2 | 5 | 2 | 5 | | ALE 3 | 2 | 2 | 5 | | DARK ALE 4 | 1 | 2 | 5 | | WHISKY 5 | 6 | 1 | 4 | | LEMONADE 6 | 0 | 1 | 8 | | FIREBREATHER 7 | 10 | 0 | 0 | | LOCAL SPC. 8 | 3 | 3 | 3 | | SLIME 9 | 0 | 4 | -8 | | MILK 10 | 0 | 3 | 6 | | TEA 11 | 0 | 1 | 6 | | COFFEE 12 | 0 | 1 | 6 | | BLOOD 13 | 0 | 2 | -1 | | SALT WATER 14 | 0 | 1 | -2 | | CLEAR WATER 15 | 0 | 0 | 13 | --------------------------------------------------------------- The above values for drunkenness/fullness/thirst are in the units of one hour of effect per four units of liquid drunk. For example, imagine that Dragon drinks an entire bottle (say 7 units) of saltwater. According to the table above, saltwater has a drunkenness value of 0, fullness value of 1 and thirst value of -2. Therefore: His drunkenness is not changed ((7/4)*0) His Fullness increases by ((7/4)*1) hours His Thirst increases by ((7/4)*-2) hours, thus making him more thirsty. A player's drunkenness, fullness, and thirst can range from 0 to 24. 24 is the maximum; 0 means the person is completely sober, hungry, or thirsty respectively. See Also: VALUES #31 ALIGNMENT GOOD NEUTRAL EVIL %ACTOR.ALIGN% %ALIGN% %ALIGNMENT% Different characters and mobs have different alignments depending upon their way of life. Because of this, they may be aggressive or friendly depending on the mix. Some objects cannot be used by certain alignments. For mobs alignment ranges from: -1000 to -350 Evil -350 to 350 Neutral 350 to 1000 Good See also: ALIGNMENTS #31 TARGET Target is used often within these help files, normally as [target]. This can be an object a mobile or a player. Usually used in conjunction with another command. #31 HEALERS HEALING REGENERATE REGENROOM Healing affects can be created through trigedit. MOB Examples: @RTSTAT 146@n Room Examples: @RTSTAT 163@n See also: %DAMAGE% #31 LOADROOM An entry in the player file that can be set to load players to a specific room when they enter the game. See Also: SET #31 DESCRIPTORS LOGINS This annoying message happens when someone connects but never logs into the MUD and is idled out. #31 STAT STAT-SELF Usage: stat [player | object | mobile | file] Gives information about players, monsters, and objects in the game. The type argument is optional. STAT PLAYER will search only for players; useful for statting people with names such as Red or Cityguard. STAT OBJECT will search only for objects. STAT MOBILE will search only for monsters. STAT FILE is used to stat players who are not logged in; the information displayed comes from the players file. STAT SELF will do the same thing as typing STAT . Examples: > stat fido > stat player Welcor > stat mobile Fade > stat file Rumble > stat object thunderbolt > stat self See also: VSTAT, TSTAT, DETACH #31 BAN UNBAN Usage: ban [ ] unban These commands prevent anyone from a site with a hostname containing the site substring from logging in to the game. You may ban a site to ALL, NEW or SELECT players. Banning a site to NEW players prevents any new players from registering. Banning a site to ALL players disallows ANY connections from that site. Banning a site SELECTively allows only players with site-ok flags to log in from that site. Ban with no argument returns a list of currently banned sites. Unban removes the ban. Examples: > ban all whitehouse.gov > unban ai.mit.edu See also: WIZLOCK #31 HELPCHECK Usage: helpcheck Checks all commands in interpreter.c to ensure they have an associated help file. See also: HEDIT, HINDEX #31 HEDIT HELP-EDITOR Usage: hedit This command allows online editing of help files. Hedit OLC permission is 888. When editing a help file entry the first line must list all keywords. Do not use /fi in hedit. Also, when editing an existing entry make sure to modify the first keyword or it will not be saved. See also: HINDEX, HELPCHECK #31 PET-SHOPS PETSHOPS PET_SHOPS We are getting away from standard stock special procedures. Instead we are using a more flexible trigger to create petshops. @RTSTAT 338@n for an example of a petshop trigger. The OLD way: Make two rooms and some pets. The rooms MUST be sequential. if the first room is 315 then the second must be 316. The second room is known as the storeroom. All that is required in the storeroom is to load one of each mob you wish to be a pet. This room can not have any exits and will never be used by mortals. Although a pet shopkeeper is not required it is recommended. After all of this is done ask your coder to implement the petshop. It will not work until the code is changed and the MUD is rebooted. The cost of pets is 300 times their level. See also: SHOPS, SPECIALS #31 EXPORT Used by the IMP's to export a zone for other MUD's. This command replaces the zone number with QQ's. This allows any decent text-editor to "find and replace" the QQ's with a zone number of your choice. The zone will be saved into a compressed file as: _.tgz i.e. 1_Sanctus.tgz Use your preferred client to unpack and then a text editor to find and replace the QQ's with your zone number. If you want to keep the existing zone number make sure to say so when you ask for an export. The easiest way to add a new zone is to first create the new zone and then overwrite the created files. A zone consist of up to 5 different files that are located in their own directories in lib/world/: .mob .obj .shp .trg .wld .zon #31 XNAME The xname file is a list of names not allowed for players. #31 LINKS Usage : links Lists all links from the given zone to any other zones. See also: RESOURCES, LINK #31 CHECKLOAD CHECKOBJ CHECKMOB Usage: checkload Checkload will scan the zone information and tell you where any given mob, obj, or trig loads. We recommend you use this in conjunction with the lists to ensure everything created in your zone is actually used. > checkload o 15004 Checking load info for a golden apple... [15017] By The Throne In The Great Hall (Equipped to King Welmar [15001][100% Load, 1 Max]) > checkload m 3062 Checking load info for the beastly fido... [ 3024] The Eastern End Of Poor Alley (15 Max.) [ 3025] The Common Square (15 Max.) [ 3016] Main Street (15 Max.) [ 3012] Main Street (15 Max.) > checkload t 100 Checking load info for the object trigger 'Portal to Midgaard - 100': (obj) [ 100] the portal See also: LINKS, RLIST, OLIST, MLIST, SLIST #31 PEACE %PEACE% Usage : peace Stops all fighting within your current room. #31 ADVANCE DEMOTE Usage: advance [target] Advance moves a player to a new level. If used to promote a player to an immortal level, and if you have the autowiz program installed, the wizlist and immlist will automatically be recreated. Advance can also be used to demote players. Example: > advance Rumble 34 > advance Rumble 1 See also: SET, PROMOTION #31 ECHO GECHO QECHO Usage: echo gecho qecho ECHO displays a string to everyone in your room. GECHO displays the string to everyone in the game. QECHO displays the string to everyone with the QUEST flag. Examples: > echo Hi, everyone in the room. > gecho Hi, everyone in the game, isn't this annoying? See also: %ECHO% #31 FORCE Usage: force Forces a monster to perform a certain action. FORCE ALL forces everyone in the game; FORCE ROOM forces everyone in your room. If you are invisible to the one being forced, the force will be performed silently. Example: > force fido drop meat > force all save > force room look fido See also: %FORCE% #31 FREEZE THAW FREEZING FROZEN Usage: freeze [target] thaw [target] FREEZE is used to prevent a player from playing. If frozen, the game will ignore all commands entered by the player, including QUIT, until the player is unfrozen with THAW. Obviously, this command should only be used in extreme disciplinary circumstances. #31 GOTO TRANSFER TRANSPORT TELEPORT Usage: goto trans [target] teleport [target] These commands are used to transports yourself and others to different rooms. GOTO allows you to go to other rooms; TRANS transports a person from wherever they are to the room YOU are in; TELEPORT transports your victim to some other location. For both GOTO and TELEPORT, the location specified can be either a virtual room number or the name of a character or object. Examples: > goto 3001 > goto Rumble > trans fido > teleport fido 3001 > teleport fido 2.fido See also: POOFIN, POOFOUT, WIZAT, %TELEPORT% #31 HANDBOOK WIZHANDBOOK WIZ-HANDBOOK IMMHANDBOOK IMM-HANDBOOK Usage: handbook Guidelines for having an Immortal character -- you should read it. #31 HCONTROL Some major misconceptions about houses. You do not set any flags for a house. Just use hcontrol to build the house, that is it. All the flags House, House_control and Atrium are for internal use only. When the house is created they will be set. Currently we do not use houses here. Usage: hcontrol build hcontrol destroy hcontrol pay hcontrol show House control, controls the addition, removal, and payments of houses. Hcontrol show will show all the houses currently defined in the game along with their last 'rent' payment date. See also: HOUSE, HOUSES #31 HOLYLIGHT LIGHTING LIGHTS TORCHES HOLY-LIGHTING Usage: holylight A toggle which allows you to see invisible or hidden people, objects, and dark rooms even if you don't have a light. It is expected most immortals will keep HOLYLIGHT on most of the time; it exists so that you have the ability to see what mortals see for debugging purposes. See Also: TOGGLE #31 IMOTD Usage: imotd Displays the Immortal message of the day. This file usually contains new information on commands recently added, new features and other important information that immortals should be aware of. See also: MOTD #31 CHANGELOG Usage: changelog Allows an in game entry to the MUDs changelog with a date, time stamp, and submitter name. To view the changelog use the file command with argument changelog. See Also: FILE, CHANGES #31 INVIS i30 i31 i32 SPOOFS Usage: invis [level] INVIS sets your invisibility level. With no argument, invis toggles between making you fully visible and fully invisible. If you specify a level, only people at and above the level you specify will be able to see you. TBA has been modified so this can not be abused, any action or communication you take will show your name. Examples: > invis > invis 31 See also: MEDIT-AFF, VISIBLE, INVISIBILITY #31 LAST LASTLISTS Usage: last [player_name | all] [#] For checking the last time(s) a person logged on, their sitename, and their ID number. This now works similar to the unix version of 'last'. This will display where the player connected from, how long they connected, and how they disconnected. last without arguments displays the last 10 entries. last with a name only displays the 'stock' last entry. last with a number displays that many entries (combines with name) Examples: > last Rumble [ 2] [34 Wa] Rumble : localhost : Tue Sep 9 06:13:52 2003 > last 4 Rumble Last log Rumble localhost Mon Sep 8 18:19 - 17:00 (23:40) Connect Rumble localhost Mon Sep 8 14:59 - 17:00 (03:00) Connect Rumble localhost Mon Sep 8 14:50 - 14:59 (00:08) Disconnect Rumble localhost Mon Sep 8 12:03 - 17:00 (05:56) Connect > last 8 Last log Tatsumaki IP-ADDRESS Tue Sep 9 07:04 - 07:09 (00:05) Quit Detta IP-ADDRESS Tue Sep 9 07:03 - Still Playing Manivo IP-ADDRESS Tue Sep 9 06:39 - 07:00 (00:20) Disconnect Neo IP-ADDRESS Tue Sep 9 06:38 - 06:48 (00:10) Quit Shizuma IP-ADDRESS Tue Sep 9 04:09 - 04:15 (00:05) Quit Relsqui IP-ADDRESS Tue Sep 9 04:07 - 04:16 (00:09) Quit Walter IP-ADDRESS Tue Sep 9 01:28 - 01:32 (00:04) Disconnect Liku mudconnector.com Mon Sep 8 20:10 - 21:01 (00:51) Disconnect See also: STAT, LAST #31 LOADING MOBLOAD OBJLOAD MOB-LOADING OBJECT-LOADING LOAD-MOBILE LOAD-OBJECT OBJ-LOAD Load only temporarily loads the mob/obj. It should NOT be used except for testing purposes. Use zedit to load a mob/obj to your zone. Usage: load LOAD is used to create mobiles and objects. The first argument specifies if you are trying to load a mobile or an object; the second is the virtual number. LOAD has been modified on TBA. Level 31 can not load mobs outside of their zone. Example: > load obj 3099 You create a bulletin board. > load mob 3005 You create the receptionist. See also: VNUM, PURGE, %LOAD%, ZEDIT-NEW, ZRESET #31 MUTE SQUELCH Usage: mute MUTE is used to prevent a player from using global communication channels. It is a toggle that can be turned on and off by the same command. See also: FLAGS #31 NOHASSLE HASSLE DARK NO_HASSLE DISABLE NOHASSEL HASSEL NO-HASSLE Usage: nohassle Toggles a flag to give immortals special protection and privileges. Such as: Prevents aggressive mobs from attacking and triggers from targetting the player. Allows you to walk through closed doors, and interact (look, put, take) with closed and locked containers. See also: TOGGLE, HOLYLIGHT, ROOMFLAGS, REDIT-ROOM #31 NOTITLE Usage: notitle Prevent players from being able to set their own titles; i.e., if the player consistently has an offensive title. The definition of offensive is left as an exercise for the reader. See also: TITLE #31 NOWIZ NO-WIZ Usage: nowiz Allows you to hear or ignore messages coming over the wiznet. See also: TOGGLE, WIZNET #31 PAGER BEEPER PAGING SEND-PAGE Usage: page PAGE is used to send a message, along with a beep, to another player. Use PAGE ALL to send a message and a beep to everyone in the game. Examples: > page Rumble Hey, are you still at the keyboard? > page all GAME WILL BE SHUTTING DOWN IN 10 MINUTES Do not abuse this command. #31 PARDON Usage: pardon [target] Removes killer and thief flags from a player. #31 POOFINS POOFOUTS POOFS POOFINGS SET-POOFS BAMFIN BAMFOUT Usage: set self poofin set self poofout Sets the message seen by players when you use GOTO to move to a different room. POOFIN with no argument resets your poofin to the default "appears with an ear- splitting bang"; POOFOUT with no argument defaults to "disappears in a puff of smoke." Your current poofs can be viewed under the score command. See also: GOTO #31 PURGE DESTROY SACRIFICE UNLOAD DELETE-MOBILE DISINTEGRATE DECOMPOSE CLEANUP Usage: purge [target] Purge destroys things. If used with no arguments, it will clear a room of all mobiles and objects, but will not harm players. If the argument is an object, that object (and all of its contents, if any) will be destroyed. If the argument is a mobile, the mobile will be destroyed, leaving its inventory and equipment lying on the ground. Players can not be purged on TBA. Level 31 immortals can not use the purge command outside of their zone. Examples: > purge > purge sword > purge dragon Corpses decompose after 5 minutes. See also: %PURGE%, DC, LOAD, ZRESET, ZPURGE #31 RELOAD Usage: reload < '*' | all | file > Reload is used to reload text files such as the MOTD from disk into memory. reload * reloads all the text files below. Valid files are: background (/mud_dir/lib/text/background) credits (/mud_dir/lib/text/credits) greetings (/mud_dir/lib/text/greetings) handbook (/mud_dir/lib/text/handbook) help (/mud_dir/lib/text/help/help) ihelp (/mud_dir/lib/text/help/ihelp) immlist (/mud_dir/lib/text/immlist) imotd (/mud_dir/lib/text/imotd) news (/mud_dir/lib/text/news) motd (/mud_dir/lib/text/motd) info (/mud_dir/lib/text/info) policy (/mud_dir/lib/text/policies) wizlist (/mud_dir/lib/text/wizlist) xhelp (/mud_dir/lib/text/help/*) #31 REROLL Usage: reroll REROLL gives a player new stats (i.e., Str, Int, Wis, Dex, Con, and Cha) See also: STAT #31 RESTORE REVIVE Usage: restore RESTORE restores a player or mobile to full hit, mana, and movement points. Restore all will restore all players in the game. If used on immortals, it also sets all skill levels to 100%. #31 RETURN CHEATING CHEATS Usage: return Returns immortals to their regular body if switched into a mob. If not switched into a mob it will advance them to their original level. This is used by staff so they can test triggers as mortals. See also: SWITCH, TRIG-RETURN #31 SUNRISE SUNSET DAYLIGHT NIGHTTIME DAWN DUSK If you are outdoors you will see weather messages for the following times: 0500 The sun rises in the east. 0600 The day has begun. 2100 The sun slowly disappears in the west. 2200 The night has begun. If you want to make your own messages use trigedit and set the INDOORS roomflag so you don't receive the default messages. See also: WAITUNTIL, WEATHER #31 WHERE Usage: where Tells you the location of a monster, a player or an object. Mortals can only where monsters or players, and only from their own zone. Immortals may type 'where' without arguments to see where everybody is. Example: > where > where torch > where dragon #31 TIME TICKS Usage: time Gives you the current game time. tbaMUD uses zulu time 0-24 hours. There are 75 seconds per hour, 35 days per month, and 17 months per year. 1 MUD year takes about 12 days. /** Number of real life seconds per mud hour. @#define SECS_PER_MUD_HOUR 75 /** Real life seconds in one mud day. * Current calculation = 30 real life minutes. */ @#define SECS_PER_MUD_DAY (24*SECS_PER_MUD_HOUR) /** Real life seconds per mud month. * Current calculation = 17.5 real life hours */ @#define SECS_PER_MUD_MONTH (35*SECS_PER_MUD_DAY) /** Real life seconds per mud month. * Current calculation ~= 12.4 real life days */ @#define SECS_PER_MUD_YEAR (17*SECS_PER_MUD_MONTH) /* real-life time (remember Real Life?) */ @n#define SECS_PER_REAL_MIN 60 @n#define SECS_PER_REAL_HOUR (60*SECS_PER_REAL_MIN) @n#define SECS_PER_REAL_DAY (24*SECS_PER_REAL_HOUR) @n#define SECS_PER_REAL_YEAR (365*SECS_PER_REAL_DAY) See also: DATE, %TIME% #31 WIZUPDATE Usage: wizupdate This command forces the wizlist to be updated and will add everyone that does not have the flag NOWIZLIST set. See Also: NOWIZLIST #31 SET INVSTART NOWIZLIST Usage: set [ file | player ] SET is an extremely powerful command, capable of setting dozens of aspects of characters, both players and mobiles. SET PLAYER forces set to look for a player and not a mobile; useful for players with names such as 'guard'. SET FILE lets you change players who are not logged on. If you use SET FILE on a player who IS logged on, your change will be lost. If you wish to set a player who is in the game but is linkless, use set twice -- once with the FILE argument, and once without -- to make sure that the change takes. The following are valid fields: Field Level Required Who Value Type Description ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ac LVL_BUILDER BOTH NUMBER Armor class afk LVL_BUILDER BOTH NUMBER AFK flag age LVL_GOD BOTH NUMBER Character's age align LVL_BUILDER BOTH NUMBER Alignment bank LVL_BUILDER PC NUMBER Gold in bank brief LVL_GOD PC BINARY Brief mode cha LVL_BUILDER BOTH NUMBER Charisma class LVL_BUILDER BOTH MISC Class (W/T/C/M) color LVL_GOD PC BINARY COLOR flag con LVL_BUILDER BOTH NUMBER Constitution damroll LVL_BUILDER BOTH NUMBER Damage modifier deleted LVL_IMPL PC BINARY DELETED flag dex LVL_BUILDER BOTH NUMBER Dexterity drunk LVL_BUILDER BOTH MISC Drunkenness exp LVL_GOD BOTH NUMBER Experience points frozen LVL_FREEZE PC BINARY FROZEN flag gold LVL_BUILDER BOTH NUMBER Gold (On hand) height LVL_BUILDER BOTH NUMBER Height hitpoints LVL_BUILDER BOTH NUMBER Current HP hitroll LVL_BUILDER BOTH NUMBER To-Hit modifier hunger LVL_BUILDER BOTH MISC Hrs to hunger int LVL_BUILDER BOTH NUMBER Intelligence invis LVL_GOD PC NUMBER Invisible (level) invstart LVL_BUILDER PC BINARY Invisible Start killer LVL_GOD PC BINARY KILLER flag level LVL_GRGOD BOTH NUMBER Level loadroom LVL_BUILDER PC MISC Room to load in mana LVL_BUILDER BOTH NUMBER Current mana maxhit LVL_BUILDER BOTH NUMBER Max HP maxmana LVL_BUILDER BOTH NUMBER Max mana maxmove LVL_BUILDER BOTH NUMBER Max movement move LVL_BUILDER BOTH NUMBER Current movement name LVL_IMPL PC MISC To change player names nodelete LVL_GOD PC BINARY Undeletable flag nohassle LVL_GOD PC BINARY NOHASSLE flag nosummon LVL_BUILDER PC BINARY NOSUMMON flag nowizlist LVL_GRGOD PC BINARY Not Wizlistable flag olc LVL_GRGOD PC MISC Zone to OLC password LVL_GRGOD PC MISC Player password poofin LVL_IMMORT PC MISC Poofin poofout LVL_IMMORT PC MISC Poofout practices LVL_GOD PC NUMBER # of practices quest LVL_GOD PC BINARY QUEST flag questpoints LVL_GOD PC NUMBER Questpoints room LVL_BUILDER BOTH NUMBER Move to room sex LVL_GOD BOTH MISC Sex showvnums LVL_BUILDER PC BINARY ShowVnums siteok LVL_GOD PC BINARY SITEOK str LVL_BUILDER BOTH NUMBER Strength stradd LVL_BUILDER BOTH NUMBER Additional STR (18/xx) thief LVL_GOD PC BINARY THIEF flag thirst LVL_BUILDER BOTH MISC Hrs to thirst title LVL_GOD PC MISC Player's title variable LVL_GRGOD PC MISC Trigger variable weight LVL_BUILDER BOTH NUMBER Weight wis LVL_BUILDER BOTH NUMBER Wisdom See also: TRIG-SET, CLASS, STAT #31 SET-OLC Usage: set OLC <#> Valid numbers include zone numbers 0-655 and the following: AEDIT: 999 HEDIT: 888 ALL: 666 See Also: SET, ZEDIT-CREATE, AEDIT, HEDIT #31 SHOW-SHOPS SHOW-ZONES SHOWZONES SHOWSHOPS ZSTAT SHOW->ZONES Usage: show [argument] Show options: zones player rent stats errors death godrooms shops houses snoop The SHOW command displays information. Some modes of show require additional information, such as a player name. zones Shows all the zones in the game and their current reset status. An age of -1 means it is in the 'to be reset next' queue. Show Zone # will list specific information about that zone. Show Zone will list all zones by . death Shows all death traps in the game. player Shows player summary information, simply provide a player name. godrooms Shows the rooms in the 'god zone'. rent Shows the filename and path to a players rent file. shops Shows all the shops in the game and their buy/sell parameters. stats Shows game status information including players in game, mobs etc. houses Shows the houses that are currently defined. errors Shows errant rooms. snoop Shows all people currently snooping. Examples: show zone show shop See also: STAT, SLIST, ZRESET #31 COPYOVERS Usage: copyover COPYOVER is a warm reboot of a mud without having to logout and then log back in. You can stay connected and you will be automatically relogged in after a successful copyover. OLC is not autosaved for copyovers. WARNING: All objects dropped on the ground will get lost and aggro mobs will reappear just like any other zone reset or reboot. See Also: SHUTDOWN, AUTOSAVE #31 SHUTDOWNS Usage: shutdown [reboot | die | pause] [time] SHUTDOWN shuts the MUD down with the following different arguments. REBOOT Pause only 5 seconds instead of the normal 40 before trying to restart the MUD. OLC is auto-saved. DIE Kills the autorun script; the MUD will not reboot until autorun is explicitly run again. PAUSE Create a file called 'paused' in the root directory; do not try to restart the MUD until 'paused' is removed. TIME Time until reboot/shutdown. Omit to reboot/shutdown right away. See Also: COPYOVER, AUTOSAVE #31 SLOWNS SLOWNAMESERVER Usage: toggle slown The slowns command is deprecated after adding asynchronous host lookup. Huh? Slowns toggles whether or not IP addresses are resolved into readable site names. If slow nameserver is enabled, USERS will show only IP addresses. i.e. 128.123.222.111 and not ip.hr.hr.cox.net. See also: TOGGLE, USERS #31 SWITCH Usage: switch [target] SWITCH is used to take over the body of mobiles; useful for interactive adventures. If the monster in which you are switched is killed you will be returned to your own body. See also: RETURN, TRIG-SWITCH #31 SYSLOG SYSLOG-OFF LOGS SYSLOG-BRIEF SYSLOG-NORMAL NORMAL SYSLOG-COMPLETE AUTOLOG Usage: toggle syslog [ Off | Brief | Normal | On ] The SYSLOG command controls how detailed of an on-line system log you see. Messages surrounded by '[' and ']' are syslog messages and are in green if you have color on. The messages you receive are level dependent. Examples: > toggle syslog on - You will see all logs, spammy. > toggle syslog normal - You will see all the important stuff. > toggle syslog brief - You will see few logs. > toggle syslog off - You will see no logs. > toggle syslog - lets you know what your current setting is. See also: TOGGLE, COLOR, PRF #31 UNAFFECT Usage: unaffect [target] Removes all affections (i.e., spell effects) from a player. #31 UPTIME Usage: uptime Displays when the game was booted and calculates how long ago that was. Record uptime: tbaMUD 3.51 from crackwhip.com: Up since Fri Jun 27 07:04:55 2008: 209 days, 2:45 #31 USERS STATUS Usage: users [switches] USERS gives a list of all sockets (i.e., connections) currently active on the MUD. The multi-column display shows the socket number (used by DC), class, level, and name of the player connected, connection state, idle time, and hostname. The following switches are available: -k or -o Show only outlaws (killers and thieves). -p Show only sockets in the playing sockets. -d Show only non-playing (deadweight) sockets. -l min-max Show only sockets whose characters are from level min to max. -n Show the socket with associated with it. -h Show all sockets from . -c list Show only sockets whose characters' classes are in list. See also: DC, SLOWNS #31 VIRTUAL-NUMBERS RNUM Each room, mob, object, shop, and trigger within a zone is given a unique number called a Virtual Number or Vnum. These Vnums are independent, so there can be both a room number 1300, an object 1300, a mob, a shop, and a trigger. When defining and referencing parts of a zone builders always refers to each entity by its Vnum. Vnums are not seen by mortal players. Each zone also has a Vnum. The zone Vnum for any zone is simply the room, mob, object, shop, or trigger Vnum divided by 100. For example, The Builder Academy is zone 13, consisting of Vnums 1300 to 1399. tbaMUD worlds are divided into distinct sections called zones. Each zone typically consists of a single region of the MUD's virtual world with a consistent storyline. Each zone can define its own rooms, mobs, objects, shops, and triggers. A single zone typically contains 100 rooms, 100 mobs, 100 objects, 100 shops, and 100 triggers. If I made the Sword of Cheezy Destruction, I may decide to make it object vnum 1300 of my zone. The first two digits are the zone number of my area, the second two identify which item it is in that area. It would be zone 13, object 00 of 100 possible objects. However, never use any VNUM from someone else's zone without the permission of that person and the staff. See also: TERMINOLOGY, VNUM, SHOW-ZONES, AREAS #31 GCC Several people have problems with configuring tbaMUD in cygwin the first time. They will get an error saying "GCC could not be found" This means a C compiler was not installed because you failed to follow the directions under HELP CYGWIN. Reread them and add the compiler to the default download. See also: CYGWIN, README.CYGWIN #31 VSTATS MSTATS OSTATS RSTATS ROOM-STAT Usage: vstat < m | o | r | t | s | z > Used to stat a mobile or object by its virtual number. Examples: > vstat o 27 > vstat m 27 > vstat z 1 See also: LOAD, STAT, VNUM, TSTAT #31 WIZHELP WIZCOMMANDS WIZ-COMMANDS WIZ-MENU IMMCOMMANDS Usage: wizhelp Gives a list of the special commands available to you or the name you provide. The following wizard commands are implemented with level in the brackets: [31]; [31]dig [31]invis [31]olist [31]roomflags [32]tcopy [31]vstat [33]advance [31]echo [32]last [32]pardon [31]saveall [33]tedit [31]wiznet [32]aedit [34]export [32]links [31]peace [32]scopy [32]teleport [31]wizhelp [31]at [32]file [31]load [34]plist [31]sedit [33]thaw [34]wizlock [31]attach [32]force [32]mcopy [31]purge [32]send [31]tlist [33]wizupdate [33]ban [33]freeze [31]medit [34]qecho [32]set [32]transfer [31]zcheck [31]buildwalk [32]gecho [31]mlist [31]qedit [31]show [31]trigedit [31]zedit [34]cedit [31]goto [33]mute [31]qlist [34]shutdow [31]tstat [31]zlist [34]changelog [31]handbook [31]nohassle [32]rcopy [34]shutdown [32]unaffect [32]zlock [32]checkload [33]hcontrol [33]notitle [31]redit [32]skillset [33]unban [31]zpurge [33]copyover [32]hedit [31]nowiz [34]reload [31]slist [31]uptime [31]zreset [31]date [34]helpcheck [32]ocopy [33]reroll [32]snoop [32]users [32]zunlock [32]dc [31]holylight [31]oedit [31]restore [31]stat [32]vdelete [31]detach [31]imotd [31]olc [31]rlist [32]switch [31]vnum @RHELP @n #31 ZLOCK Usage: zlock zlock list Locks a zone so that building or editing is not possible. The 'list' shows all currently locked zones. 'zlock all' will lock every zone with the GRID flag set. 'zlock all all' will lock every zone in the MUD. See also: ZUNLOCK #31 ZUNLOCK Usage: zunlock zunlock list Unlocks a 'locked' zone to allow building or editing. The 'list' shows all currently unlocked zones. 'zunlock all' will unlock every zone in the MUD. See also: ZLOCK #31 WIZLOCK Usage: wizlock [value] WIZLOCK allows you to restrict the game. WIZLOCK 1 prevents new characters from being created. WIZLOCK n, 2 <= n <= 0, prevents new characters and allows only characters level n and above to log on. WIZLOCK with no argument displays the current WIZLOCK level. See also: BAN #31 WIZNET ; WIZTALK WIZTELL WIZCHAT WIZLINE SEMICOLON IMMCHAT The immortal communication channel which is the only channel visible in OLC. Usage: wiznet [ # ] [ | * | @@ ] Examples: >wiznet - just sends text. >; - ; is short for wiznet. >; @@ - shows all gods that are on and visible to you. - also shows if the gods who are visible to you are writing. >;# - sends text to everyone and above. - ;#32 only level 32 and above will see this. See also: NOWIZ #31 ZRESETS RESETS ZONE-RESETS ZONERESETS POPS REPOPS SPAWN RE-POPS ZONEREBOOTS REFRESH ZONE-LOADS ZEDIT_RESET ZONE_RESET LOAD-ZONE LOADZONE LOAD_ZONE Usage: zreset This command is used to execute all zedit commands in a zone. Such as loading mobs, objects, and closing doors. This is normally done once a zone reaches its lifespan (set in zedit) but can be done manually with this command. See also: ZPURGE, SHOW ZONES #31 POWER GOD-EQUIPMENT GODEQUIPMENT IMMWEAPON ULTIMATE UBER The majority of new builders begin by creating themselves the ultimate weapon and armor. Go ahead if you must but it is pointless. As an immortal you no longer need them. Creating the perfect items with every affection is a complete waste of everyone's time. It will not be allowed into a balanced game and will have to be redone. This is typical of people who are power hungry and are building for themselves and not for others. That is not a sign of a good builder (see @RHELP BUILDER@n). #31 IMMS WIZLIST IMMORTALS IMMLIST IMMORTALITY DEMIGOD ASSISTANTS LESSER GREATER GODS ADMINS Usage: wizlist | immlist Lists the most powerful beings on the MUD. These are the people responsible for administering the system. See also: IMPLEMENTOR #31 SKILLSET SETSKILL Usage: skillset '' This command sets the specified skill or spell to a percentage learned value 1-100%. Skills and spells are based on class and level. skillset rumble 'magic missile' 100 See also: SET, SKILLS, SPELLS #31 FILES FILE-GODCMDS FILE-LEVELS Usage: file