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Intro
Contrary to popular belief (and some horrible stereotypes) Role Playing Games (RPGs) do not involve a bunch of nerds sitting around a table playing Dungeons & Dragons (It's a bunch of nerds each sitting at there own computer terminal playing Dungeons & Dragons over a network :) ). RPGs are basically on-line communities now-adays, although you can still purchase classic D&D. You can move around in a virtual environment containing rooms, buildings, animals and ... well, anything the real world contains.
MUDs are the most common form of RPG. Users (hence known as "players")
move around a virtual environment, whether it be a forest, a castle, city
or whatever. RPGs run on a command-based interface, similar to that of DOS.
The MUD interface works on "verbal" commands. If you want to move north, type north, very
logical. Whatever you want to do, type it in. Even if the interface does not recognise the
command you entered, all it does is tell you exactly that, usually in the form of a "What?" or an
"Oi! You can't do that!" or whatever. By typing who
you can see who else is logged on at
the moment, or by fingering someone (I know it sounds disgusting) you can find out some more
info about that person. See also Communication -
Movement
Races work much the same way as human 'races'. You have Greeks, Asians, Swedes, Americans,
Australians etc. Each group has their own physical attributes which tells them apart from others.
Except maybe the Americans or Australians, you can't pick them until you hear their accent.
But in MUDs races work much the same way, you get to choose what race you want to be. Each has
different advantages and disadvantages. On ProphecyMUD, there are many to choose from, but the
best way to check it out is at the Prophecy
Website. Just click on the race you would like to know about and off ya go! Statistics, initially, are pre-determined by whatever race you are, but as time goes on, as
humans can improve through knowledge, on MUDs your statistics may improve through advancement
(See also levels - Experience). By typing stats
at the command prompt, you will see an itemised list of what statistic has what value, for
example Strength - 23 Wisdom - 18 Dexterity - 19 Constitution - 22 Intelligence - 26 Charisma - 20 Experience points are collected over a period of time in exchange for
training skills, or advancing to the next level. They are earned by
engaging in combat. The amount of experience points (exp or xp as it is
referred to online) you earn for killing a monster depends on how
difficult the monster is to kill. Someone who is of a reasonably low level
who attacks and kills a monster which is of a slightly higher level than them will
earn much more experience points than a person of a high level attacks the same monster.
By using the score command, you will be able to see how many experience points you have
collected, and how many more will enable you to advance to the next level
Skills are learnt. Any race can have any skill, but the skills that you have _are_ dependant
on what class you are in. For example, Warriors would not know the first
thing about stealing, but they would know about attacking and rogues or thieves would not know
the first thing about spell casting, but they would know how to pick a lock.
Experience points are exchanged for a training session. You can chose how many points you
wish to spend on a training session. You can train at your class hall, by typing
train skill amount in the training room. For example,
train attack 50. Obviously the more you spend the more you will be able to
train and advance in that skill. By typing skills at the command prompt, you will see an
itemised list of what skills you have, followed by a number indicating what level you
are in that skill. Guilds, or classes as they are known on
ProphecyMUD can be though of as clubs. Just as joining a club or group in real life can have
advantages, and disadvantages in your life. Joining a class can have both positive and negative
aspects. By joining a class, you are choosing to _specialise_ in your abilities. Rogues, for example
are masters of theivery, stealth, and trickery. Warriors are masters of the armed combats. Magus' (or
is that Magii?) are masters of the magical arts. Each class has it's advantages. Magus' usually can be
very powerful in attack spells, therefore enforcing more damage in combat, and also in defense spells,
creating a shield around their body or whatever. Rogues usually become very rich very quick, relying on
their theivery and stealth skills to steal from their opponents, or skulk through the shadows. Warriors
use their brute force to inflict damage in combat. You can join a class by locating their guild hall.
Once located, you just simply type join in this room to join the ranks of that
class. Spells usually refer to the magical arts, but in MUDs, spells can refer to any ability that is unique
to a particular class. Spell commands are entered by name (e.g zap briargh, steal sword from briargh, mend
briargh etc). For help on spells, refer to the help
system on the MUD. To move in the MUD environment, you simply type which direction you want to go. by typing the word look
in a room, you will see a brief description of the appearance of the room you are in, plus a list of
possible exits, or doorways, listed by direction. To move through an exit, type the direction it is in
For example: To communicate in a MUD, whether it be to an individual, or group of people, is fairly easy. For example, you might have a screen
that looks something like this if you are in a room with four other people The way to communicate over a channel works in exactly the same way as the say and shout commands. Type the name of the channel
(as a command) followed by what you want to say to every one else listening in (e.g newbie Can anyone help me?
- or - rogue Lets all gang up on Dilwad).
Very simple! Remember, on the rogue channel, for example, only rogues can listen to that channel, newbie channel is generally for newbies (level 8
and below, generally) to communicate with each other and even get help off a High Mortal (level 40 +) if one is listening to the channel. Okay, you're stuck in a dark alley with a huge ugly troll (or ex-girlfriend, whichever the case may be). What do you need? A weapon!. Weapons are
essential on MUDs. Trust me, you wont survive long without one or four. Different weapons have different strengths. (For example, a butter knife really
wouldn't do much damage compared to a sledge hammer). Weapons are divided into a few basic categories, blunt, knife, blade, two handed. Each is pretty
self explanatory. Each category requires training in that area, you need to train in blunt to be able to use a blunt weapon effectively, etc. When
engaging in combat, you must be armed, and protected as well. Some weapons will be too heavy for you to carry, or you wont be
a high enough level to hold (weild) them. If you don't remember to weild your weapon, you wont be using it, just simply carrying it, and you'll
be fighting barehanded. Weild your weapon by typing wield weapon in right hand. Obviously, you put in the name
of your own weapon (hammer, sword etc) in there and left or right hand, whichever you prefer. Can you imagine a police officer going to a hostage situation without a bullet proof vest on? Well, I can't imagine going into battle without a suit
of armour on. Armour comes in many different forms, platemail, scalemail, boots, helmets, hats, vests, gloves etc etc. All protects you, but obviously
a t-shirt is not going to protect you as much as a suit of knight's armour would. So be sure to get well protected. Some armour will be too heavy for
you to hold, or you wont be able to wear it because your level is not high enough, but always remember to wear your armour, if you don't wear it,
you will just simply be carrying it and it won't do squat. As is in the real world, there is alot of money out there to be had. And, you also have different currencies, although you don't have DeustchMarks in MUD.
You have Platinum, Silver, Gold and Copper. Some shops and bars will not accept certain currencies. You also have a bank, where you can ssave your money in
an account so that some rogue doesn't come along and steal your 100,000 gold. You can not only bank your money, but you can exchange it as well. Visit the First
Prophecy Bank for details. There are also shops, pedelling all sorts of goods, from food, to bags, weapons, armours, objects (like jewels etc) potions, etc.
In order to purchase something from the shop, you will first have to chose what you want to buy. Type list and this will show you what the shopkeep has
in stock. From the list, decide what you want to buy. Now, type money, to see what money you have on you. It won't do you any good sitting in the bank!
Well, if you don't have the right money on you, you will have to go and withdraw it from the bank. And if you don't have it in the bank, live with it. You
will have to do without your new goods from the shop unless you can get someone else to get it for you. When you are in combat, damage inflicted in measured in HitPoints. by typing hp anytime, you can find out how many hitpoints you have currently. In battle, one of you is going to get slaughtered. Whether it is you or your opponent is dependent on alot of things. Mostly, stats, skills and level play a big part.
Also, the choice of weapon will also affect it. Whenever you start a new character, you should always start off in the newbie area (every mud has one). The monsters here
are relatively easy to kill for low levellers. After this, go anywhere you please, but have your wits about you. To initiate the attack, you simply have to kill them, or another extremely
fun way to initiate combat (for rogues only) is to backstab, by far my favourite ability ever. When in combat, you will see something like this... Some common MUD jargon:
The 6 statistics (the are generally the same on almost all MUDs) are strength, constitution,
wisdom, dexterity, charisma and intelligence
You stand at the bottom of a stairway in the north tower of the Castle of Death. You hear the ominous sound of dripping water
somewhere in the distance, also an occasional deep, gutteral moan. The walls are made of old sandstone bricks,
and torches lining the walls give an eerie light.
Obvious exits are: up, east and north
Seem simple enough? Well, it is. Usual exits in MUDs are north, northeast, east, southeast, south, southwest,
west, northwest, up and down. These are abbreviated to n, ne, e, se, s, sw, w, nw, u and d. Simple!
You stand in the town center, a busy center of commerce and entertainment. Exits lead off in all directions, and you see mountains in
the distance to the north.
Obvious exits are: north, northeast, east, southeast, south, southwest, west, and northwest
Briargh the immortal being
Rose among the thorns
Maddock the Rogue
Phantom the Warrior
If you want to say something so everyone in the room can hear it, simply type this:
say This is going to be heard by everyone in the room
Of course, you can type anything you want in there, just type say
followed by what you want to say. If you want to say something to someone in the same room as you, but you dont
want anyone else to hear
what you say, or if you want to say something to someone who is _not_ in the same room as you, tell them!
tell rose hey! how have you been?
Obviously, you can replace rose with whoever's name you want, and the
sentence as well, just remember - tell person sentence
If you want to say something so that absolutely _everyone_ on the whole MUD can hear you, then you need to shout it to the world.
shout Hey! What would you know?
Beware, shouting uses stamina points, so use it discreetly.
Another form of communication is through channels. Think of channels as communal telephone lines, where other people can listen in. The purpose
of these channels? So that, for example, warriors can plot an attack against the rogues, without anyone else besides warriors will know about it.
Or so Rogues can plan to loot the warrior's guild hall etc etc etc (actually, this is not possible). Common channels are based on class
(e.g warrior, rogue, magus), or race (e.g orc, half-elf, elf, draken etc), or level (e.g channel newbie, hm (High Mortal), wiz
(For Immortals only) ).
HP: 103/200 SP: 150/150 MP: 103/150
The display shows Your current hitpoints out of your maximum. If you take damage, and you lose too many hitpoints, you will die, in which case you have to go to the
church as a ghost and pray. Stamina is basically how much energy you have left. If you go scooting off around the MUD too quickly,
you will wear yourself out,
in which case you have to just rest and wait for you to regain your breath. If you cast alot of spells in a row, you will drain your ManaPoints. Mana is the amount
of magical energy you have left. Any class has ManaPoints, but some just never use them.
Here comes the fun part! Monsters (also referred to as mobs, and npc's). Monsters are not _actually_ monsters like trolls or whatever. Well, they are, but not always.
Monsters are any living thing on the MUD, that isn't a player, basically. They can be cute, fluffy little bunny wabbits, or cats, or humans, or faeries, or trolls, orcs
etc etc etc You will know when you have located a monster: For example:
You are standing in the torture room of the castle. This is a dank, and uninviting place. All sorts of devices like the rack, and chains adorn the walls and corners
of this room.
Obvious exits are: west
A big ugly troll
That seems pretty simple, right? Well, now that you've found the monster, what do you do? Well, first of all, the best thing to do is to query troll (If it's
not aggressive and hasn't attacked and killed you already). This will tell you what sort of threat the troll is to you.
Troll is a 1.265 threat to you
Generally, a threat of 1.000 is a monster that is evenly matched to you, anything below 1.000, you are stronger than it. Anything
over 1.000 would kick the shit out of you. Next thing to do is double check that you are armed and protected if necessary, and then ....
You missed Troll.
Troll missed you.
You scratched Troll's left arm.
Troll hit your left leg.
HP: 190/200 SP: 150/150 MP: 150/150
You cast cone of cold!
Your magic pummels Troll's head.
Troll scratches your right arm.
HP: 184/200 SP: 150/150 MP: 150/150
Well, I think you get the idea. Eventually, you should see a message on the screen notifying you that Troll drops dead before you.
Other types of RPG include MOOs and MUSHes, MOO stands for Multi User Dungeon Object Orientated. Commands in a MOO
interface are usually preceded by a @. For example, @who, @quit, etc. But not always ... refer to help systems online
for help on using these MOOs. Moos do not usually include RPG as such (battle, armours etc) MOOs are just a place for
people to gather, talk, and have fun. One of the most well known moos abides at
lambda.moo.mud.org 8888 and is called LambdaMOO. There _is_ an RPG area on there, you just have to ask around about it.
MUSHes, well I dont even know _what_ that stands for, but I _do_ know that MUDs are better :)
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