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What's new in the expansion of the original? Each section has been rewritten, and some sections re-organized. However, some new sections were added about character reports and talking to staff, joining clans and getting jobs, hunting, ranged weapons, and an improved What Do I Know, with common slang and uniforms and so much more! As a bonus feature, at the very end I've included THE ULTIMATE CHEATSHEET and some sample builds.

Image Credits: The images used here for the most part are available here and I have used external links to embed them. Credit is given in the footnotes below each image. However, if you would like an image removed (or have an image you'd like used) please do not hesitate to ask: nauta @ gdb. I consider the images placeholders until I can reach out and ask permission from the artists if this ever becomes something more permanent.

Updates:

• added How do I create a character? - 03/16/2018
• added How do I plot? - 03/15/2018
• made Keywords its own section How do I target things? - 03/15/2018
• improved How do I craft? - 03/14/2018
• added How do I spar? - 03/14/2018
• added How do I buy & ride a mount - 03/13/2018
• updated How do I hunt & explore - 03/13/2018
• moved FAQ/What do I Know? to the top - 03/13/2018
• added Lostinspace's Advanced Combat - 03/12/2018
• added Cheatsheet - 03/10/2018
• added Sample Builds - 03/10/2018
• added What do I know? - 03/10/2018
• added How do I use a ranged weapon? - 03/10/2018
• added How do I hunt? - 03/10/2018
• added How do I get a job or join a clan? - 03/10/2018
• added How do I talk to staff? - 03/10/2018

Welcome to ArmageddonMUD!

Welcome to ArmageddonMUD! You've read through the vast docs, figured out what telnet is --- and downloaded a new telnet client --- created an account, applied for a character, and got accepted. (If you haven't done this yet, head to Appendix A: How do I create my first character?)

Yay! What now? This guide will walk you through the next steps as a brand new player, although you might find information in here of help for more veteran players too! Let's start with getting help, then talk about what your character knows, then move on to the guide itself.

How do I get help?

We are a very friendly and open community (outside our characters, of course) and we offer several ways for you the new player to get help:

• We have the helper chat on the main website and #help in our discord channel --- so feel free to ask for help outside the game itself!

• The documentation itself (which you can search on the main website or access via the >help command) is designed to give you as much information as you need as a player to stay in character and roleplay. I recommend you check out these:

-- What You Know,

-- Walkthrough,

-- >help newbie,

-- >help beginner,

-- >help FAQ.

• You can use the >ooc command to ask for help inside the game. Example:

>ooc Hi! New player here! How do I sheathe my sword?

What are the rules?

If you check out >help rules you'll notice that there is a lot of emphasis on staying in character. What does this mean?

ArmageddonMUD is focused on roleplay: it is a requirement. We prefer to stay in character and not reveal very much at all outside the game about plots, characters, and so on. This is important to us, the players, and is not just a rule from staff. Why? Let me try to explain some of the reasoning behind it:

Some of you might be coming from a more MUSH-like environment, where you collaborate in an open out of character fashion with fellow players about the plotlines and your character motivations. On ArmageddonMUD, however, we prefer to have the player see things only from the perspective of their characters, as much as possible, and we rely on the code and staff to make sure that actions have actual consequences rather than ooc agreement between players. Hence, we prefer very limited ooc communication while inside the game (see >help ooc), and we also prefer the policy of "show-don't-tell" with emotes: try to show us what your character is up to rather than telling us, e.g., emote frowns rather than emote is sad.

Others of you might be coming from a more Hack & Slash MUD environment, and so are used to seeing all the stats, AC values, etc. and min-maxing those, and so on. However, on ArmageddonMUD most of the stats are hidden from you the player. This is to help you stay immersed and focus on your character's goals. As well, this is more realistic: after all, in real life you don't know how many armor points a particular piece of armor gives you; rather you have to find that out through experience. So too in the game. Roleplay a person first, and the skills are there under the hood and in the background to provide coded consequences to the actions you perform.

This all may take some adjustment, and that's fine! Nobody will leap on you if you make a mistake and there are plenty of ways to get help outside the game! We were all new players once before.

What do I know? Plus: Common slang!

Oh, so you've already had a look at What You Know, and still want to know what you would know? Here are some thing we think a new character in Allanak would know. Please note the additions in bold.

What Would You Know

• Please note that Tuluk is CLOSED to PC play. It still exists in a virtual sense, but it is not a place that you can play as a PC.

• Anyone in any position of power is almost certainly corrupt and everyone knows it.

• Militia soldiers (who also act as the city's police force) are paid a pittance and yet live fairly well. Everyone assumes this is because they are corrupt and taking bribes.

• No one in their right mind in either city-state would openly complain about any type of corruption in the militia or templarate. In Tuluk, those who do simply vanish without a trace. In Allanak, those who do are generally publicly tortured.

• People are (rightfully) frightened of the templarate in
  both cities. In Allanak, it would be wise to bow to templars and nobles.

• Constant displays of ferocious violence in Allanak keep pretty much everyone quiet in public. Those who are captured and value their lives generally know that both bribes and shows of respect for their captors are their
  only hope of survival.

• Modern concepts of fair trials and justice are
  simply nonexistent in Zalanthas. If you are accused, you are guilty until someone important decides you might be useful. It doesn't really matter if you did it or not.

• Luir's Outpost is a place that people from either Allanak or Tuluk might visit, as well as many tribal peoples. In recent times, the other Great Merchant Houses (Salarr, Kadius, and Nenyuk) together with Kurac have established a militia of sorts at the Outpost, known as the Garrison.

• Literacy is illegal or unknown for most people on the face of Zalanthas. It is considered treason for common citizens to possess such knowledge within the city-states of Zalanthas.

• Women and men are equal on Zalanthas. There is no sexism on Zalanthas; women and men are treated equally.

• Zalanthans tend to be very xenophobic, both with respect to other species, and with respect to those outside their city and/or tribe. Humans, for instance, distrust elves, and elves, in return, view humans as inferior. However, racism, in the modern sense, is non-existent in Zalanthas.

• Zalanthas is a world where sorcerer-kings and their ruthless servants, the Templarate, govern the two main cities, Allanak and Tuluk. Any magick not granted by the Kings is feared and hated, and the punishment of such a curse might be death.

• See the chronology page for more historical events. (Each real life year is about 8.5 Zalanthan years, so 1633 is roughly 2014.)

Common Slang

In addition to the above brief points, which are expanded upon in the various help files and documentation, what follows is a list of common terms, as well as common uniforms or livery associated with different Houses or groups that your character would likely recognize:

Related to magick (see >help magick)

Common terms dealing with out of character things

Common terms

Common terms for citizens of Allanak

Common uniforms/liveries

In addition to the above, most groups have a recognizable livery or uniform:

a hooded, red-trimmed black duster - Luir's Outpost Garrison
a hooded, coal-black sandcloth dustcloak - Kurac
a hooded, dun-colored dustcloak - Kurac
a long, crested ebon/grey silk dustcloak - Salarr
an orange cloth epaulette - Salarr
a formal grey collar - Salarr
a black leather and steel-grey sandcloth greatcloak - Salarr
an oiled, decorated leather aba - Kadius
a pair of blue and purple armbands - Kadius
a gemstone-embroidered sandcloth djellabah - Kadius
a hooded brown military aba - T'zai Byn
a pair of one-striped studded sleeves - T'zai Byn Trooper
a pair of two-striped studded sleeves - T'zai Byn Sergeant
a leather collar with the sigil - Gladiator (the sigil is that of their owning House)
a black leather patch with a jade cross - Arm of the Dragon a hooded black militia dustcloak - standard militia uniform (Arm of the Dragon)
a grey, wyvern-adorned hooded aba - Borsail
a hooded, crimson linen aba - Borsail
a hooded, black and azure aba - Oash
various scorpion-emblazoned cloaks - Tor
a white and grey bisht - Atrium (see House Terash)

But I Would Know So Much More...

We've tried to balance the above so as not to overwhelm you. You'll find that almost everything you would know is in the help files.

However, there are some things that you just won't know. This isn't to be unfair, but it is the nature of the RPI genre. For instance, you won't know what the exact terrain is like, but see the various help files on Geography. You won't know the stats of animals, but see the various help files on Animal Life. You won't know where to buy poisons, or where to find a water source in the desert, and so on.

What do I do first?

As you enter the game, with your character, you will be in an out-of-character (OOC) room called The Hall Of Kings. In this room, you can purchase scars for your character, and you must pick the starting city for your character. As a new player to ArmageddonMUD, it is highly suggested to pick Allanak. You do this by typing >point allanak. You will be transported to rooms with shopkeepers that can sell your new character starter clothes to make your character more unique so new characters don't always start with the same equipment. See How do I buy and sell things, and how do I equip myself? below on buying items in the Bazaar.

score

Type >score. It will look something like this:

You are Malik
Keywords: tall muscular man
Sdesc: the tall, muscular man
Objective:
Long Description:
Code Generated Long Description.
You are 25 years, 0 months, and 5 days old, which by your race and appearance is adult.
You are 70 inches tall, and weigh 7 ten-stone.
Your strength is average, your agility is average average, your wisdom is average, and your endurance is average.
You are neither hungry nor thirsty.
Your health is 100(100), you have 120(120) stamina, and 100(100) stun.

You have been playing for 0 days and 0 hours.
You are standing.
You are currently speaking sirihish with a northern accent.

You are typing >score to check out your stats. Your stats are randomly rolled, but you can set a priority to which ones should be higher than another when you created the character. If you are unhappy with your score, you are given one chance to reroll them. Rerolls can only happen within the first 2 hours of gameplay. Check out >help reroll.

Your stats are affected by your age. If you make a very young character, you will have lower endurance, lower strength, and lower wisdom. If you make a very old character, you will have lower strength, lower agility, and lower endurance. As a Zalanthan year passes (6 real life weeks), your character will age, and there is a chance to increase / decrease your stats, automatically. I suggest to make your first couple characters about 20 to 30 years old.

If your stats are like this:

Your strength is poor, your agility is above average, your wisdom is below average, and your endurance is poor.

I suggest to reroll. If your stats are like this:

Your strength is above average, your agility is exceptional, your wisdom is poor, and your endurance is absolutely incredible.

I suggest to stay.

Stats affect your hit points, your movement points, your stun points, how much weight you can carry, how many items you can carry in your inventory, how hard you hit in combat, how frequently you hit in combat, and how frequently you can learn your skills. The rank in stats is this, from worst to best:

• poor
• below average
• average
• above average
• good
• very good
• extremely good
• exceptional
• absolutely incredible

Stats are relative to your race. A half-giant
with poor strength will have a better
strength than an elf with good
strength. A half-giant with
exceptional wisdom will
have worse wisdom
than a
human with
below average
wisdom.






Once you are satisfied with
rerolling or not, you should
try and understand more
about your score.

Keywords: tall muscular man

Characters interact with other characters using your keywords. This character's keywords are Malik, tall, muscular, and man. If I wanted to attack you, I would type >kill malik or >kill tall or >kill man. If I wanted to give you an object, like a ginka fruit, I would type >give ginka muscular. The ginka fruit's keywords are ginka and fruit.

You can add more keywords to your character, but you cannot remove keywords. People would add keywords if they wanted to create a nickname for themselves or if they wanted to have a different name in a different city. Check out >help addkeyword for more information.

Sdesc: the tall, muscular man

This is your short description. This is how your character will be seen throughout the game. This does not change, although there are items in the game that can 'mask' it, such as facewraps, masks, and hoods. Simply wearing a mask or a facewrap will change your short description. You will need to raise a hood and lower a hood to change your description, if you're wearing a piece of clothing with a hood, like a cloak. Check out >help hood. Suppose you are wearing an item called 'a dark hooded cloak'. You type >raise hood:

The tall, muscular man raises the hood of a dark, hooded cloak.

Your short description to everybody in the game is now the figure in a dark, hooded cloak. This is also relative to the size of a person, compared to you. All elves are taller and thinner than humans, so if an elf is wearing a dark, hooded cloak they will look like this to a human: the very tall and thin figure in a dark, hooded cloak.

Objective:

The objective is a short, OOC or out-of-character reference to what you want to accomplish with the character. It is entirely optional. To modify your objective, you need to use the >change objective command.

Long Description: Code Generated

This is how your character is seen when people are in the same room as you, and they type >look. "Code Generated" means it has a default one, depending on your situation. Some examples are:

the tall, muscular man is standing here.
the tall, muscular man is sleeping here.
the tall, muscular man is resting here.
the tall, muscular man is fighting the lanky, hunched-backed gith.
the tall, muscular man sitting at a long, scarred bar of agafari wood.

You can change this, to be more descriptive as to the actions that you are doing, and to the positions you are within the room. To change it, you need to use the >change ldesc command. Some examples are:

>change ldesc is sitting at a table, relaxed in his seat
>change ldesc sits, playing dice with other patrons
>change ldesc has his arms crossed, leaning against a wall
>change ldesc stands near the red-haired woman

If you walk to another room, or change position, such as sitting or standing, this will reset your long description. If you type >stand while already in the standing position, this will reset your long description to be the default one, which is, "is standing here." You can also type: >change ldesc none to reset it.

You are 25 years, 0 months, and 5 days old, which by your race and appearance is adult.

This is your age. In Zalanthas, there is 3 months in a year, and 231 days in a month. The different races have different ages. Elves live longer than humans, so an elf who is 25 is still considered YOUNG compared to a human who is 25. Do consider this when looking at your stats, too.

You are neither hungry nor thirsty.

You will need to find food and water to eat. We talk about this more in the section How do I find food and water? below.

Your health is 100(100), you have 120(120) stamina, and 100(100) stun.

Health is pretty simple across all games. As your health decreases to 0, you will be wounded critically, and cannot move, fight, or much else. If your health reaches -10 or below, you will die. Forever.

Movement is different, as it affects how far you can travel. As you move from room to room, it may take a toll on your movement points. If you are encumbered, you will lose more movement points per room. If you are traveling outside, you will lose movement points per room. If you reach 0, you cannot move. If you are at 1, and it requires 2 movement points to reach the next room, you will not move. Your stamina can change depending on the clothing you wear. If it's desert clothes, it may go up. If it's silks, it may go down. Remember, Zalanthas is a desert world. You must be sitting, resting, or in a sleeping position to regain movement points. You will only be at maximum movement points if you sleep. If you sit or rest, you will regenerate movement points until you're about 95% of your maximum.

Stun is your mental capacity. If your stun reaches 0, you will be knocked out, and require someone and something to wake you up. This is smelling salts, which can be purchased in the major cities. You will lose stun if you get hit with blunt objects while fighting, like bare fists, or bludgeoning items, like clubs. You will also lose stun as you use psionics. Everybody in Zalanthas can use "the way", which is the ability to talk to people over distances, sending messages to them. As you try and contact people, and send messages, this uses a bit of stun points each time. Be careful, or you may be knocked out. You will regenerate stun points at any position, be that standing or sitting, but you will regenerate faster if you are resting and sleeping.

You have been playing for 0 days and 0 hours.

There is a clock as to how long you've been logged in. I believe the average stat for most characters is 3 days played before they die. Some characters have 20 days played. Some very rare characters have 100 days played. Personally, I've played 68 characters, with the longest being 72 days played, then 50 days played, then 38 days played, then 33 days played, over my 10 years of playing the game.

You are currently speaking sirihish with a northern accent.

Zalanthas has different languages. Sirihish is the common language. To change your language, you need to type >change language allundean. You must have different languages in your skills to change to. You can learn other languages by listening to people speak it. This takes a long time to learn. Zalanthas also has different accents, depending on where your character grew up. Tuluk people have a northern accent, and Allanak people have a southern accent. To change your accent, you need to type >change accent tribal. Like languages, you need to
have the skill to change
accents, and you can
learn new accents by
listening to people
speak them. This also
takes a long time to
learn.

stat

There's another command that tells you more information about your character: >stat. It's sister command is >score discussed above.

>stat
Your encumbrance is manageable.
You are:
Relationship to the land is neutral.
You are currently speaking sirihish with a northern accent.
Your mood is neutral.
You are standing.
You are refusing saves on: arrest.
You are not being merciful.
You aren't watching anything in particular.

Your encumbrance is manageable.

As you carry more and more things, your encumbrance becomes heavier and heavier. This affects your movement points as you walk room to room, if you are VERY HEAVY or carrying more than that. Also, encumbrance affects combat, negatively, if you are carrying too much stuff.

You are:

This will show what clans or tribes you are in. This is blank because I am not in a clan or a tribe right now. See How do I join a clan or get a job? below.

Relationship to the land is neutral.

Relationship to the land is a status that is mostly used for Sorcerers, and it affects how they gather their mana. You don't need to worry about it, since you don't have mana nor do you have spells with your characters.

Your mood is neutral.

You can change the 'mood' of your character, using the >change mood command. Some examples are:

>change mood pissed off
>change mood angry
>change mood happy

This is just a roleplay tool to help you "get into the mood" of your character. It doesn't do much, other than help you feel how your character feels. Don't worry, I forget about the command too!

You are standing.

This is your position. You can >stand, >sit, >rest, or >sleep. Sitting, resting, and sleeping help you restore movement points.

You are refusing saves on: arrest.

Like in Dungeons and Dragons, there are such things as "Saving Throws". Saving Throws are automatically coded, and they help you succeed against certain coded aspects of the game. Some examples are theft, the subdue skill, and some magick spells. A saving throw is your resistance to these actions.

You can turn on the ability to automatically fail at something. This sounds silly for some reason, but there are some moments when you are playing, when you don't want to automatically resist. The biggest example of this is >nosave arrest, which is actually turned on for every new character. The benefit of this is that if you do something 'bad', you won't automatically resist being subdued by the soldiers, thus making the soldiers to then try and kill you. To see all of these, type >nosave. Here is the current list of options for nosave:

>nosave
status : Show status of nosave options (this message)
off : Attempt all saving throws.
all : Fail all saving throws.
arrest : Not resisting arrest.
climb : Not intentionally failing at climbing.
magick : Resisting magickal spells.
psionics : Resisting psionic abilities.
skills : Resisting mundane skills.
subdue : Resisting subdue attempts.
theft : Resisting theft attempts.

It will also show the nosave flags that you have turned on when you type >stat.

You are not being merciful.

This is a combat thing. See below How do I engage in combat and kill stuff?

You aren't watching anything in particular.

This relates to the skill watch. You can watch people by typing >watch person.

How do I stop playing?

Just type >quit to stop playing. You must be in certain rooms of the game to log out. Most of these rooms are in Taverns, or Buildings. You can tell if you can quit, by the line in the room title that says, [Quit].

Example:

The Gladiator and the Gaj Tavern -- Public Dormitory [W Quit]

This spacious chamber provides a place for the public to sleep for free. The floor is covered with tens of soiled, greasy blankets and makeshift beds provided by their occupants. Crude insignia and drawings have been scrawled on the agafari walls, etched with knifepoint or drawn with charcoal. The stench of unwashed humanoid bodies mingles with the tantalizing scent of cooked meat wafting in from the bar and restaurant to the west. The carru-hide tarp hanging over the archway to the west hardly muffles the dull roar of the crowd. Though the conditions in the dormitory are quite dingy, it is certainly better than sleeping on the dangerous streets of Allanak.

As you can see, in the room's title, it says [W Quit]. That means that this room, you can log out in it, when you type >quit. You can also move west into another room.

How can I tell who is a NPC and who is a PC?

This is tricky for new players, as you're exploring, and finding NPCs (Non-Player Characters) everywhere. You're not used to them being in the similar areas, character after character you make. You'll get to know which ones are constantly where, eventually.

Most player characters (PCs) have the long description is standing here. Most player characters have short descriptions that start with the. Some examples:

PCs also are the only ones who sit at table items. If you type >look tables it will display the different tables that you can sit at. An example:

>look tables
At 1) a lumpy, dragon-carved stone table are:
some empty seats.
At 2) a plain stone table are:
a few empty seats.
At 3) a narrow stone ledge protruding from the wall are:
a couple of empty seats.
At 4) a long, scarred bar of agafari wood are:
some empty seats.

A PC would be sitting at a table, and have a description like:

At 4) a long, scarred bar of agafari wood are:
the small, blue-eyed boy, the tall, muscular man, the tall, tattooed dwarf, and a few empty seats.

Their long descriptions when you type >look would display like:

The tall, muscular man is sitting at a long, scarred bar of agafari wood.
The small, blue-eyed boy is sitting at a long, scarred bar of agafari wood.
The tall, tattooed dwarf is sitting at a long, scarred bar of agafari wood.

How do I check my inventory and how do I see what I'm wearing?

To check your inventory, you can type, >inventory, or >inv, or even just >i. It will display the items you are holding in your hands. They are not wielded or equiped, just items that you have in your hands.

>inv
You are carrying:
a torch
858 obsidian coins
a few pieces of burnt meat

To see what you are wearing, you can type, >equipment, or >equip, or >eq. It will display the items you are wearing and you are wielding. These are the items that protect you, and what people see when they type >look person.

>eq
You are using:
<worn on head> an ancient, battered surmac
<worn on face> a thin, white-sandcloth facewrap
<worn around neck> a crimson-stained chitin gorget
<worn across back> a leather backpack
<worn on torso> an obsidian-studded, dark-leather vest
<both hands> a long bone-headed spear
<worn as belt> a leather waterbelt
<hung from belt> a bone-hilted, carru-antler longknife
<worn around body> a hooded, sandy-brown dustcloak
<worn about waist> a worn leather quiver
<worn on legs> a sweat-stained pair of black leather pants
<worn on right ankle> a thin, grey-sandcloth ankle wrap
<worn on feet> an used pair of carru hide boots

Some items that you wear can be layered so that you won't be able to see it unless you take off the clothes above it. Some of these items that cover other items are cloaks. If you type >look self, you may see a different inventory list than when you type >equipment, because certain items may be under your cloak that you are wearing.

How do I talk to other characters?

ArmageddonMUD is a roleplaying game, and you act out your character within the Desert World of Zalanthas. So, how do you talk to people? There are a bunch of commands.

say

Here are some examples:

>say Hi.
>say How's it going?
>say Thanks.

Say is generally used to speak to everybody in the whole room. It echos to the room and everybody else in there as:

The tall, muscular man says, in sirihish: "Hi."
The tall, muscular man says, in sirihish: "How's it going?"
The tall, muscular man says, in sirihish: "Thanks."

You are not specifically targeting someone. You target someone using ~. For example, suppose you want to target the small, blue-eyed boy who you know is called Fitz:

>say (to ~small) Hi.
>say (to ~boy) How's it going?
>say (to ~blue) Thanks.
>say (to ~Fitz) You're welcome!

It echoes to the room and everybody else in there as:

The tall, muscular man says, to the small, blue-eyed boy, in sirihish: "Hi."
The tall, muscular man says, to the small, blue-eyed boy, in sirihish: "How's it going?"
The tall, muscular man says, to the small, blue-eyed boy, in sirihish: "Thanks."

It echos to the small, blue-eyed boy's player as this:

The tall, muscular man says to you, in sirihish: "Hi."
The tall, muscular man says to you, in sirihish: "How's it going?"
The tall, muscular man says to you, in sirihish: "Thanks."

You target that character using one of that character's keywords. If the character is the small, blue-eyed boy then small, blue, eyed, and boy are his keywords, as well as his name Fitz.

shout

Shout is similar to >say, but it will also echo to people in connecting rooms. Examples:

>shout Thief! Thief!

To people in the room, it will show:

The tall, muscular man shouts, in sirihish: "Thief! Thief!"

To people in a connecting room, it will show:

You hear a male voice from the north, in sirihish: "Thief! Thief!"

whisper

Whisper requires a target as its first argument. It will be a secret message that people cannot overhear, unless they have the skill listen. Examples:

>whisper blue I am going to kill you if you don't give me your coins.

To the small, blue-eyed boy, it will display on the screen:

The tall, muscular man whispers to you, in sirihish: "I am going to kill you if you don't give me your coins."

To the people in the room, it will display on the screen:

The tall, muscular man whispers something to the small, blue-eyed boy.

talk

Talk is similar to >say, but it is used to talk to everybody at the table you are sitting at. You must be sitting at a table in order to use >talk. People not sitting at your table will not hear talk messages, unless they have the skill listen. Talk also helps to cut down on tavern spam. In these example you and the small, blue-eyed boy are sitting at a table together:

>talk Hi.
>talk (grinning) How's it going?

To the small, blue-eyed boy, this will display to the screen:

The tall, muscular man says, at your table, in sirihish: "Hi."
The tall, muscular man says, at your table, grinning, in sirihish: "How's it going?"

To the people in the room, it will display as:

At the round agafari table, the tall, muscular man speaks, grinning.

OOC

OOC, or out-of-character, is a way to talk to other players and immortals in the same room, about out-of-character things. Some players haven't used the command in years. Examples:

>ooc shit fire
>ooc Sorry, I have to go RIGHT NOW.
>ooc I just hired you into House Kadius, please use the request tool to join the clan forum!

NOT RECOMMENDED USAGE:

>ooc do you have AIM?
>ooc i used to play mansa and i was your old friend!
>ooc it's spelt spiral, not spirial

It will display to the screen, and everybody in the room as:

The tall, muscular man says, out of character: "shit fire"

sing

Sing is similar to >say. What is unique about sing is that you can break up the lines with | symbol. (See also >recite.)

Example:

>sing Happy Birthday to you,|Happy Birthday to you!|Happy Birthday Dear Malik,|Happy Birthday to you!

This will display to everybody in the room as:

The tall, muscular man sings, in sirihish:
"Happy Birthday to you,
Happy Birthday to you!
Happy Birthday Dear Malik,
Happy Birthday to you!"

Which is actually quite nice, if you want to sing in verse.

Psionics

All creatures in Zalanthas can use psionics. Typically, it is only the ability to send messages to other people who are not in the same room as you, as well as the ability to block people from sending messages to you. You should read >help contact, >help psi and >help barrier. To use this ability, you need to first connect to someone's mind, and you do that by contacting them. You do this by typing, >contact tall muscular man. You can also use their names.

Using psionics takes effort with your character, and it uses your stun points. If you use it too much, your stun points may reach 0, and knock yourself out. If you are knocked out, you cannot wake up right away. This may take up to 5 to 10 minutes of real life time to wake up.

Here is an example:

>contact tall muscular

You suffer from use of the Way.

You are unable to reach their mind.

>contact tall muscular

You suffer from use of the Way.

You contact the tall, muscular man with the way.

>psi Greetings, Malik. I was wondering if you happened to come across any poisons for my dirty deeds, lately?

You suffer from use of the Way.

You send send a telepathic message to the tall, muscular man: "Greetings, Malik. I was wondering if you happened to come across any poisons for my dirty deeds, lately?"

>cease

      From this example, I tried to contact Malik, the
      tall muscular man, but I failed the first time I tried it. The
        second time, I managed to secure a connection with his
        mind and mine. I sent him a message using the >psi, and
           then I closed the connection using >cease.

          I highly recommed to watch your stun points, as it
                will slowly drop as you use the way. You do not want
               it to approach 0. A good way to remind yourself, is to
                type >cease if your stun ever gets to below 30 points.

How do I engage in combat and kill stuff?

ArmageddonMUD is a MUD, meaning that there is coded combat. Combat is initiated by typing >kill target and it is based on a variety of variables and skills. Although you can fight everything and everyone, as a new character, your combat skills will be -terrible-, and most likely you will die in combat to other people who are better than you. Soldiers inside cities also patrol the streets, and will take you to jail if you try and kill someone inside a city. OUTSIDE a city, though, is a totally different experience.

Combat looks like this:

100(100) 90(120) 100(100)>kill boy
You lightly slash the small, blue-eyed boy's body.
The small, blue-eyed boy swiftly dodges your chop.

100(100) 90(120) 100(100)>
The small, blue-eyed boy viciously leaps toward you, but a leather shirt gets in the way.
The small, blue-eyed boy's attack on you is absorbed by a leather shirt.

100(100) 90(120) 100(100)>
The small, blue-eyed boy stabs at you, but you dodge out of the way.
The small, blue-eyed boy stabs at you, but you dodge out of the way.

100(100) 90(120) 100(100)>
The small, blue-eyed boy swiftly dodges your slash.
The small, blue-eyed boy swiftly dodges your chop.

100(100) 90(120) 100(100)>
The small, blue-eyed boy swiftly dodges your slash.
The small, blue-eyed boy swiftly dodges your chop.

100(100) 90(120) 100(100)>
The small, blue-eyed boy stabs you, barely grazing your wrist.
The small, blue-eyed boy stabs at you, but you dodge out of the way.

98(100) 90(120) 100(100)>
The small, blue-eyed boy stabs at you, but you dodge out of the way.
The small, blue-eyed boy stabs at you, but you dodge out of the way.

98(100) 90(120) 100(100)>
The small, blue-eyed boy's attack on you is absorbed by a leather shirt.
The small, blue-eyed boy stabs at you, but you dodge out of the way.

98(100) 90(120) 100(100)>
The small, blue-eyed boy stabs at you, but you dodge out of the way.
The small, blue-eyed boy stabs at you, but you dodge out of the way.

Combat moves in spurts, about one or two blocks per every couple of seconds. That slowly scrolled the screen for about a half-minute. Judging from this combat log, both people are not good at fighting, because they are constantly missing and dodging the attacks. As you get better and better at combat, you will hit more frequently, and you will hit harder on your target.

You need to equip or wield items to use them. The tall, muscular man was using a slashing weapon and a chopping weapon. Those weapons are a curved sword of bone and an obsidian axe. The tall, muscular man typed these commands:

>ep sword
>es axe

or you can type these commands:

>wield sword
>hold axe

The tall, muscular man is now dual wielding two weapons. You can, if you wanted to, use only one weapon and a shield. You can also wield one weapon with two hands, like a staff. To hold one weapon in two hands, you type this command:

>etwo staff

If you hold a weapon with two hands, you will do more damage per strike, but you will strike less often than if you had two weapons.

You can also >draw and >sheathe weapons from and to your belt or if you find them in the game: sheaths. Some big weapons you can even sheathe on your back using >sheathe weapon back.

You can also enter combat with the >assist command. This command jumps you into combat when other people are currently fighting. It helps prevent a keyword mix up, and accidentally attacking the wrong person.

To get out of combat, there are two commands: >flee and >disengage. Flee will cause you to move out of the room into a connecting room. You can direct this, for instance: >flee south. It will force you to start to run, too. Disengage will make you stop fighting, and you will not leave the room. However, your opponent will continue to fight you until they type >disengage. Disengage is typically used when you are sparring.

When someone's health reaches 0, or between 0 and -9, they will stop fighting. If you have >mercy on, you will stop fighting someone when they reach critical health levels. If you have >mercy off, you will continue to fight them, and eventually kill them when they reach -10 hit points.

When you die, you're dead, and you have to make a new character.

When you kill stuff, you can look in their body for what they were wearing. The syntax is >look in body. They will drop whatever they were wielding to the room they were in. At this point, if it was an animal that you were fighting, and you killed it, you can >skin the body. You need to have a knife to skin an animal. You cannot skin humanoids. You can >behead most bodies with a slashing or chopping weapon. Heads and bodies will disappear over time, and they aren't permanent items.

What skills do I have?

ArmageddonMUD is a class-based game. Each class has a specific set of skills associated with it. Skills allow you to do more things in game and can be increased in proficiency until you're an expert at that. Some examples of skills are disarm, steal, jewelry crafting, and listen.

You can eventually branch to new skills when your old skills get good enough. Most branched skills follow logically, but sometimes it is pretty vague. What skills branch off of what and when and at what level are secrets of the game and should not be discussed. You usually branch a new skill when the base skill has been mastered.

You can tell a general skill proficiency by the description listed in the brackets next to the skill name. The rankings are:

• Novice
• Apprentice
• Journeyman
• Advanced
• Master

Here is an example of someone typing >skills:

Psionic powers

contact (master) barrier (journeyman)

Combat skills

shield use (apprentice) two handed (apprentice) dual wield (apprentice)

Weapon skills

piercing weapons (novice) slashing weapons (novice) chopping weapons (master) bludgeoning weapons (novice)

Stealth skills

sneak (novice) hide (novice)

Manipulation skills

ride (novice)

Perception skills

forage (novice) watch (apprentice)

Barter skills

haggle (novice) value (novice)

Language skills

sirihish (master) northern accent (master)

Craft skills

cooking (novice) analyze (novice)

Let's discuss two of these, as examples: Warrior and Pickpocket.

The help file suggest that warriors are the best at combat, and thus you can expect that they eventually get all combat skills. They will get a lot of weapon skills, and they will be able to disarm, throw, and shoot bows and arrows. And they can bandage. Read this line:

...the eventual expert use of bows and arrows...

That is a hint that they do not start with the archery skill, but they will eventually branch it, once one of their starting skills gets good enough. You will "branch" to a new skill, and it will show up in your skills list. If the skill is not in your skills list, you will not be able to do that skill.

To learn more about the warriors skills, I would suggest to check out >help combat.

The help file suggest that pickpockets often use the skill steal. To use that skill, you type >steal item target.

To see what other people have in their inventory, or hanging on their belts, you need to use the skill peek. To use that skill, you type >peek target.

The pickpocket class will eventually be able to walk around to different rooms, and not show or display that you arrived from the north. This is using the sneak skill. You can also hide in rooms, and people will not be able to target you, if you are successfully hidden. You can target them, but they can't see you. Some commands, like >draw sword or >stand will break hide, and make you visible again.

Note this line:

.. Expert pickpockets usually learn how to become unseen and how to listen to conversations going on nearby....

This means that pickpockets do not start with hide, but will eventually branch it. They will also eventually branch the listen skill.

Subclasses / Subguilds

There are subclasses in the game that you picked during character creation. This gives you extra skills to start with. Most subclasses give a crafting skill, in addition to other skills. ArmageddonMUD has a vast crafting system, making it so that you can almost create every item in the game with the right raw materials. No subclass will give you a weapon skill.

Let's take a look at two subclasses:

As you can see, the Nomad subclass gets an additional language, Bendune, to start, as well as a bartering skill. The Jeweler subclass gets jewelery crafting skills, and a skill that allows you to tell the value of specific items. Another subclass --- Thief --- gets the steal skill.

How do I emote?

ArmageddonMUD has a vast coded system to display the actions of your character. Because it is a text based game, you can describe any action you want, and it will display to the screen.

Let's start with some quick examples:

>emote smiles and nods.

>emote lifts his hand to the side of his head, and scratches behind his ear.

>emote shrugs his shoulders, with a confused look on his face.

This will display to everybody in the room as:

The tall, muscular man smiles and nods.

The tall, muscular man lifts his hand to the side of his head, and scratches behind his ear.

The tall, muscular man shrugs his shoulders, with a confused look on his face.

The next example is how to interact with other characters in your actions. You will use the ~ symbol, and you will have to use someone's keyword. If the small, blue-eyed boy is in the room, then these are some examples as to what will happen:

>emote waves to ~blue.

>emote points his finger at ~small.

>emote laughs and nods at ~boy.

This will display to everybody in the room as:

The tall, muscular man waves to the small, blue-eyed boy.

The tall, muscular man points his finger at the small, blue-eyed boy.

The tall, muscular man laughs and nods at the small, blue-eyed boy.

This will display to the small, blue-eyed boy's player as:

The tall, muscular man waves to you.

The tall, muscular man points his finger at you.

The tall, muscular man laughs and nods at you.

You can also reference other things in your emote. There's more symbols besides ~, which can use in your emotes. See the chart to the left. More advanced emote syntax can be found here with >help emoting.

How do I target things? Or: KEYWORDS!

Keywords can be a hard thing to master, as some characters may have the same keywords as other characters. If you are in a room with two characters with these descriptions, the small, blue-eyed boy, and the small, brown-eyed girl, and you wanted to refer to the girl, you may have to type this:

>emote waves to ~small.girl

Which will display to everybody in the room as:

The tall, muscular man waves to the small, brown-eyed girl.

You can also type:

>emote waves to ~2.small

Which will display to everybody in the room as:

The tall, muscular man waves to the small, brown-eyed girl.

You can separate keywords with the period (.), e.g., small and girl as small.girl. You can also use the 2.keyword or 3.keyword to refer to characters with the same keyword.

How do you know which ones is 2.keyword or 3.keyword? There's a specific command for that, called the >keyword command. You can also shorten this to just >k. Example:

>keyword black
In the room:
1.black - the black-skinned, tattooed dwarf

In Inventory:
2.black - a black and red painted cup

In Equipment:
3.black - a black sandcloth bandana

If you want to reference your bandana, you have to use 3.black. Example:

>emote waves to ~1.black with ~3.black

The tall, muscular man waves to the black-skinned, tattooed dwarf with your black sandcloth bandana.

You can also use this example:

>emote waves to ~black.dwarf with ~black.bandana

The tall, muscular man waves to the black-skinned, tattooed dwarf with your black sandcloth bandana.

How do I change my prompt and turn on colors?

You can turn your color on and adjust your prompt.

Prompt

A prompt allows you to see the stats of your character, across the bottom of the screen. It will update when you press the enter key. You can modify it to display more than just your health, movement, and stun points.

The available parameters for prompt are:

You can also use "\n" to skip to a new line.

Some examples would be:

prompt %h(%H) %v(%V) %t(%T) Speaking:%o\n %k mood:%O %A>

100(100) 115(115) 100(100) Speaking:sirihish
riding: none mood:neutral armed >

or the default:

prompt %h(%H) %v(%V) %t(%T)>

100(100) 115(115) 100(100)>

Change color

You can turn colors on. You'll need ANSI support in your telnet client (this is usually there). Then you type:

>change color default
>change color emphasize bold

Read >help change color for more information on tweaking this.

How do I pick up items and give you coins?

You can either type >get or >take to pick up items from the ground. You must type >get item location. If you don't specific a location, the default is the ground in the room you are currently in.

Example:

>get coins
>get coins backpack
>take sword backpack
>take all corpse

Notice you can specify an individual keyword, or you can specific all items using the all keyword.

How do I put items into specific places, like in a chest or on the ground? To place items or drop items on the ground, the command is, >drop item.

>drop pack
>drop all
>drop 15 coins

If you >drop all, you will drop everything in your inventory. You need to specify the specific number of coins you want to drop, too.

If you wanted to place items in a chest, the command is >put item location:

>put sword backpack
>put shirt closet
>put bone chest
>put 99 coins belt

Again, if you want to put any coins in your pockets, you need to specify the specific number of coins. You can also use the all token, too:

>put all.red chest
>put all.feathers bin
>get all.white.leather footlocker
>get all.dusty shelf
>put all.dusty shelves

How do I give items to someone? The command is >give and the syntax is >give object person. Examples:

>give sword elf
>give back Talia
>give 30 coins elf

Coins are special as you can see in the example. To give people a specific number of coins, you do >give 30 coins elf.

How do I get more food to eat and water to drink?

Your character starts with a waterskin item and some meat. To eat something, use >eat meat, to drink something use >drink waterskin. When you drink all of the water, you need to find a water seller. The syntax to get more water is: >fill skin. You can buy food at the taverns, or at the "grocery" stores about the city. They sell items, like a bag of flour, that you can >craft into travel cakes. I suggest to read these help files: >help cooking, >help fill, and >help crafting. See also How do I craft and make things? below.

In Allanak, the water seller is in this room:

Inside the Temple of the Dragon [W]

The great obsidian blocks that form the jagged exterior of this temple have been cut into a dull black dome that reaches nearly fifty cords at its pinnacle. Etched into the dome is the figure of a great white dragon screaming towards the temple floor. The fine white lines defining the body of the dragon converge into a sinewy tail that wraps around the walls, spiraling down until it merges into the temple floor. Scenes of battles and magicks, many of them prominently featuring smaller versions of the dragon, cover the spiraling tail. The smooth black floor of the temple is bare except for the great fountain of a thin templar rising from the temple floor itself, his eyes raised in exultation towards the screaming dragon and his hands outstretched, pouring water into the wide, clear pool in which he stands. White robed templars shuffle quietly about the temple, while a line of supplicants stretches out the great black-stained wooden door to the west, waiting for the statue's bounty. A white robed templar carefully attends the fountain.

How do I buy and sell things?

This section walks you through the process of buying and selling! The commands we will talk about are: >list, >view, >buy, >offer, >sell, >barter. First, familiarize yourself with the Bazaar in Allanak. See >help map allanak.

Buying: list and view

To purchase new equipment, like a helmet or a sword, you need to find a NPC merchant. They usually have a long description that says:

A grizzled, tough-looking old weaponsmith stands behind the massive counter.

To see what the NPC merchant is selling, use the >list command.

>list

the grizzled, tough-looking weaponsmith has the following goods to trade:

01) a black-chitin knife for 39 obsidian coins.
02) a black-fletched, agate-headed arrow for 140 obsidian coins.
03) a bone longsword for 122 obsidian coins.
04) a clawed bone scimitar for 306 obsidian coins.
05) a grey agafari staff for 105 obsidian coins.
06) a blackened long bone staff for 105 obsidian coins.
07) a long, obsidian-headed spear for 72 obsidian coins.
08) a maroon baobab longsword for 126 obsidian coins.
09) an obsidian dagger for 27 obsidian coins.
10) an obsidian knife for 29 obsidian coins.
11) an obsidian longsword for 65 obsidian coins.
12) an obsidian shortsword for 50 obsidian coins.
13) an obsidian-headed polished-bone mace for 153 obsidian coins.
14) a slender bone sword for 102 obsidian coins.
15) a slender wooden spear for 98 obsidian coins.

If you see something you like, simply do >buy #number, e.g, >buy #13. You can also use >offer 80 #14 to offer only 80 sids for the item, and then >barter, if you want to try to haggle for a better price.

You can use >list grizzled to specify the NPC merchant, as there may be two or more NPC merchants in the room, but usually there is only one. You can also use >list merchant sword to list all the specific items with the keyword, sword.

>list grizzled sword
03) a bone longsword for 122 obsidian coins.
08) a maroon baobab longsword for 126 obsidian coins.
11) an obsidian longsword for 65 obsidian coins.
12) an obsidian shortsword for 50 obsidian coins.
14) a slender bone sword for 102 obsidian coins.

To view the description and some of the usage of the items, use the >view command. It will also tell you a bit more about the item, depending on the type of item, your skills that your character has, and the strength of your character. Here are two examples:

>view #11
A medium-long piece of black obsidian, chiseled into a narrow slashing blade. A leather strap is wrapped around the base to form the grip.
You test its weight and decide that you could use it.
An obsidian longsword seems to be a slashing weapon.
An obsidian longsword appears unremarkable to your eyes.

>view staff
Medium grey agafari wood forms this seemingly well-balanced staff of just over four cords' length. The weapon is about one-and-a-half inches thick along most of its length, and the ends have been sanded down to form smooth hemispheres.
A grey agafari staff can be worn across one's back.
You test its weight and decide that you could use it.
This is a two-handed weapon.
It would be too large to sheathe on a belt.
A grey agafari staff appears unremarkable to your eyes.

Let's explain a bit more of the lines here.

An obsidian longsword seems to be a slashing weapon.

You will have a line that displays which type of weapon it is, if you happen to have the corresponding weapon skill. The character who typed >view #11 happened to have the slashing weapons skill. You will note that the weapon a grey agafari staff does not display which weapon type it is. You can assume it is a bludgeoning weapon, and the character who typed, >view staff did not have the bludgeoning weapons skill.

You test its weight and decide that you could use it.

That means you can wield it in one hand. Some weapons are too heavy to use with one hand, and it will display that.

This is a two-handed weapon.

This is pretty obvious. You must use this weapon with two hands. To do so, use the >etwo staff command.

It would be too large to sheathe on a belt.

Most weapons, you can sheathe on your belt, if you are wearing a belt. It will 'hang' on your belt, leaving your hands free. The staff is too big, so it cannot be sheathed on your belt. You can also sheathe large weapons on your back, using the >sheath weapon back command.

A grey agafari staff can be worn across one's back.

The staff can also be worn in an equipment slot, which is the back slot.

Selling: sell, offer, barter

If you have items that you do not want, you may want to sell some items. Usually, you need to find a NPC merchant who sells the types of item that you want to sell yourself. A weapon merchant will buy a weapon, but a weapon merchant will not purchase a cloak. The syntax to sell items is this:

>offer knife

The grizzled, tough-looking weaponsmith says to you: "I shall buy a thin bone knife from you for 4 obsidian coins."

>barter

You must first >offer an item to a NPC merchant, to see if he wants it, and how much he will buy it for. Then you must >barter to seal the deal. Most places, you cannot use the >sell command. Use >offer and >barter for an easier time.

How do I wear and remove stuff, and tailor it?

You can type >equipment or just >eq to see what you are wearing. These are some of the wear locations (see >help wear location.)

Most armour is worn on these locations: head, neck, hands, arms, torso, waist, legs, and feet.

To wear something, you type: >wear item location. Examples:

>wear cloak about
>wear necklace throat
>wear ring
>wear quiver on belt

You cannot pick which finger to wear your rings on, currently. You have to fiddle with wear / remove.

To take off a piece of clothing, you type: >remove item. Examples:

>remove cloak
>remove necklace
>remove ring
>remove 2.belt

Tailor

So, you just bought a piece of armour that doesn't fit you. You need to find a tailor in order to fix it up, and resize it to your size. Usually, tailors are near sellers of armour. The syntax to tailor something is: >tailor item

I suggest to >offer an item, beforehand, to see how much it will cost and how long it will take. Most tailors are located in the city's major bazaar area.

In Allanak, the armor tailor is in this room:

Salarr's Arms and Armor Repair [NES]
A long, curving half-moon shaped counter protrudes from the back wall of this smaller shop, nestled in the corner of a long, stone and mud-brick building run by House Salarr. Behind the counter sits a blocky tangle of lathes, vises, and maneuverable bone mannequins, each with one or another weapon or piece of armor stretched across or held within. Flickering torches send a murky shadow over the recesses of the shop, their soot having darkened the naturally reddish stone walls to a hardened black in places. To the south, the building opens up to a larger shop, while to the east the open wall of the building leads into the main bazaar.
A lean, square-jawed woman sits on a bench, working on a piece of armor.

The clothing tailor is in this room:

Tallambre's Workshop [S]

Busy apprentices scuttle from table to table, carrying armfuls of clothing for resizing, as well as bolts of fabric, spools of thread and other necessities. Fluffs of threads and bits of cloth litter the floor, stirring with each gust of wind that makes its dusty way into the small shop through the open archway, outside of which the racket and bustle of the outside Bazaar resounds. A small, drawn sign has been affixed to the side wall.
A hard-faced tailor stands here, scowling at a piece of work.

Request Tool

On the main website http://www.armageddon.org you will find a 'login' feature in the upper righthand corner. Once you login, this feature turns into a pulldown list. This is the request tool. Your options are:

Account Related

Account Notes - Ask for your account notes. Account notes is just a list of all the characters you have had.
Email Change - Change your email address.
IP Sharing Notification - You cannot multiplay on ArmageddonMUD, so if you are sharing the same internet connection with a friend or spouse, please be upfront.

Character Related

Customcraft Submission - See >help custom craft. Description Change - You can change your main description up to twice on a character. If there's a typo after chargen, however, you usually get a freebie.
Extended Subguild/Skill Bump Special Application - I'm not sure how to explain this.
Reimbursement - If you lose items in a crash, use this.
Resurrection - Resurrections are super rare. See >help ressurrection.
Special Application - See >help special applications.
Stat Change - This is very rare and only if your stats are so low as to be unplayable, for instance you have no inventory slots or can't lift your starting gear.
Storage - Rather than killing your PC in a suicide, it is prefered that you store them if you want to start a new PC.

Clan Related

Character Report - See below.
Character Report - Leader - See below.
Clan Documentation Request - Not all docs are in the help files, and you can ask to see clan docs before you join.
Item Orders - Merchants will sometimes have to order up special items.
Join a Clan Forum - See How do I join a clan?
Leave a Clan Forum - Ditto.
Question/Request - See below.
Role Application - Sometimes staff will announce a sponsored role. Use this for that.

Game Related

Builder Application, Game Bug, Player Complaint, Player Kudos, Staff Application, Staff Complaint, Staff Kudos

General Discussion Board

Complaint or Appeal, Suggestion or Idea

Publicity

Contact, Idea, Web Site, Bug / Typo Idea, Original Submission

Woah! That's a lot. What are the most commonly used ones?

The most commonly used request tool items will be Character Report and Question/Request, although you should consider Player Kudos too!

You use a Question/Request if you have a quick question or request to staff, for instance, if you had a >wish about an NPC in the wrong place, but nobody was able to answer it, you'd file a question/request. Character Reports deserve a special section:

Character Reports

Character reports are optional if you are not in a leadership position. As a new player, you might not feel like filing them, and that's totally fine. Give yourself a few months to get your bearings. They are a way for you to communicate with staff about your character, much like you might talk with your Dungeon Master during a tabletop game. They have three basic parts:

• reporting to staff what you did
• reporting to staff what your goals are
• asking staff for things

Usually, I file a report once every few weeks. Staff usually responds within a week.

Multiple staff members will read over a report. This is to maintain consistency and quality-control so that one staff member doesn't say one thing and another says something opposite. Also, staff are like dungeon masters and in charge of animating the NPCs, so if one staff animates an NPC one way and another animates it a different way, this could be really frustrating! Hence, staff takes their time in thinking about and talking with each other about your report and how the world should respond.

Let's look at an example Character Report:

Here's an example character report:

Reporting What You Did

Keep this simple, concise and clear. Think like a journalist: who, what, when, where, how, and why. Do not send in a wall of text. Here's an example (I am 'V' in these examples; I've abbreviated names for you, but to staff I gave the full names):

1. Festival: Borsail. Met with Borsail Lord/Lady (forget names) with K. They are still interested in the A tribe. V has no idea about them; K has some idea. Negotiations: Borsail offers ratlons in exchange for information on A. V isn't really too keen to help Borsail enslave a tribe (and their antics with the breed burning and B's dullness didn't really warm her on them), but K points out that the A did not come to our assistance during the war. We'll see.

2. Festival: Fale. Met with Fale Lord C with K. He likes the owl, and has offered to also look for ratlons in exchange for an owl. He also wants to have 'tea' down the road. Warmer relations with Fale through S (see BIO 01/12). Likely will go to the dance party on Dec. 10th.

3. Festival: AoD. Met with a higher-up in AoD (forget who) with K. He was interested in the gith gourds that scare mounts and whether we had a cure, as well as the long yellow-green spines that they apparently use to war with. V doesn't know anything (other than the locations of those spines), but since her mother's tents specialize in herbs and herb lore, perhaps there's something she could find out by asking around. A few RL weeks before this, Kuraci (A) had asked about the gith gourds too, and whether we have a cure.

Staff might not respond in detail to the above points. They might just say "Thanks!" That's fine. They might also ask you for clarification or follow up on some points. What you want to tell them here are things that might move along plots and which might be useful to have to refer back to down the road if it turns into a big thing. If you want a staff answer, you should put that in the third section (asking staff for things). Don't mix it into the report part, since it might get lost.

Reporting What Your Goals Are

Here's an example:

1. Ratlons! She's still keen on finding a mount who can climb.

2. Tricksters. The one stole Sweetbreeze, the other attacked T. She's prepared to get over the fear and deal with them PK-style, although would prefer motivating the Soh/Kurac to deal with them in her stead. I can't see a diplomatic solution here, but we'll see.

3. Dance Party. She's preparing for the dance party. Dec 10th time TBA!

This is kind of like giving staff a 'heads up' on what you are planning to do so they can plan ahead themselves if they want to interfere.

Asking Staff For Things

Here's an example:

1. Gith gourds and spines. What would I have found out by asking around with mother and mother's mother? Do we have a cure? I'd be super cool with turning this into a quest/plot.

2. The A tribe. What would V know about them from asking around? What is the feel of the tribe at large about them -- I assume we'd be anti-slavery and want to protect them, but as K points out: they didn't come to our assistance during the war, so maybe we'd be all: screw 'em.

It is important to put questions or requests you have for staff in a separate section so that they can easily see them and answer them. Do not smuggle them into your What I Did or Objectives sections, since they might get lost! Also, the harder the question, the longer it'll take staff to respond to the report as a whole, so it might be wise to break questions up and use Question/Request for longer questions not related to the character report.

How do I get a job or join a clan?

So, you've made it this far, and now it is time to get serious: let's get a job! A job means you can clothe, feed, and water yourself. On ArmageddonMUD there are two kinds of coded jobs: clan jobs and automated jobs.

Clan jobs

A clan job would be one of the following, as examples:

• A crafter in House Salarr or Kadius
• A mercenary in the T'zai Byn Mercenary Company
• An aide-in-training at the Atrium
• A recruit in the Arm of the Dragon (the soldiers)

A clan offers you unlimited food and water, which is a huge perk. In the in-game lore, people who are in the Arm of the Dragon or Salarr or Kadius, even at the lowest rank, are much, much, much better off than the riffraff.

In order to join a clan, you will have to get recruited and hired inside the game. A good spot to find people recruiting are rumor board posts at places like the Gaj and the Gladiator (where you started). Type >look board to get started.

If you can't find someone to recruit you, don't despair! Stick around a bit, or explore the town.

Automated jobs

However, eventually you will have to eat. Here are some automated jobs you can do in or near Allanak:

• Clay Digging
• Salt Grebbing
• Mining
• Dung Scraping

The only job you can do without leaving the gates is dung scraping. See >help jobs for more information on these.

Clay Digging.

Somewhere off to the southwest of Allanak, there is a village called New Menos where the clay pits reside. In order to get there, you must exit the western gates of Allanak: head southwest following first the Outer Circle, then a broken road that used to be there connected to it. This road leads west, first across scoria plains, and then it becomes a real road again. Just keep following this road until you can see a village to the south. If the weather is bad, you may have trouble spotting it. If not, it should be clearly visible from the road. Head towards that compound and enter the village using >enter village. Once inside, find the clay pits. You will use >forage clay to dig up clumps of clay. No tool is necessary, although you will need an empty container. Once you have enough clay, there is an NPC in the village that will purchase the clay from you. Warning: the route to and from New Menos is dangerous, and so you might consider hiring the T'zai Byn to escort you.

Salt Grebbing.

East of Allanak there's a huge wasteland of salt called the Salt Flats. You can >forage salt to uncover salt patches, some of which might already be exposed. A shovel might be useful, as you can also >use shovel patch. However, you can also >dig patch with your bare hands. Before you leave, you'll want to go to the Saltyards of House Jal and purchase a salt sack from the NPC there. He is also the one who will buy your salt when you are finished. Warning: the salt flats are dangerous, and in particular the scorpions are known to poison the unaware. The Saltyards also sells poison cures.

Mining.

Mining is a fairly common profession, and it covers foraging for stones and also mining actual deposits of obsidian and glass that you might find out in the sands. On Miner's Road you can find a shop that sells glasshackers, pickaxes, and other supplies. Nearby, there is a templar that buys glass and obsidian. I believe on Stonecarver's road you will find a dwarf that purchases other sorts of stones. In order to mine, you will have to use >forage stone to find small stones or uncover larger deposits. You will have to use a glasshacker oa pickaxe on the deposits, and the syntax is: >use glasshacker deposit. You'll have to explore a bit to find good deposits and good stone digging places, but most are within a few leagues of the city. Different terrain types yield different kinds of stones that you can mine. As with Salt Grebbing, mining is dangerous work.

Dung Scraping.

Dung scraping is the safest profession. You will want to get a container of some sort, and a tool is not necessary, although a shovel might help. To find dung, go to where you'd expect it to be: the stables! There are at least three public stables in Allanak. Sometimes you will find a mound of dung in the stables, but sometimes you won't. In those cases, use >keyword dung to see if there are 'hidden' dung objects in the room. You can >get dung to get such dung objects. If there is a mound, you can >dig mound to extract smaller dung objects from it, or >use shovel mound if you have a shovel. Once you have a nice bag of dung, head to the Saltyards of House Jal, near the east gates. In front of the Saltyards there is an NPC who will purchase your bags of dung. Just type >offer dung to this NPC and he will give you a market price for it and return your container. Note: You can use soap to clean off the smell from dung: >use soap gloves for instance will remove the smell from your gloves.

If these jobs aren't attractive to you, and you don't want to join a clan, there is always the option of being a hunter, which is what we will talk about next...

How do I hunt & explore & pick plants?

So, you are a bit of a lonefoot and want to go out and explore the world, or perhaps you want to play a hunter. First, remember that the vast majority of Zalanthans never leave the gates: the world outside the gates is harsh and dangerous! The second thing to keep in mind is that a lot of players explore because they want
to discover things in the game! So this guide
will be vague at parts, but I will try to give you
the basics and some common tips.

• First, there is Hunter Roleplay help file
  that should give you some general
  bearings.

• Second, I would highly recommend
  you read over Animal Life and the help
  files there --- look for animals listed
  as from the Vrun Driath or the
  southlands for animals around
  Allanak. This will usually tell you
  how dangerous they are ---
  they usually are dangerous ---
  and whether they poison you
  or not. Around Allanak, the
  most common creatures are
  scrab, spiders, mekillots, and
  black 'drov' beetles, as well as
  smaller game such as chalton
  and jozhal.

• Third, you will need to train. You can pick up training in the T'zai Byn for a year, or you can join one of the many player-created hunting clans. (See How do I get a job and join a clan?) You can also train by doing, although expect to die a few times along the way!

• Fourth, you will probably be selling your loot. You will want to familiarize yourself with the Bazaar and the shops that buy raw goods. See >help map allanak for this, although spending a while listing off what NPCs sell and noting it is a good idea. This should clue you in on what they purchase as well. (See How do I buy and sell things?)

How do I use ranged weapons, like a bow and arrow or a crossbow?

In ArmageddonMUD, there are five main types of ranged weapons --- in parentheses I list the skill associated with them each: bows (archery), crossbows (crossbow use), slings (sling use), blowguns (blowgun use), and throwing weapons (throw). Let's talk about them in order:

Bows

Archery is the skill. Arrows are very expensive on Zalanthas, so you might consider the sling or the crossbow. Here's an example of using a bow:

>draw bow es
>pull quiver

You must equip the arrow in your primary hand and hold the bow in your secondary hand. In this example, I had my bow slung over my shoulder, so I used the >draw command to place it in my secondary hand, and I had a quiver filled with arrows, so I used the >pull command to get an arrow from the quiver and place it in my primary hand. I could've also done this:

>remove bow
>hold bow
>get arrow quiver
>wield arrow

That does the exact same thing. When I'm done with the bow, I can do this:

>sheathe bow back

Or, I could:

>wear bow back

Both work. Now, while I have a bow out, I am vulnerable to attack. To shoot the bow, I would do:

>shoot tregil east

As far as I know, most bows fire "two rooms" maximum. To shoot something in the room next to you or further beyond, type: >shoot tregil east. To shoot something in the room with you, type: >shoot tregil. See >help archery for more details.

Crossbows

Crossbow use is the skill. A crossbow needs to be loaded beforehand, and held in the primary hand: >wield crossbow. To load a crossbow, type:

>load crossbow bolt

To shoot something, the syntax is the same as a bow: >shoot tregil east. See >help crossbow use for more. Bolts are expensive.

Slings

Sling use is the skill. A sling needs to be loaded beforehand as well, and you hold it in your primary hand: >wield sling. To load a sling, type:

>load sling stone

To shoot something, the syntax is the same as a bow: >shoot tregil east. You can get more ammo by foraging for stones: use >forage stone to find stones. Larger stones can be broken down into sling bullets using >salvage stone or >craft stone, depending on your skills. See >help sling use for more information.

Blowguns

Blowgun use is the skill. A blowgun is rare. See >help blowgun use on how it works.

Throwing Weapons

Throw is the skill. Some weapons you can throw using the >throw command.

How do I craft or make something?

Crafting things is pretty simple: you take some ingredients and put them together. The syntax you use is: >craft ingredients into product. For example:

> craft feather staff shard into arrow
> craft flour into cake

If you just type >craft ingredients it will list what you can make:

> craft feather staff shard

I keep a notebook filled with recipes. A lot of people prefer to discover recipes inside the game, so we don't usually give out recipes outside the game.

How do I find recipes? There are three ways:

• Trial & Error. You can just keep trying with different ingredients until something shows up.

• Ask someone. Usually, joining a clan like Salarr or Kadius is a good way to find recipes as they have lots of items you can analyze and senior-level merchants who can give you tips.

• Analyze. You can use >analyze item to determine its recipe. However, this only works if you have the skill, it is high enough, and sometimes you have to be in the right clan. Also, you have to have the item in your inventory to analyze it, so you can't analyze things on an NPC without buying them first.

Custom Crafting

Merchants who reach 'master' in a craft skill will be able to submit a custom craft once a month! See >help custom crafting.

Bear in mind that Zalanthans are low technology and dirt poor. We suggest you submit custom crafts that aren't vanity items or out of place in a world like Zalanthas.

Lostinspace's Advanced Combat

So, you’ve fought your first battle and hopefully escaped with only minor scrapes and bruises, and it was a blast! But you’ve only dabbled in the intricacies of ArmageddonMUD's combat, and there’s much more to learn. We’ll start with defenses, because the last thing you want to do in a fight is die.

Defense

There are three ways to avoid taking damage: dodge, parry, and shield use. These skills are automatic and 'always on', meaning you don't need to type anything as long as they show up on your skillsheet. In the case of dodge, it doesn't even show up on your skillsheet: everyone has it.

Dodge, parry, and shield use

Every guild can dodge and it won’t even show up on your skill sheet as a special skill. The more you fight and the quicker you are, the better you will be at dodging. A successful dodge in combat should look something like this:

A large, barb-tailed scorpion stings at you, but you dodge out of the way.

The next defensive skill is parry. Many guilds and even some subguilds give the parry skill. Think of parry as the second line of defense, if you can’t dodge an attack, your parry skill might save you from the attack.

A successful parry looks like this:

You deftly parry a ring-tailed jozhal's attack.

Last but certainly not least is shield use. This skill is the signature of the Warrior guild and is what makes them the hardest in the Known to kill. The shield use skill can only be used if your character has a shield in one of their hands. Much like parry is a second line of defense if you fail to dodge, shield use is the third line of defense. A successful block looks like this:

You deftly block a large, dusky-black dune vulture's attack.

Some shields can be worn on the back. But be wary: taking it off in a fight will cause you to drop it, and your opponent will get a free attack in when you pick it up! If you’re not sure if a fight will go your way, take the shield off your back before the fight starts and keep it in your inventory.

Guard and Rescue

Sometimes you’re not the only one in trouble, and surviving might be a team effort. When it comes to keeping your allies alive, there are two skills that will directly help in the effort, guard and rescue.

Guard is a preemptive measure, if you have someone you don’t want getting in a fight, you can type >guard Amos, and will see the response:

You begin guarding the muscular, bald man.

Now if something tries to attack Amos, they’ll have to beat your guard skill, or you’ll intervene and start fighting instead, which will look like this:

You leap in front of the muscular, bald man, protecting him.

Do note, that depending on your skill, you might need to begin guarding Amos again after the fight, and regardless of your skill, you can’t protect your charge if you’re already in a fight.

While guard will keep your friends out of the fight, rescue will pull them out once the fight starts! If someone is being attacked you can try to >rescue Amos. On a success you’ll take their place in the fight, and they’ll be completely removed from combat.

On the Offense

Now that you know how to stay alive, you're probably looking to do some damage. Like with defense, there are three basics that come into play: offense, weapon kind, and fighting style.
Offense: Every guild has a hidden skill called offense which improves over time.
Weapon Kind: As well, there are four basic 'kinds' of weapon skills. Not all guilds have all four of these. These are: piercing (knives and spears and the like), slashing (swords and the like), chopping (axes and the like), and bludgeoning (bone clubz). You can find out what weapon skills you have with >skills. If you have a skill, and use that weapon during combat, there is a chance this will improve.

Fighting Style: Finally, there are two basic fighting styles: dual wield and two-handed. Not all guilds get these.
If you wield a weapon in both hands using
>etwo weapon, then you will be using the two-
handed skill. If you have a weapon in each hand,
then you will be using the dual wield skill. Using
a weapon in both hands means you attack slower
but harder.

Bash, Disarm, and Kick

As well there are a few special skills related to offense, primarily disarm, bash, and kick. Do note that when using these skills, that if you fail, there's a chance something bad will happen to you instead, and they also impose a few seconds of lag after being used, preventing you from sending commands. For instance, if you fail a disarm, sometimes you fumble and drop your own weapon instead!

How do I buy & ride a mount?

Mounts are important for travel, and any Guild has the ride skill. If it doesn't show up on your skillsheet, it will eventually, so stick with it! Elves can't ride. See >help elf. It's a culture thing. To buy a mount, you'll need to go to the mountseller. In Allanak, the mountseller is a templar in the stables in the Bazaar (for some reason):

Mount Stables [N, E, S]
A blue-robed templar sits in the shadows by the stables.

To see what is available, type >list:

The young, blotchy-faced templar has the following animals to sell:
01) an erdlu for 350 coins.
02) a yellow sunback lizard for 425 coins.
03) a war beetle for 500 coins.
04) a long-mandibled iridescent beetle for 520 coins.
05) a glossy black and orange beetle for 520 coins.
06) a scarlet-striped war beetle for 520 coins.
07) a purple-hued war beetle for 520 coins.
08) a bulky orange lizard for 425 coins.

Mounts are not cheap. Each mount has different stats, just like you do: movement points, health points, and so on. Erdlu, for instance, are known for being quite fast, but they don't have much stamina. You'll want to experiment with the different mounts to see which is the right fit for you. Read up on the help files for them too. I suggest you get a war beetle. To purchase it, type:

>buy 3

Now you have a mount! Before we go out into the wilderness with it, let's take it to the stables, where you will store it. First, type >hitch war:

>hitch beetle

You begin leading a war beetle.
A war beetle falls in behind you.

Now the war beetle is following you. You can start walking to the stables at this point. When you reach the stables, let's practice putting the beetle away. To do this, you will type: >rent beetle.

>rent beetle

You store a war beetle in the stables.
The dusty, grey-haired half-elf says, in southern-accented sirihish: "Here is your ticket. It'll be 20 coins to retrieve it when you return."

And done! Ok, now let's check your beetle out of the stables. Make sure that ticket is in your inventory, as well as 20 coins, and type: >offer ticket.

>offer ticket

The brutish half-giant takes 20 coins and gets a war beetle from the stables.

There he is! Next, let's hitch him again with >hitch beetle, and then we'll mount him and, most importantly, give him a name.

>hitch beetle

You begin leading a war beetle.
A war beetle falls in behind you.

>mount beetle

You jump up onto a war beetle's back.

>title beetle Wiffle

You have named a war beetle Wiffle.

Ok, now you are all mounted, hitched, and have titled your beetle. Let's move! Moving on a mount is simple: just type a movement direction like normal, e.g., >north, >south, and so on. When you are done, type >dismount:

>dismount

You swing your legs to the side and dismount.

If your mount is tired, then you'll want to rest him. Just type: >rest Wiffle.

>rest Wiffle

You pull on a war beetle's reins.
A war beetle curls up on the ground.

You can also use >stand Wiffle to make him stand back up, or just mount him again. That's about it! See How do I hunt & explore for tips on managing your mount's stamina.

One more thing. A beetle can carry a little bit more than just you. Use >pack to place items onto the beetle and >unpack to take them off.

How do I spar & train?

You've read How do I engage in combat and kill things? and Lostinspace's Advanced Combat above, but there's one question that new players often ask: How do I spar?

First, remember that ArmageddonMUD is a roleplay MUD, and so sparring and training should be done in a realistic manner. In game-reality, this means that you spar and train usually in a clan compound or an apartment if you are not clanned. Each clan will have a schedule (see How do I get a job and join a clan?) that your character is supposed to follow, but you can always decide to have your character break the rules! Clans usually have sparring on certain days. This is meant to encourage PCs to congregate together so you can train with each other.

There is also usually a sparring dummy for when nobody is around.

Here are some basic tips about training.

• There are weapons that are labeled 'sparring' or 'training'. Use these to spar with.

• Turn >mercy on. This means you won't deliver the killing blow.

• Use >disengage to end the spar when either you or your opponent has reached about 60-70% of their health points. You can assess the state of your opponent with assess -v opponent.

• Clans will have a 'medic'. If your health points drop below a certain threshold (usually 50-60%) you won't be able to recover them with >rest and so you will have to >sleep. If you've received that much damage, this indicates a more severe wound, and you should roleplay that accordingly. While sleeping on its own will recover your health points, we usually recommend that you roleplay out the 'medic' patching you up when you sleep. Example:

>sleep cot
>em lies down on the cot as ~medic applies a bandage to ^me headwound.

How do I plot?

ArmageddonMUD uses the term 'plot' a lot. What is it? A story. We're a storytelling place. How do you plot? To some this might be natural, to others it might require some tips. Here's a guide. I used posts from Cutthroat & Tisiphone on the gdb.

Cutthroat's Suggestions

This guide focuses primarily on starting plots that require staff assistance/approval, but covers all kinds of plots to some extent

One, some or all of these tips below may seem like common sense to you, in which case you are definitely qualified to add your own ideas.

Without further ado...

1: If you want a better chance of getting staff's attention, involve as many players as reasonably possible.

Perhaps the most important tip of all, it is derived from the fact that staff generally like to make the biggest possible bang with the time they have to act as storytellers and administrators. When things aren't planned out, they tend towards making the world appear more alive around wherever many players have congregated - whether a tavern is more filled with players than usual, or a large group is taking a trip outside of the cities, or what have you. It stands to reason that when a plot is planned out, that staff are going to want to affect as many people as possible too.

This tip applies particularly to players in leadership roles, as their characters have (or can obtain) the influence required to get people together for large plots like conflicts with an opposing faction(s), building projects, heists, or anything else imaginable, but it's applicable to any character with the drive and desire to do something big. As your PC begins to work with (or against) other players in other clans, you end up drawing in more staff into your plot as well, who will have a combined interest in seeing the plot come to its conclusion, likely with plenty of interesting steps along the way. The staff will be interested because their work will affect not just a scattered few but rather many players (in the case of building projects, players that are in the area are included in that to some extent).

Clans usually contain plenty of players, but don't forget about independents, either. There's usually always a way to involve them. Just think about what they can do and how that might fit into your plan.

Let's take an example: you are a dwarf from Red Storm Village with the focus to cross the Silt Sea. Let's say your dwarf is an independent for simplicity's sake. You want staff to pay attention to your dwarf because only staff knows what he will find on the other side (or if there even is an "other side"). So your dwarf does the following: hires a T'zai Byn unit to come along (Byn staff are now involved) offers a Salarri agent all the silt-horror shells the expedition crew obtains in exchange for a few seasoned hunters to come along (Salarr staff are now involved) offers an Oash noble a full report of what is found while requesting one gemmed employee to come and help (Oash staff are now involved) offers a Kuraci agent some valuable findings in exchange for a nice silt-skimmer (Kurac staff are now involved)

... you get the idea. Your plot now has an increased chance of passing now that more PCs and their staff are invested in it.

2: Consider whether your plot idea makes sense.

In the player-driven system, staff still represent the NPCs, and will make it clear to plot-starters if those NPCs support their plot. Whether they're senior members of merchant or noble houses, high-ranking templars, or military officers, their approval is generally pretty important to leader PCs. Therefore, your idea needs to make enough sense for these NPCs to support.

"Make sense" is a very broad term. What makes sense to a Byn Captain versus what makes sense to a Salarri Captain might be pretty different, because those clans have their own seperate interests, ideals, and goals. As an independent your PC might not answer to any of these people, but may have to worry about their reaction to your plan. But here are some questions you should ask about your plot-in-planning to figure out whether it will mesh well with the game.

• Does it require assuming that something exists when it might not? You can't ask staff to load a group of escaped muls to capture unless those muls would have escaped. You can't ask staff to load a time capsule to dig out of the sand in the desert unless someone actually buried it.

• Does it detract from or dilute the game? This is particularly for construction as well as destructive plots. Destructive plots are hard to get support for because you would be taking away the game's features, thus detracting from the game. That's not to say that destruction is impossible - just that there has to be a good reason for it. Construction plots are similarly hard because there is the danger of adding features that already exist. For example, adding a tenth tavern to a city won't necessarily make it more popular than the other nine, and might spread players apart too much.

• Does it benefit the powers that be? In real life, it is pretty hard to start a war or build something without a good reason and the assurance that resources are already in possession or can be obtained that will cover the cost of the efforts. It isn't much different in-game. The NPCs lending you support don't want to lose out, and more often want to gain something, whether that gain is tangible (e.g., coins, resources) or intangible (e.g., support of the citizens, political clout).

3: Write thorough reports (and possibly plans).

In order to get staff support, they need to know as much about what you want as possible. Write about it, and include it in a Character Report, whether you usually write them for your character or not. If your PC can write, you have the added possibility of writing out your plans IG - while not absolutely necessary, it is the perfect way to represent the idea you are representing to your superiors, who can presumably also read, and following Point #1, makes it easier to share plans with other leaders that can read. Specifically outline what NPCs would be providing, and what staff would have to work on if they approve. If you are in doubt about whether to include something, include it.

4: Offer to write necessary rooms and objects up.

For plots which require adding or changing a room or rooms, or adding or changing an object, staff have to do the work of approving the changes and adding them, but there's no need to make them do the work of actually writing those things. Offer to write entire rooms and/or objects, following the submission guidelines, or write paragraphs to append to the descriptions of existing rooms or objects. This lessens staff workload and shows your interest in seeing this plot through.

5: Be ready to compromise.

As more players and staff get involved in your plot, things about the plot will probably change. Just be ready to adapt, and don't look at proposed changes as a slight against you, but be ready to ask and answer questions about your plot and these changes. It's pretty hard to explain this point further, but I think we're all familiar with the concept of compromising.

Tisiphone's Suggestions:

6: Staff are people too:

Staff members have lives. They have families, they have work. They love this game, but their time is limited, just like that of players, or even more, considering the load of responsibility they have taken on. Keep this in mind when you want to run your plot. So sometimes, no matter how awesome and wonderful the payoff could be, your plot might not get very far ahead, simply because it requires too much work on their parts.

This isn't hard and fast: the cooler you can make the plot, the more likely it is that some staff member or cadre thereof will pick it up and run with it. Also, see above; the more people involved, the more likely staff are to help with your plot, as their work becomes worth it to touch several players instead of just one. Nevertheless, the lemma here is minimize the amount of work staff must do.

7: Staff play this game to have fun.

This comes directly from the above. Just like the rest of us, staff log in to Armageddon to have a good time; they don't log in because they feel like their day job isn't putting enough on their plates. Sure, they've taken on a lot of work that we haven't; I imagine that this is in large part because they derive pleasure from supporting a game they grew to love. However, they still (hopefully) enjoy the actual act of roleplaying and being in the game - just as the environment, npcs, etc. now rather than as PCs. If they can take on a role they enjoy rather than one they don't, they're much more likely to help with your plot.

(This isn't to say that all staff members like animation. I imagine some do and some don't; it seems like a lot of pressure to me.)

8: There are many different ways to be told no.

They all mean something different. Learn to distinguish them. Lord Hardnose Borsail throwing a hissy-fit ICly (through a report or otherwise) isn't the same as a staff member telling you, "No, we've discussed it upstairs, and your idea doesn't fit the world." Here are a few different ways I've encountered, and what they have meant in the past (examples generalized to protect the innocent):

"Lady Silkenbottom throws a hissyfit and forbids it"

This should be treated IC. Expect to see heavy resistance to your plot from the world, but that doesn't mean staff want you to stop. If they do, they'll tell you. This is possibly the case even when vague terms like 'elders' or 'superiors' is used.

"We discussed it, and we don't think we're going to go ahead with that."

This one is rare. It means your plot as it stands conflicts with something you probably can't see, and that you should not continue along those lines. It doesn't mean drop it, though; it means further communication with staff is required, to find out if you can change your idea to be appropriate.

"You need to wait for x,y,z" or alternatively, you noticing that the changes necessary have not been made after you've done the work.

Either your staff member has a lot on his plate at present, or you haven't actually gotten all of the legwork done.

There are others. In almost all cases, it pays to communicate further with staff, rather than just throwing a fit.

9: Staff are people too (redux):

If you are pleasant to work with, staff will work with you. If you show that you're going to be whiny, or too needy, or accusatory, or just generally see staff's actions in a negative light, they won't like working with you, so they won't.

10: Prove you're worth working with:

This point of advice is mostly for long-term plots. Don't go out and needlessly risk your character out of boredom. Expect to have to prove to staff you'll be around for a while before they take on your cause; while this may not be always true, I imagine it to be pretty annoying when someone they've put a lot of hours into helping along up and dies for stupid reasons. This isn't to say you shouldn't take risks and enjoy living in a dangerous world. Just don't do it stupidly. Condensation: don't run out to kill scrab just for fun.

Appendix A: How do I create a character? With Sample Builds

There are three basic steps. First, download (or find already installed) a telnet client. Second, create an account. Third, create a character. We'll walk you through these three steps. Also have a look at Quickstart which more or less walks you through the same steps as we will be doing here.

Download & Install a Telnet Client

MUDs use the TELNET protocal, and most computers have 'telnet' installed on them. But the default telnet client is pretty clunky, and there are a variety of telnet clients designed for MUDing. Here is a list, but if you want to jump right into it, use the telnet client built into our website:

• tintin++ - barebones.
• zMUD -
• MUSHclient
• others (TODO)

You put an address and a port into the client. Our address is ginka.armageddon.org. Our port is 4050.

Create an account

"Before you create a character, you will need to create an account. You will be asked to choose an account name and supply an email address. Your account name is not shown in-game to characters you meet, but is seen by staff members. You must supply a valid email address; once you finish creating your account you will be automatically emailed a computer-generated password to use for your first login. If you don't receive this email, be sure to check your spam folder, and whitelist @armageddon.org if necessary. After you log in to your new account, you will be prompted to create a new password of your own choosing." (Arm Chargen Page)

Create your first character

"After logging in, choose option R from the main menu to create a new character. If you need help at any time during this process, don't hesitate to ask one of our Helpers." (Arm Chargen Page)

At this point, I'd advise you pop over to the Quickstart guide to finish making a character. You might want to jump to What do I do first? too to talk about stats and the like.

Be prepared for these questions:

Be prepared for these questions:

Sample Build #1: Human Warrior/Mercenary

Main Description: This man has deep, ruby-hued locks, tangled in a mass around a set of squared shoulders. Glistening, hard-edged emerald eyes sit in a face that bears many tiny pock-marks. A freckled nose adorns the space above a pair of shapely, slightly chapped lips. Rising above a scarred neck is a aged countenance. Resting below that is a slightly curvy torso, somewhat graceful, with lean muscle, almost no visible bulk to it. Limbs that are lean and ripple with slight musculature extend from the midsection to the short-fingered hands, enfolded with skin that is pale, but covered in freckles and scars. Inked upon the lower stomach is a tattoo of a naked man.

Character Background: My name is Lasher and I grew up mostly under the harsh glare of Suk-Krath, at the edge of the tablelands, I often found myself thrilling as I watched the freedom that others seemed to enjoy so easily. With only myself for company I often found isolating myself to be rather amusing, when I got too depressed. Sometimes I find myself awaiting the day that others might find out about my wishing I could fly. Through the course of my life, I've found that people who smoke too much spice quite simply tend to disgust me. My favorite color is the brilliant turquoise shade of kalan wine. Sometimes, I have the serious hope of joining the Byn.

Outward Demeanor: overly racist.

Nervous Tic: Often they keep their arms crossed.

Weapons:

Armor:

Equipment:

Human Ranger/Weaponscrafter

Description: This krath-kissed woman is a bit on the short side for her race, her form banded with sinewy muscle and bearing little to no curvature to speak of. A shock of full, slightly wavy hair, of a bizarre dark pink hides her left eye, flowing down to the top of her buttocks in long layers. Glittering eyes, the same vivid purple in color as purple salt crystals rest within her rounded face. Her button nose rests above a soft, sly smile. Etched upon her lower back is an intricate depiction of a snarling tembo. A long, smooth scar runs across her left palm.

History: I was born in Allanak. I spent most of my childhood alone. I was raised by my uncle, who sold weapons at the Bazaar. I dream of saving a hundred thousand Sid. Others say I am prejudiced against dwarves. I view myself as a peaceful, fun-loving person. My favorite food is fried squash. My favorite smell is the fresh, sweet smell of kalan. My favorite color is gold. My favorite pastime is playing Whira's Luck. My favorite booze is wine. My favorite spice is Zharal. My turnons are honesty and confidence, Yum. I'm rather prejudiced against dwarves, but I often find myself looking past my differences with half-giants.

Weapons:

Armor:

Equipment:

Half-Elven Burglar/Jeweler

Description: This caramel-skinned half-elven woman is tiny, almost the height of a child of her race, her form a dense collection of lean muscle wrapped in a light coating of fat. A mane of silken hair, which, in contrast to the inky-black of her lashes and brows, would seem to be colored with henna, hangs about this woman in a windswept tousle. Deep-set, almondine eyes, the same mirror-like, reflective pale hue as polished silver rest within her soft face. Her narrow nose rests above a pair of small, pinched lips. Etched upon her right side is a startlingly detailed tattoo of the outline of a tribal youth, crouched low to the ground, pose holding the sinuous grace of a quirri ready to pounce, spear in hand. A slender, bone hoop has been threaded through her nose.

History: I was born in Tuluk. I spent most of my childhood mining. I was raised by my older brother. I dream of finding Steinal. Others say I am a simple, uncomplicated person. I view myself as a little too naive for my own good. My favorite food is marilla-glazed bread. My favorite smell is smoke. My favorite color is indigo. My favorite pastime is playing Izdari. My favorite booze is Firebreather. My favorite spice is Kemen. My turnons are slender build, light hair, dark eyes. I'm rather prejudiced against stone magickers, but I often find myself looking past my differences with fire magickers.

Weapons:

Armor:

Equipment:

Appendix B: Cheatsheet