New to StarMUD
From StarWiki
New to StarMUD?
StarMUD's player interface is rather extensive and complex, in order to facilitate playing of the game, and interacting with the other people you will come across. Think of your character as a robot and tell it what to do. For instance, if you wish to move in a direction you would do 'go west'. Which can also be abbreviated by simply typing 'west' or 'w' to make life a little easier.
If you want to talk aloud in the room you are standing in, you use the 'say' command, like 'say hi!'. To talk to another user specifically, you would use the 'tell' command, as in 'tell taylor This is a rocking help file!'. For other methods of communication try 'help communication' and 'help channels'.
Other useful commands for interacting with your virtual environment include 'look' - to examine your surroundings, 'who' - to get a list of everyone currently logged into the MUD, 'inventory' - to get a list of what your character is currently carrying, 'give' to give an item to another player, 'get' - to pick things up from the room your character is standing in, and so forth.
Contents |
What am I supposed to be doing here?
That is the beauty of StarMUD. Some players come here just to chat, while others come here to play the game - some more seriously than others. StarMUD isn't necessarily a competition, it is a world in of itself. Each player can approach it and interact in it however they choose to.
What are species?
When you first log into the MUD, you will have to choose a species for your character. This is exactly what it means, what type of creature your character is. Each species has its own unique skills, abilities, and drawbacks. Your species will generally decide all further options you get in your future on the game, so it is best you pick something you are comfortable with. Some species are much more difficult to play than others, but can also be more rewarding.
What are professions?
The profession is the second fundamental division in the player world, the first being species. Professions are what some other games to as guilds, or classes. What your character has chosen to do for a "living". Each has its own unique skills, objects, play style and their various advantages and disadvantages. More information can be found in 'help professions'. It is not absolutely necessary that you join a profession, but it can make your life easier and more interesting.
What are outlaws?
Outlaws are those players that have decided to that they want to be able to attack other outlaws - and be attacked. They are commonly referred to as player killers or pkers. On StarMUD being an outlaw is generally optional, though some species are automatically outlaw as one of their disadvantages and to make them more difficult to play. More information can be found in 'help pk'.
What are stats, skills, hit points, psi points, etc?
Stats are your character's vital statistics: 'help stats' for more information. You can see your stats with the 'score' command.
Skills are your character's learned abilities. There are numerous different skills that your character can learn at any time during gameplay, from combat strikes to sneaking around. More information can be found by reading 'help skills'.
Hit Points are the measure of your character's life. You run out of hit points and your character dies ('help death'). Healing is done by using medical kits, eating food, visiting a hospital or surgeon, and various other methods scattered about the MUD. Read 'help healing' for more detailed information.
Psi points are the your character's measure of mental strength. There is no penalty if you run out, other than you won't be able to cast spells or perform psychic feats.
Quests?
Quests are specific tasks that you can do on the MUD, usually involving figuring out a puzzle of some sort. StarMUD does not require you do any quests to advance, but there are several throughout the MUD for those players who enjoy that kind of thing. Usually, completing a quest will give some type of reward.
What the heck is a wizard?
Wizards are the cute, snuggly people who create new areas, implement new ideas, fix your bug reports ('help bug'), and generally keep the whole place running. More information can be found by reading 'help wizards'.
StarMUD is an LPMUD, a general concept of MUD code and design originated by Lars Pensjö as a way of creating a more flexible codebase that can be altered on the fly while people are still playing. Programming here is in a language devised by Lars LPC it is loosely based off of C/C++ syntax and has an open source standalone version called Pike. StarMUD is always looking for new wizards, but we typically prefer people play for a while and learn how things work before becoming a wizard.
What are wars?
StarMUD shuts down and restarts, generally, every 20 hours. To find the time remaining until the next reboot use the 'uptime' command. A reboot is ushered in by a sequence of odd messages. After the MUD has closed down, it will return in war mode, where all logged in players will be pitted against each other until only one is left standing. Wars are only for fun, no permanent harm can come to your character during the war, even if your character is killed. When the war is over, the MUD will reboot again and everything will return to normal. Read 'help war' for more detailed information.
More helpful hints
Type 'skills' to see a list of your current skills and how much training you have in each one.
Type 'score' to see a list of statistics about your character, including your stat levels, hit points, and various other things.
The 'hp' command is a shorter, abbreviated version of 'score', which shows only vital information.
You can set your input prompt to show you information such as hit points, psi points, endurance, and so forth.
The 'wimpy' command, to set the percentage of hit points you want to try to flee from combat, and the 'wimpydir' command to set which direction you would like to flee. Occasionally life saving tools.
You can use the 'finger' command to get information about other players. Including their species, profession, and when they last logged into the MUD.
Conclusion
Any questions or concerns you have about StarMUD can be directed to any wizard player via tells, or you can ask publicly on the various chat channels available. There is usually someone around who will be able to answer any question.
If you have any problems with your character, many times, simply logging off and then back on will solve the issue. If you can't solve the problem by doing that, ask a wizard to help you.
