The route to such lofty heights is by accumulating points. Many of the objects in the game are treasures, and have a value (use the VALUE command to find out what a particular item is worth). To score these points, the objects must be dropped in the swamp. Even if you don't know where it is exactly, the swamp is easy to find, because SWAMP (or ZW for short) is a command which moves you towards it. Once you have swamped a treasure, its points are transferred to you, and you can seek out more loot! The number of treasures you can swamp at once is only limited by the amount you can carry!
The most valuable objects in the game are players. The more points you score, the higher your level becomes, and the more points you are worth if killed in a fight. Of course, by then you will be experienced enough to make killing you a far more difficult prospect. The way is still open for the resourceful novice to catch you unawares, however, rising several levels at once by bringing about your demise, so all high-level personas must be constantly on their guard (excepting wizzes, of course, who are mortal-proof!).
The greater your level, the better your chance at being able to use magic. To become a magic-user, you must touch the touchstone and survive. The odds of your succeeding increase dramatically at high levels, but then it's hard to reach that stage in the first place without having magic to help! The choice is yours, but touch the touchstone you must if you are ever to gain ultimate power!
There are a few grounds rules to make things fair and amicable:
COMMAND EXAMPLE commands (does a shorter version of this!) go <direction> se (moves you se) DRop <obj> dr all (drops everything) Flee flee (gets you out of a fight) FOLLOW <creature> follow nancy (you go where Nancy goes) Get <obj> g all (picks up everything) GIve <obj> TO <creature> gi straw to alf (gives Alf the straw) Help h (tries to help..!) HIT hit tom (hurts Tom, but doesn't start a fight) Inventory i (says what you're carrying) Kill <creature> WITH <obj> k johann (starts a fight with Johann) LEVELS levels (says what the player levels are) Look l (describes your room) <creature> <string> jakk "hi there" (message sent to Jakk) PUT <obj> INTO <container> put straw in box (inserts the straw in the box) REMove <obj> FROM <container> rem mouse from box (gets mouse from the box) REROLL reroll (gives your persona new stats) SCore sc (gives a run-down on your persona) SHout <string> sh "help!" (message sent to all, anonymously) STeal <obj> FROM <player> st all from jan (steals all jan's possessions) <string> "you owe me one" (message sent to all in room) USE <obj> use axe (uses the axe in current fights) WHo who (names all current players) WithDraw withdraw (stop a fight by mutual consent)For more information, type INFO. For information on the level of English understood, type PARSER.
To contact the wizards & witches, use WISH <string>, eg. WISH "I'm new here, can you help?".
UNPROTECTED PERSONAE MALE FEMALE NORMAL-------MAGICAL-----NORMAL-------MAGICAL-----POINTS-LEV-MPKSL novice - novice - 0 0 75 protector seer protector seeress 200 1 115 yeoman soothsayer yeowoman soothsayer 400 2 155 warrior cabalist warrior cabalist 800 3 235 swordsman magician swordswoman magician 1600 4 395 hero enchanter heroine enchantress 3200 5 715 superhero spellbinder superheroine spellbindress 6400 6 1355 champion sorcerer championne sorceress 12800 7 2635 guardian necromancer guardienne necromancess 25600 8 5195 legend warlock legend warlock 51200 9 10315 Sir mage Lady mage 102400 10 20555 - wizard - witch 204800 11 n/a MPKSL means "Minimum Points for Killing Someone of this Level".PROTECTED PERSONAE MALE FEMALE NORMAL-------MAGICAL-----NORMAL-------MAGICAL-----POINTS-LEV discoverer - discoverer - 0 0 pathfinder neophyte pathfinder neophyte 200 1 voyager pilgrim voyager pilgrim 400 2 wayfarer acolyte wayfarer acolyte 800 3 scout friar scout friar 1600 4 rover cleric rover cleric 3200 5 pioneer Brother pioneer Sister 6400 6 explorer priest explorer priestess 12800 7 ranger prelate ranger prelate 25600 8 minstrel patriarch minstrel matriarch 51200 9
ABbreviations ACT <str> AUTO EXITS AUTO MAP AUTO <str> EVERY <str> BRief BYE <str> BYE <cre> WI <str> CANCEL <str> COMmandS CONVERSE <cre> <cre> <str> DRop <obj> EMPTY <con> EMPTY <con> INTO <con> eXits EXPLORE FightBrief FightVerbose FILL <con> WI <flu> Flee <dir> FOLLOW <cre> FREEZE <str> Get <obj> GIve <obj> TO <cre> go <dir> Help Help <pla> HI <str> HI <cre> WI <str> HIT <cre> HUG <cre> IDentify Inventory Inventory <obj> IS <obj> TYPE <obj> KEEP <obj> Kill <cre> Kill <cre> WI <obj> KISS <cre> LAUGH <str> LEVELS LongWho Look Look <con> Look <cre> LOSE <cre> MELT <str> PARSER POUR <flu> POUR <flu> INTO <con> PRONOUNS PUSH <cre> TO <dir> PUT <obj> IN <con> QuickLook QuickScore QUIT RECALL REKEEP REMEMBER <str> REMove <obj> F <con> REROLL ROOMCOUNT SCore SHout <str> SPELLS SpellsHELP STeal <obj> F <cre> <str> SuperBRief SuperFlee <dir> SuperInventory SuperQuickWho SuperUNBRief SuperVErbose SurVivors SYNonymise <word> SYNonymise <word> AS <obj> TICKLE <pla> UNBRief UNCONVERSE UNFOLLOW UNKEEP UNHELP <pla> UNIDentify UNWithDraw <cre> UNVERBOSE UNVOW USE <obj> VALue <obj> VErbose VOW WEIGH <obj> WHAT WHO WithDraw <cre> WIZzeS WRITE <str> UPON <obj>
<verb> eg. LAUGH <verb> <noun> eg. WEIGH BOX <verb> <noun> <preposition> <noun> eg. DROP TREASURE IN SACK
Most of the commands you issue will be in one of these forms.
In general, when you use a noun it will be 'bound' to a number of objects in the game. For example, GET CONTAINER will expand CONTAINER to mean all the objects in your room which are of that class. MUD makes no distinction between singular and plural forms in commands, so the fact that CONTAINER is singular doesn't mean you only one to pick up one object that's a container. If you do only want one, either GET A CONTAINER or GET 1 CONTAINER will suffice. You can use bigger integers if you want to refer to a specific number of objects.
Another way of restricting the set of objects you wish to affect is to use adjectives. DROP LIT STICK will drop all those sticks you are carrying which are on fire, but won't drop the rest. DROP HEAVY OBJECT will drop all objects you're carrying that are heavy. You can extend adjectives into superlative form, eg. DROP MOST HEAVY OBJECT or simply DROP HEAVIEST OBJECT (or even DROP LEAST LIGHTEST OBJECT).
Sometimes, you want all objects of a particular class but not those which are also some other class. For example, to pick up all things in your room that are gold, excluding those that are also rings, you'd say GET GOLD EXCEPT RING. Likewise, you can combine disjoint types by saying eg. GET GOLD AND WOOD. If you only want objects that are of two particular classes, you can use eg. GET COIN OF SILVER; in most cases, though, you can use class names adjectivally anyway, ie. GET SILVER COIN in this example.
There are two ways to modify the verb you use: prepositions and adverbs. Prepositions can normally be used interchangeably, except where meaning is affected. For example, GET SAND WITH DISH means the same as SCOOP SAND WITH DISH, whereas GET SAND FROM DISH means the same as REMOVE SAND FROM DISH. Adverbs are rarely necessary, but an example of use is GO WEST QUICKLY to mean the same as FLEE WEST.
Commands may be repeated by use of full stops. Each full stop means one execution of the preceding command, so N..S.COUGH...E will do two NORTHs followed by one SOUTH followed by three COUGHS and an EAST. If you omit a full stop at the end of the sentence, a single execution is implied.
Some commands take a 'string' parameter. Strings are pieces of text which are enclosed in quotation marks (" or '). If you omit the closing quote, the rest of the line is taken as the string. Most string-oriented commands don't need the opening quote, either, so you can SHOUT HELLO THERE! and it knows what you mean. You'd need the quotes if the command was part of a longer sequence, though, eg. W..SH "BOO".E..
Finally, most common commands and objects can be abbreviated. Type ABBREVIATIONS (or AB for short!) to find out the more useful ones.
See also PRONOUNS.
ME - your persona
ELSE - any objects not ME
HERE - your persona's location
THEM - any objects
HIM - male objects
HER - female objects
IT - any objects not HIM or HER
<num> - any <num> number of objects, where <num>
is a word (eg. three) and not a figure (eg. 3)
Pronouns are either "bound" or "unbound". Unbound pronouns are those which have nothing to refer back to earlier in the input line. For example, the ITs in the following are all unbound:
READ IT
E,,DR IT
S. TICKLE MAN. W. E. TICKLE IT
If you use an unbound pronoun, it will be bound to objects as if it
was a class word, so eg. G THEM is the same as G ALL and G IT is like G ALL
BUT GENDERED.Bound pronouns are those which refer to something earlier in the input line. For example, the ITs in the following are all bound:
I PAPER. READ IT
G T. E. DR IT
S. TICKLE RAT. W. E. TICKLE IT
If you use a bound pronoun, it will refer to those objects from earlier in your input line which occurred together and could fit. Direct objects are considered before indirect objects. Examples:
G ALL. DROP HIM
HIM means any males you picked up or were carrying.
G ALL. DR PAPER. LIGHT IT
IT means the paper you dropped.
G IT F MAN. LIGHT IT. GIVE IT TO HIM
The first IT is unbound, and means whatever the man is carrying that isn't gendered; the second IT means whatever you stole from the man; the third IT means the same thing; the HIM means the man.
NB: bound pronouns only work in a single input line unless you end the previous line in a dot. If you were to issue the following commands:
G PAPER
LIGHT IT
then the IT would be unbound. To bind the IT to the paper, you'd have to do either
G PAPER.
LIGHT IT
or simply
G PAPER. LIGHT IT
This all looks quite confusing, but it's nowhere near as complicated as real English! If you bear in mind the distinction between bound versus unbound pronouns, though, you shouldn't have TOO many problems..!
AB ABBREVIATIONS B BUT BR BRIEF BS BROADSWORD C COMMANDS CC CORACLE CG CONGRATULATE CL CLOSE D DOWN DR DROP DW DWARF E EAST F FLEE, FROM FB FIGHTBRIEF FS FIRESTONE FV FIGHTVERBOSE G GET, GOBLIN H HELP I INVENTORY J JUMP K KILL, KEY L LOOK LS LONGSWORD N NORTH NE NORTHEAST NW NORTHWEST O OUT OP OPEN PC PORTCULLIS QL QUICKLOOK QQ QUIT QS QUICKSCORE QW QUICKWHO R RAT RS RESITE S SOUTH SC SCORE SE SOUTHEAST SF SUPERFLEE SH SHOUT SK SKELETON SS SHORTSWORD SV SURVIVORS SW SOUTHWEST T TREASURE TR TRINKET TS TOUCHSTONE U UP V VAMPIRE VA VALETANT VE VERBOSE W WEST WD WITHDRAW WH WHERE WI WITH X EXITS Z ZOMBIE ZW SWAMP
In general, long-winded objects like GRANDFATHER CLOCK, REINDEER, CLOTH OF GOLD can be abbreviated to initials (GFC, RD, COG); if you see something with an annoyingly long name, try abbreviating it this way - it may well work.
In the table, the '%' column gives the chance of successfully casting the given spell, per level of caster, eg. 8% when you're level 3 is 24%. If you try spells not mentioned for you under SPELLS, they'll consider this figure before deciding whether to work or not.
'AUTOMATIC' is the level at which ability to cast the spell is assured, and is usually 12-'%', ie. 4 in our earlier example. The SPELLS command gives those spells which are automatic for a magic-user of your level.
The 'COST' in magic to you is normally 1 times the automatic figure, ie. 4 in our example, whatever your level, and whether or not the spell works. This is not true for all spells, however; some are considerably more expensive, and depend on the level of your victim.
If your magic drops to 0 or less (eg. you cast a spell which has a cost greater than or equal to your remaining magical stamina), you lose your magical abilities; don't say you weren't warned....
Note that "successfully" CASTING a spell does not guarantee it will WORK: the victim will have a resistance. Magic-users are less resistant than non-magic-users. If the victim is a high level, then their chance of resistance is higher; if you are a high level, it is lower. NB: Many spells which fail will work on you instead, or do something equally dreadful! You can suffer permanent death this way so WATCH YOUR STAMINA!