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Introduction:
Welcome to Armageddon. We hope you find a place in our world and come to love its rich roleplay as much as we do. There are literally hundreds of text-games out there, and for whatever reason you've chosen Armageddon to consider as a possible new home. We've created this guide to help transition from the system you're used to.
Mechanical issues:
1) There is no "my" in Armageddon. If you have a piece of fruit and a backpack, you would type "put fruit backpack" and the system will automatically default your fruit into your backpack (assuming the pack is open).
2) There's no amunet in Armageddon. There is, however, the Way, which is a psionic skill. All characters come with the ability to contact and psi messages to other characters, provided the character is logged in and not blocking incoming messages. The Way is provided as an in-character device, and must only be used as such.
3) If you have more than one "same-named" container and wish to place an object in the second one, you would preface the object name with 2. That's the number two, followed by a period, followed by the object name with no space in between.
Example:
Emote rummages through ~2.pack
Returns: You rummages through your obsidian-clasped sandcloth backpack (to you)
And
The wind-swept blonde woman rummages through her obsidian-clasped sandcloth backpack (to others watching you).
You'll find people who have similar keywords for their identities. You can use this syntax in the same way if you see the similarly-described people in the same room, though once learning a person's name, it'll be much easier to use that instead.4) Emotes vs. "Act": In GemStoneIII, you have the ability to add strings to two commands, act and smile. In Armageddon, you can not only add strings to emote and several other commands, but there are a few different ways to do so, in order to really bring the world to life. You'll want to look in the help files for details, but here's one example of the detailed emote system:
Emote His face breaking into a wide grin, @ turns to face ~blonde.
Returns:
His face breaking into a wide grin, the lean man turns to face the blonde man. (to everyone else)
His face breaking into a wide grin, you turns to face the blonde man. (to you).
His face breaking into a wide grin, the lean man turns to face you. (to the blonde man)
You can talk and even move from one room to the next using these emote styles - and once you get the feel for the syntax, we encourage you to use it until it becomes second nature. Don't be intimidated, it takes practice and our players will usually be understanding of a newcomer's hesitancy and syntax mistakes. You can also tell specific people things, and the string will show everyone in the room that you're talking to that particular person rather than just out loud to no one specific. This is considered standard fare, so feel free to delve right in and get accustomed to telling.5) Movement: Standard directionals are N, E, S, W, U, and D. Even if the room description indicates a door to the west, you would still have to move W after opening the door to get through. There are also buildings listed or described separately from the primary room description paragraph, and you would enter and leave those buildings. A caution about U and D: In most cases, you need to have some ability to climb, in order to travel up walls or down rocky slopes. Watch your score carefully and make sure you don't end up unconscious from too much effort. Resting after a failed attempt will bring your score back up to normal.
6) Combat is automated. We have a limited, but fully functional, engagement system. If your character will be learning combat skills, it's imperative that you read all the related help files in the manual before trying to use them.
7) Looking at people will show everyone in the room that you're looking at them. As mentioned in #4, you can look at people using some of the emote system - e.g., look templar with a brief respectful glance would return to the templar, The green-eyed dwarf looks at you with a brief respectful glance.
8) Our verb list is limited. We have a few "standards" such as smile, nod, snicker, hug, but for the most part our players use emote to convey their actions and expressions.
9) To join a group, follow its leader. If you are leading and wish to disband, unhitch.
Now for the Roleplay side of Armageddon:
1) Armageddon is not high fantasy, or loaded with magic. The game has some elements of high fantasy (elves as a race), and magic is considered a suspect and even feared ability by the general population.
2) Characters of Armageddon are not silly fluffy snugglebunnies. It's a serious world with serious roleplay, and those who try to divert from the norm are reacted to accordingly. Roleplaying, unlike in Gemstone, is not encouraged. It is required. If you need to go out of character, you can use the ooc command, but it will send an echo to everyone in the room what you're saying OOC. Use it sparingly, since it is a definite detraction from the roleplay and overuse might get you a lecture.
3) This is a warning to those who only skimmed over the last point: No one in Armageddon gives a damn about your 133t sky1z. Take them elsewhere. You have been warned.
4) You can loot (search) corpses. PvP is allowed with the only restriction that it has to be for RPed reasons, and it has to be roleplayed. Because death is permanent, be sure you have a good reason for killing someone. Many players have invested months of time into developing their characters and you'll find yourself one very ugly situation if you just walk in one day and kill one of them off just "because I can." Sparring is a great way to learn combat before attempting to tackle any of the hunting areas. Grab a friend or new acquaintence, READ THE COMBAT HELP FILES, and get going.
5) Rape and torture DO exist in Armageddon. Your character is not immune to either. However, there is a consent rule. If you as a player aren't "into" that sort of thing you can let the other person know this OOC and they will act out the completion of the act, rather than the whole scene in detail. After "time passes" it will have happened only by implication rather than by graphic detail and you won't have to be subject to any semblence of real life trauma.
6) If you see a templar, bow to him or her. Make a macro if you have to.
7) It's considered poor form to just plain "look" at a templar, since they are considered above the commoners in status and you are not worthy of gazing upon them. Use the emotes available with the look command as appropriate.
8) Nobility are considered next in line to "godliness" just under the templarate, and have earned their titles through proving their ability to roleplay. Grant them the respect you would grant the President of the United States or at the very least, a Congressman. A Templar might get the respect of a combination of the Pope and the Supreme Court Judge. Grant them all the respect you feel it appropriate for your character to grant, but accept that if you choose to RP someone who doesn't comply with social norms you won't have your character very long, since a Templar can kill your character for even a perceived slight.
9) You won't be able to tell by their "name" description that someone is nobility. Generally speaking, if they're wearing a ring made of metal, they have some significant status in the world, and you can assume they are pretty important people.
Miscellaneous Info:
General Information, not GSIII-to-Armageddon-Specific:
1) There are no levels and you won't see skill "ranks." You'll know that you're better at something because you'll succeed more often and with less effort than before. Practice makes perfect. The staff watches public roleplay at times. Use emotes when practicing. This is because:
2) Karma is the system in which you can roll up subsequently more complex characters after your first one dies. Karma is awarded to those players who have proven their roleplaying abilities to the staff. Think of Karma as an Armageddon level system, since more Karma = more leeway with the "power" you can give your next character. New players can't roll up a templar, or the mantis race, or even a mul. Players who've proven themselves as consistent roleplayers can. Eventually. It is earned. Respect that.
3) Death is permanent. This is a completely foreign concept to most gamers, so don't feel too intimidated by it. Expect your first character, and even your first few characters, to die very quickly. Especially if you choose a combat-oriented character, or if you piss off a Templar.
4) You will not survive in Armageddon if you don't understand the basics of the game. There's no getting around it. Documentation reading is imperative. Further, you're not even allowed to create a character without first submitting a character background to the staff and getting it approved. It's impossible to do so if you don't even know the names of the cities, the general concept of world politics, religion, races, and skill options.
5) Room descriptions: You might find these to be rather jarring. Some rooms that link one part of the street to the next are duplicated in description. A room description will give a general idea of what the room looks like, and the next paragraph will indicate any special (unhidden) exits, such as a sandcloth pavilion to the east, or a styrax door leading into the southern building. Objects are not invisible for the most part, and are listed instead. Example:
Blah blah blah this area is dark and dreary, blah blah blah.
A chest of drawers is here.
A closet is here.6) Names are not seen. Instead, the description of the character is seen. The blue-skinned, green-eyed man is what you see instead of the person's name. Once you learn their name, you can use it to interact with them, since it will be one of their keywords. See the documentation for an explanation on keywords.
7) If you need help with something, make use of the helpers. The website has a link to a list of folks who have volunteered to help new players and will avail themselves to you.
8) If you need to send a message to a specific GM, use wish gmname for example: wish sanvean I'm stuck in a room with no description and no exit! If you want whoever happens to be available to see your wish, then use wish all instead of a specific GM's name. Note: you cannot wish to someone who is not currently visible, and for the most part, the staff tries to stay behind the scenes. Wish all is usually your best choice.
9) Hunger, thirst, and the need to sleep are hard-coded into the system. Sleeping makes you prone to attack and robbery, so avoid it if you can. You can avoid it by not running. There's run, walk, and sneak - each coming with its own speed of movement. As far as I can tell, all characters come with the primary ability to cook travel cakes, so if you're short on 'sid (obsidian pieces, the game currency), you can look for a merchant who sells sacks of flour and make your own for much less than the cost of buying one. Travel cakes are an Armageddon staple to ward off hunger. For thirst, water will quench quicker than ale, and it is actually possible to get drunk in Armageddon so be careful about your consumption of spirits.
10) The parser generally doesn't accept abbreviations beyond basics such as l for look and directional letters instead of their full names.. Get used to spelling things out.
11) To see what a merchant has for sale, use list.
12) If for some reason you decide to make your character sleep (to restore health, for example), be aware that your character will be prone to being killed and looted while asleep if they are not in a safe place. Wake is the command to wake up your character, but only once the stats return to normal.
13) Reminder: Though there's nothing mechanically preventing you from clicking the little "x" on your front end to disconnect the game, there are safe and unsafe places to exit. Type quit test to see if the room you're in is safe. Taverns in each city have "safe" areas for newcomers; other rooms available depending on your character's identity.
