MUSH to MUD: A Transistional Guide Back to the Introductory Information Back to the Main Page

Introduction:

Veteran MUSH'ers trying a MURPE, aka. a role-play MUD, for the first time will find that in many ways, things aren't so different. For both, after all, the primary focus is role-play: taking on a fantasy oriented persona, and playing out their life in a world very different than our own. However, some major differences may cause stumbling blocks at first.

Descriptions:

The most major of the stumbling blocks in going from MUSH to MURPE is the character description. Two main differences exist here. The first of these is your character's clothing, armor, and weapons. In a MUD, these are hard-coded and subject to change over the course of play -- hence they should not be included in the description. Write the description so it will apply whether your character is dressed in their holiday best or lying naked and vomiting in the alleyway in which they just got rolled.

By the same token, avoid actions in the description. Having your character wink every time someone looks at him or her would involve them twitching constantly and spasmodically. Again, write the description so it's applicable in a number of situations - don't include the sunlight glinting off their hair since they may not be outside; don't include them restlessly toying with their dagger since that dagger may have just gotten stolen or the character may be asleep. Avoid telling the looker things that wouldn't be apparent to the eye, such as the troubled expression in his or her eyes being attributable to the vile murder of their mother by gith. Provide the troubled expression, and let the onlooker draw their own conclusions.

Unlike a MUSH, you will not be able to modify the description once you're in the game, so it's worth spending some time figuring it out. It is possible to have it modified, but this involves the intervention of one of the immortals, and generally shouldn't be done except when the character has changed radically, as in aging twenty years, getting an eye poked out, etc.

Equipment, money, and food/water (and why you need them):

In a MUD, your character has hardcoded needs, including equipment, clothing, food, water, and the money with which to purchase these. Reading the help files will assist in understanding some of the command syntax, but most of it is relatively intuitive. You have wear locations, including face, head, hand, finger, legs, body, etc., on which different pieces of equipment can be equipped. Wear locations vary between races, but most humanoids have the same configuration. Clothing serves several purposes, including shielding your character from the effects of sand and wind as well as signalling her or his social status. You'll be able to buy a variety of clothing, as well as other goods, in the markets of whatever city you select as your starting point. The basic equipment you'll want will consist of appropriate clothing, a container such as a backpack, perhaps weapons, and the basic necessities: food and water.

Armageddon MUD has a coded eating and drinking system. In order for your character to live, he or she needs to ingest food and water from time to time. Prompts will let you know when you are hungry and thirsty. If you ignore these messages, it will have a definite effect on your character's health and can potentially kill them. Similarly, alcohol and substances like spice (a Zalanthan narcotic) will affect your physical abilities and well-being. Keep track of your stamina and stun as well - you can set your prompt to track these, and you'll learn that it's important to rest from time to time.

Pose and Emit (and why the MUD says "What?" when you type them):

The commands "pose" and "emit" do not exist on Armageddon MUD. "Pose" is replaced by the command emote and "emit" exists as an immortal only command. However, much of what was accomplished with emit can be done by the emote and pemote commands. Emotes can also be attached to a number of other actions, such as standing, sitting, resting, singing, whispering. looking, and talking.

MUSH example:
Command:
@emit As the dragon sweeps toward him, Bob holds his swords steady, his gaze fixed upon the beast.
Output (to both you and the room):
As the dragon sweeps toward him, Bob holds his sword steady, his gaze fixed upon the beast.

In Armageddon, with no emit command; you can receive the same results, by:
Command:
emote As the anakore springs toward him, @ holds his swords steady, his gaze fixed upon the beast.
Output to room:
As the anakore springs toward him, the tall, green-eyed man holds his swords steady, his gaze fixed upon the beast.

In an emote the @ symbol or the word "me" will substitute your short description. You can reference other players, npcs, and even objects in your emotes as well, and attach descriptions to a number of actions, such as speaking, singing, running, standing, etc. Again, this information is available in the helpfiles. Never use a person's name alone in an emote. If you do use a name preface it with a "~"(tilde) and it will substitute that person's short description for the name.

The Fine Art of Emoting (some do's and don'ts):

The first point to note to veteran MUSH'ers switching to a MUD RP style is that in emotes, never give to much information (more than your actual physical actions) In an emote. Just emote what they see your character do, not why he/she is doing it, or what he/she is thinking, or going to do next. There are a number of pointers in the emote examples helpfile.

Good emote:
The blue-haired, long fingered elf creeps quietly toward the fat, short-haired human, his hand resting on his dagger.

Bad emote:
The blue-haired, long-fingered elf creeps quietly toward the fat, short-haired human, his hand resting on his dagger as he contemplates whether he should kill the man, or just steal his purse.

In the second emote above, the watcher is given too much information, there is no way someone watching you creep up on the man, could know what you are thinking. However, the way to have a good emote, and yet still insert into the game what your character is thinking exists, is the think command. "Think Should I kill him, or steal his purse?" Won't show anyone in the room what you're thinking. But any staff watching, and you yourself, will know why your character is doing what she or he is.

Another point to note involves "setting the scene". When someone enters a room in Armageddon it is not necessary to do an emote, noting where you are sitting, or what you are doing. Occasionally, it can be helpful, but most times, it is not, and should be avoided. If you wish people to know what your character is doing when they enter a room, it is possible to change your long description, using the command "change ldesc "

Example:
Command:
change ldesc is here, playing cards.
Output:
Your new ldesc is:
The broad, muscled half-elf is here, playing cards.

Whenever someone enters the room, this is the description of your character they will see.

Languages are sometimes coded in a MUSH but vary greatly on Armageddon. You should never ever emote spoken words, as in: emote frowns, muttering "I'm so unhappy." Instead use say (frowning) I am so unhappy. Something like that. In a MUSH you just use the say command or emote like the above example and if it's in a different language you simply use the +lang command, or whatever it is per MUSH.

Consensual RP and Judged Combat (Storytelling vs. Roleplaying:

It may help to think of Armageddon as roleplay focused, while a MUSh is storytelling focused. That's not to say that Armageddon doesn't have storytelling, nor that a MUSH has no roleplay. But the focus is different in each.

When playing a MUSH, you are in complete control of your environment, even being killed requires you, the player, to commit to the necessary functions; though some MUSHs are consent only and some are not, it's still up to you to go to the @nuke room. Technically, there's nothing stopping a player from saying "Bah, you didn't kill me" and walking away, short of the other person +mailing staff, complaining, and hoping the staff replies. This applies to a lot of the game mechanics in a MUSH. One benefit is that you are like an imm, you get to create your own rooms, add features to your @desc (which varies per MUSH), features like +view and +scent, and so on.

Consensual RP differs radically on Armageddon. Consent is required for some scenes (torture, rape, sex) but it is not required, for someone to ask if they can kill you, mug you, pickpocket you, or perform any other action (Besides those listed in the rule of consent) to your character. Zalanthas, the world on which Armageddon is set, is a harsh planet, and it is quite likely that you will be killed, mugged, pick pocketed, or any other number of nasty actions possible at least once, within a few characters, this is within the rules of the game, as a hard-coded world, anyone can initiate hard-coded actions, without permission from their victim.

Judged combat, or emoted combat, does not exist on Armageddon, the MUD has a hard-coded combat system, and this is used to settle physical disputes. The combat system is extensively documented and the brief summary, and related topics, can be accessed via "help combat"

Idling (and why it's a bad idea on Armageddon):

In a MUSH people often take their sweet old time replying. Many people play several MUSHes at once. So it's not uncommon to wait five or ten (sometimes more) minutes, for someone to reply with a say or emote command. This would be considered highly rude in ArmageddonMUD and NOT commonplace at all.

Moreover, it keeps you from being able to react if something happens to your character, such as a pickpocket, or worse. Most players will refrain from doing bad things to a linkdead character, but would consider it well within their rights if the character is merely idle. If you absolutely must go afk, try to use the gone command.

A final note on OOC communication:

As a final note, there is no worldwide OOC communication in Armageddon: no channels, no pages. There is an OOC command that echoes to your current room, and which should be used very rarely. The only exception to this, is the command "wish" that can be used to communicate directly with the Armageddon staff. This should be used extremely sparingly, and the file "help wish" should be read before you use it.