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So what's this MUD thing then ? MUD stands for Multi-User Dungeon or Dimension but in more understandable words, it's a world that exists in a computer and your mind, that is occupied by other players like you and computer controlled players (NPC's). The Discworld MUD is based on the books by Terry Pratchett and if you have read the books you'll have a flavour of the MUD. Many people ask me how I can play for hours on a text based game and my simple reply is that playing on the MUD is like reading a book as playing a 3D blockbuster game is like watching a film. The descriptions help your imagination to carry you to a fantasy world far better than any game artist can draw ( particularly in 3D ).
Sorry but if your interested in playing on a MUD you'll need to learn a little jargon. I'll do my best to introduce it slowly and explain it so you get used to some of it before you start.
The Discworld has four types of occupants. First are the computer players I'm calling NPC's from now on. NPC's come in two flavours 'General' and 'Unique'. General NPC's don't have names, like poor beggars or old ladies. Unique NPC's have names, like Captain Carrot ( who you may remember from the books ). Similarly, real players come in two types 'Non Player Killers' (NPK) and 'Player Killers' (PK). Player Killers can kill and steal from each other and NPC's but Non Player Killers can only kill and steal from NPC's ( and visa versa ).
Having arrived in this world what do you do ? Well first off you'll probably wonder around looking naked. Very soon you'll realise that this place works like the real world and you'll need clothes and money ( particularly if it's raining or snowing! ). Shops, banks and post offices aren't much use without money so that will be your first ( all consuming ) goal. Searching will get you a few pence and if you could kill anything you would take money off the corpse. Best bet for the newbie ( as you'll be called by the other players ) is to pick up anything you find and search about and sell it in one of the general stores.
Don't worry about being a newbie, every player was a newbie once and the Discworld is a social place and almost all players will help. Best not to talk to them in the middle of a fight though. The Discworld is equipped with many ways for you to communicate. Say - to people around you. Shout - to every one in a mile or so radius. Whisper - to someone local to you or Tell - someone you know across any part of the Discworld. That's just a few of the ways to talk to other players but the most important one for a newbie is the newbie channel. If you type 'newbie' and a question like 'newbie how do I put this coat on ?' that will appear to every one on the Disc(world) as; (newbie) Fred asks: how do I put this coat on ? and before long some one will help with an answer. Don't be surprised to get 10 answers !
Having got your bearings you can then join a Guild. This is like getting a job or joining a club. You don't have to join but it has a number of advantages; Being part of a community will get you extra help and information throughout your time on the Disc, the Guild will teach you skills cheaply, Guild buildings will give you a base and a feeling of home and belonging, special commands are available to Guild members. A number of Guilds are in the pipeline but currently you can join one of the following; Warriors, Thieves, Assassins, Priest, Wizards and particularly for the ladies but not exactly a guild, you can become a Witch. You can expect to get special fighting, stealing or casting commands depending on what you join.
I hope this gives you some idea of what playing on a MUD is about and for a little more detail here is the Essentials and Frequently Asked Questions section from the Discworld MUD.
This is the essential command list, a 'must read' for all players who are new to Discworld. It lists those commands you really need to know. To find out more about the commands listed use 'help <command>' and before asking 'how do I do xxx?' remember to try 'help xxx'.
Parameters listed in < > are required and should be replaced by the required object or string. Parameters listed in [ ] are optional. Parameters separated by | are choices.
| Getting Help | |
|---|---|
| help [concepts|command_list] | show the help index! |
| godmother help | summon your fairy godmother to transport you back to the drum. |
| liaisons | list the liaison creators who are currently logged in |
| Navigation | |
| look [object] | look, or look at something |
| glance [object] | glance, or glance at something (this gives a shorter description than look) |
| north,south,etc. | Exits are listed in room descriptions just type the name of the exit |
| follow <person> | start following someone |
| unfollow <person> | stop following someone |
| lose <person> | stop someone following you |
| Communicating | |
| say <message> | say something. Some npcs respond to saying things for example: 'say help guide' in the presence of a guide will cause the guide to respond with instructions |
| tell <person> <message> | speak to another player |
| newbie <message> | ask a question on the newbie channel |
| smile <person> | Discworld has an extensive list of 'soul' commands. See 'help soul' for help on using the soul or 'look soul' for a list of the several hundred wonderful soul commands available. |
| Doing things | |
| inventory | list the things you have |
| hold <object> | hold something |
| unhold <object> | stop holding something |
| wear <object> | wear an item of clothing |
| remove <object> | remove an item of clothing |
| equip | wear/hold all your stuff |
| get <object>[from <object>] | get something |
| put <object> in <object> | put something in something else |
| drop <object> | drop something |
| About yourself | |
| score [stats|quests] | see your score |
| commands | show the guild commands that you know |
| gp | show information about your guild points |
| brief | put your display in brief mode |
| verbose | put your display in verbose mode |
| term [<terminal-type>] | display or change your terminal type (including turning colour on or off) |
| Reading things | |
| read <object> | Read an object |
| turn a page of <object> | Turn a page of a book or leaflet |
| Fighting things | |
| consider | gives you an idea how tough an opponent will be (read the caveats in the help file!) |
| kill | attack an opponent |
| tactics | adjust how you fight |
| wimpy | set yourself to runaway if your hitpoints get too low |
| monitor | show a regular display of your status |
| health [<person>] | show the health of the person. |
| Advancing | |
| help taskmaster | on Discworld you advance skills by doing them, the system for this is called the taskmaster |
| advance | you can advance at your guild by spending experience points and money (you can also learn from other players with the 'learn' command) |
This is a list of the Frequently Asked Questions of the Discworld MUD. This should save you a lot of time and frustration when playing the game.
Q: Where the hell am I? What's going on?
A: Calm down. Take a deep breath. Feel better? Good. Okay,
now we can talk. You are in a role playing game based on the series of books called Discworld written by Terry Pratchett. This game is
put together by people who:
a) like the books and/or
b) like to creates challenges for other people.
Q: That's all great. Really. But back to my original
question. Where am I?
A: You start out in a newbie area that should help
familiarize you with some of the concepts you'll run into while
playing the game. You'll need to help the poor Womble (and thus
accomplish your first quest!) before you can enter the actual
game.
Q: Where do I go first? Is there a beginner area?
A: There is no specific beginners area, besides the one in
which you started. The city where you start in, Ankh-Morpork, is
the closest thing, though it does have its dangerous sections.
Those are for the most part clearly marked.
Q: So what am I supposed to do?
A: Well, if you look at the bottom of the room description,
you'll see that there is something that tells you the obvious
exits. You can go in a direction by typing that exit name, or s for south, n for north and so on.
Q: I've got a question that's not listed here!
A: This is what the fancy newbie channel's made for. To ask
a question just use the newbie command ('help newbie'). All your
questions will be answered. Well, most of them at least.
Q: Now what smart guy?
A: Keep going. Explore a little. See if you can get a
picture of the game in your head. This is all up to your
imagination, so if you can't see it there, this is going to be a
little tricky. While you are doing this, you may want to make a map for yourself. Sure, they sell them, but the best way to get it
burnt into your brain is to make one yourself. After that, you
don't really need it anymore.
Q: I'm lost in this gods forsaken city!
A: Don't worry. Just lean back, relax and ask your fairy
godmother for help. Call on her by using the "godmother"
command ('help godmother'). She will help you get back to the Drum. But be carefull, eventually she will demand tribute for her
services.
Q: It's easier to get to the right subway station in New
York than to find that famous Temple of Small Gods. The map isn't
any help either!
A: Okay, okay. If you want to go ahead and find it the easy
way, I'll tell you how. But don't expect me to like it... *hrmpf*
In the Drum (as well as some other places) are guides who are there to... umm...guide you to some of the mayor locations in
Ankh-Morpork. To get one of them to help you, just say 'help' (as
long as there is a guide in the same room as you are). When you
found a place you'd like to go to, just say 'take me to X', where X is the place you'd like to go to.
Q: Okay, I walked around, got a little lost and I'd like
to do something more serious now. What do I do?
A: There are various guilds you can join: The warriors,
thieves, priests, wizards, witches, and assas... assass.. buggrit,
professional killers (never did learn how to stop spelling that).
You have to find the guild you want to join and go there (try 'help map'). There is a room in each guild where you will be allowed to
join it. Be warned: you can only join once per character. Be sure
before you choose.
Q: How do I know what's best for me?
A: Do you want to steal crap, be death from above, forward
the cause of your god, command the mysteries of the universe, or
strap on a sword and kill stuff?
Q: What is the best guild?
A: Each one has its good points and weak points:
| Warriors | Basic, no nonsense killing machines. Advanced fighting commands, braincells in the single digits, etc. |
| Thieves | These guys have tricks everywhere. Hiding, stealing, picking locks. The problem is that they also have a quota that they have to steal each week (and stay within). This is a popular profession. |
| Assissaiiasiis screw it | As a killing type person, you get to become an artist of inhuming (killing things, in an artful kind of way). Assassins must do the run, which can seriously reduce your lives and they *all* become player killers. Its not really for the first timer or the moron. Oh, and you get to wear a lot of black. |
| Priests | As a priest, you have a few choices. You pick a god and then get rituals, similar to Wizards' spells. A powerful priest is a popular person, due to their ability to heal (among other things). If you have some patience, the rewards are good. |
| Wizards | The toughest class. In the beginning, they can't fight, and they can't cast spells very well. They just sit there and fume a lot, feeling bitter. Hell, getting spells means going into the Library, which is a horrible experience if you don't have a map. Ask anyone. However, a high level wizard is one of the toughest people around. This guild is not for those that don't have a lot, and I mean a lot, of patience. |
Q: Okay, I joined a guild. What's the next step?
A: Type the word 'help'. This will give you a list of all
the basic concepts Discworld uses. Make sure you read the docs on
'liaisons', 'multiplechars', 'skills' and 'taskmaster'. Typing
'help command_list' will give you a list of all the commands
available to you as a player. There are a few others that you can
get help on later, as you get more skills. Go through the list one
by one so that you can get a feel for it. This may take you a
while.
Q: How should I rearrange my stats?
A: Everyone has different rules for how they set up their
stats through the command 'rearrange'. Here's a list of what they
are for:
| Strength | How strong you are. Says it all, really. |
| Dexterity | Think reflexes, and coordination. |
| Constitution | How resistant to disease and wounds you are. |
| Wisdom | Most useful for priests who use it for rituals & prayers. |
| Intelligence | Most useful for wizards who will be casting spells. |
Q: I've joined and I need cash.
A: There are lots of ways to make money. The best way for a
beginner is to walk around, collect the stuff lying on the ground
and sell it. DO NOT try to kill things. At this point, you can't
even kill the rats. And when you think of equipping stuff that you
find, remember, no one else picked it up for a reason. It's crap.
With a few rare exceptions.
Q: What is experience and why do I want it?
A: Experience points are not altogether necessary; our
lovely taskmaster(tm) system increases skills with use &
practice. However, experience is still handy for advancing skills
that aren't used very often. When you do certain things, you get
experience points (or xp for short). When you join a guild, you
can go to a special room in your guild and advance your skills,
which help you fight/steal/cast/pray better. The more xp you spend, the better you get at something.
Q: What about talking to people? What is the best
way?
A: Cursing is discouraged just because in a place where
everything is made of words, you should know how to be more
expressive. Don't worry about being too wordy though, no one is
expecting perfection or Shakesspear.
Q: You spelled that wrong.
A: *silence*
Q: I heard someone say ?afk brb? then they stopped
playing. Is that a disease of some kind?
A: No, there are lots of shortcuts that people use when
typing. Here are a few of the common ones.
| AFK | Away From Keyboard - this means a bathroom break or something. |
| BRB | Be Right Back |
| IMHO | In My Humble Opinion |
| BBL | Be Back Later - They are off to do something else. |
| AFAIK | As Far As I Know |
| BTW | By The Way |
| IIRC | If I Recall Correctly |
Q: Where do I go for experience?
A: There are two ways to get experience. The first is to
complete quests. The second is to kill things. A quest is, in
essence, a puzzle. You must accomplish a task, and once completed, may be rewarded with experience points, cash, weapons, special
items, a magical bonus or two to your stats or something else fun.
Some are easy, some are exceedingly tough. As a general rule, the
harder the quest, the better the reward.
Q: Any tips for fighting people?
A: Turn the command 'monitor' on. You can type 'help
monitor' for more detail. Don't let the hp get too low. You can
also use the wimpy command ('help wimpy') to make you automatically run away if your hit points get too low, but remember, some
monsters will chase after you. Occasionally while fighting, you
will see messages like, 'You feel that you can now block better.'
or something along that line. This is because the game is set up so that the more you do something the better you get at it. Isn't
this much nicer than "getting experience" and
"learning" at a guild? :)
Q: How do I find a quest?
A: Quests are what make the game a challenge. Otherwise, all you would do is walk around and kill stuff. Spotting quests can be
very hard at first. But don't get discouraged! Look at things
carefully, read the room descriptions, and the messages that appear in some rooms. To get you started you could have a look around the
river and in the post office. Asking for quest solutions is against the rules. If you're really stuck some nice players may give you a
hint, but don't go asking for solutions and don't ask creators. If
you're a little confused still about what exactly quests are, and
what is OK to ask, and what isn't, have a read through the quests
help page ('help quests').
Q: I searched around and got myself killed. I am now a
distant cousin of Casper. Am I stuck like this?
A: Nope. Go to Small Gods Street and find the entrance to
the temple of Small Gods. Go one south, one west, one up and one
east and you'll enter a room with Harry. He'll give you a new body. Watch it though, you only have seven lives. Maybe.
Q: Maybe?
A: Take a hint.
Q: How do I know who is a player and who is part of the
game?
A: Type 'finger', 'users' or 'who', and you will be given a
list of the people playing at that moment. It changes pretty
rapidly. Some times there are ten or fifteen people playing, other
times sixty.
Q: Why does it take my commands so long to do
sometimes?
A: That is called the lag. This game is played over the
Internet and there are lots of things to drag it down. Think about
keeping one hundred people playing the same game all at once. It's
gonna be slow sometimes.
Q: Does it help if I yell lag?
A: Nope. It will actually make it a little worse. It's not
much you can do about the lag as it can come up because of so many
different reasons. Getting a faster internet connection might help
sometimes. You could of course also kill the Lag. He walks around
Ankh-Morpork remembering the old days when lag was an important
part of the game. It won't decrease the actual lag but it might
make you feel better.
Q: How do I make friends?
A: When you enter a square with someone, say something
witty, like "Hi." Lots of people are willing to help a
newbie. You should be nice to people. This is a social experience
as well as a gaming one. Those are real people on the other ends of the terminals. Just because it's a computer screen doesn't give you a reason to be a jerk. Also type 'help inform'. The inform command
lets you know when people come and go on the Disc.
Q: How do I do that cool stuff like make my person sneeze and laugh and stuff?
A: Those are called "soul" commands. Type 'look
soul' for a very lengthy complete list.
Q: Should I attack other players?
A: Only registered player killers may attack other players
(who also must be registered player killers). This is mostly for
you, the newbie; things wouldn't be very much fun if you were
slaughtered moments after logging in.
Q: Why did Carrot arrest me?
A: Good question. Who knows? He gets in that kind of mood
sometimes. Trying to murder people in front of a constable
generally doesn't get them in a great mood.
Q: Can I kill Carrot?
A: *uncontrollable laughter*
Q: How long do I have to stay in jail?
A: Go get a drink and take a break. 15 minutes or so, real
time. You have to let your person sit there until you get let out,
or bailed for 25 dollars. There's a couple of other ways, but not
for newbies.
Q: So when will I lose the annoying title, newbie?
A: When you stop asking questions like that.
Q: Who's in charge of this place?
A: Type finger and in the list you'll see that a few names
have a 'C' or a 'H' or 'S' or something next to them.
C = A Creator, attached to a domain.
S = A Senior Creator, not always attached to a specific domain.
L = A Lord, in charge of the Creators of a domain and attached to
that domain.
H = A High Lord, in charge of Lords and General Admin, sometimes
attached to domains.
p = A Playtester, players who test new areas and seek out bugs for
Creators.
X = Someone who is still logging in.
Liaison Domain creators are there to liaise with and help the
players in general. To find out who's in Liaison just type 'finger
liaison'. These are the Creators, High Lords and so on that run the place. You can ask them about stuff, but for general questions, use the newbie channel. It's best not to really bother them unless you
have a good reason. Knowwuddimean?
Q: What about when I get sick of Ankh-Morpork?
A: First, make sure that you visit a few places. Some of
note are: the Patrician's Office, the Post Office, the Drum, and
the T-Shop (good luck *snicker*). They are central locations for
doing things like mail and getting information. After that, there
are a few gates that will let you out to the countryside where a
whole world of challenges await. Watch it though it's a little
tougher out there.
Q: How close is this to the books?
A: Vaguely. Some quests are easy if you've read the books.
Generally, it starts off from the books and goes on from there. The thing that is consistent is that it's all pretty goofy. In some
cases a deadly kind of goofy, but still goofy. Other MUD's are much more serious. Not this one.
Q: What if I don't like it here?
A: You don't have to stay. Thanks for giving it a whirl.
Q: What if I do like it here. How long till I become a
regular?
A: Forever. The game never ends and there are new quests
being added all the time. You'll know that you're getting good when your name appears on the top ten list in your guild.
Q: Who are you anyway?
A: I'm the letter A. :)
Q: I am laughing so hard. What was that thing after the
sentence?
A: Lighten up. That was a smiley face (turn your head
sideways) that meant that I was saying that in jest. You use those
when you talk to people because it's hard for people to see you
smiling at your screen.
Q: Who are you really?
A: Turtle. Your name tells people a lot about how you want
to be thought as. A name like Flatulence will not be treated
seriously. Yes, I know that this is supposed to have a light mood
to the place, but we're still human. It's tough to ever listen
sincerely to Flatulence. See what I mean? I mean, when Flatulence
enters the room, people are going to be naturally turned off. Also
keep in mind that when people talk to you they have to type your
name, so something like Qmartisimia will be kind of annoying to
type. Of course, a real name, like Bob, is kinda dull. Don't try to be clever either. People will laugh the first time. But in the
months that follow, it'll get old. Just remember this is the only
name you'll get.
Q: Do you have any suggestions?
A: Flatulence.
Q: When do I get good enough to be a creator?
A: The real question is: Do you want to?
Q: Okay, do I want to?
A: Glad you asked. Creators are a far cry from players. As a player, you have the challenge of exploring and reaching new goals. As a creator, you can do anything and get anything. Not much
challenge in gaming terms. A reason to become a creator is if you
were the always the Dungeon Master. You like to create the
challenges and you know how to program. Once you become one, the
game will never be the same because you've seen all the secrets.
You have to be ready to work really hard, helping people, answering questions, all while trying to finish the project your Lord
assigned you. :) It's not all fun and games.
Q: So how do I become one?
A: There are certain requirements to becoming a creator:
* You must be at least two days old
* You must have completed at least 20% of the quests
If you've done all this you can apply in an office in the
Patricians Palace in Ankh-Morpork.
Good Luck!