The Immortal staff of DragonStone has put together this guide of the most common questions asked on our public channels and on our note boards. We hope this will help the new players in the mud get a good start in the Land. The topics covered here are as follows:
MUD - Multi User Dungeon - is a computer simulation in which the players assume the roles of other beings (most often fantasy) and roam a world in order to solve puzzles, defeat monsters or simply meet and chat with other people. Each user takes control of a computerized character. You can walk around, chat with other characters, explore dangerous monster-infested areas and solve puzzles. You can also get lost or confused if you jump right in, so be sure to read this document before starting. You get text information about where you are, what you see and control your character by typing in certain commands. While you do that you are not alone. You can meet and interact not only with computer characters but with living people.
When describing the world of DragonStone to non-mudding friends, one of the questions they invariably ask is, "So, what is the point?" Well, the conversation that comes next is usually along the lines of, "To kill mobs. The more mobs you kill, the more experience you gain. The more experience you gain, the more levels you get. The more levels you get, the more powerful you become." And this generally satisfies them. But, as any veteran player will tell you, there is a lot more to this game than that. DragonStone is an online social community.
As the message on the starting screen says, it should be a medieval name. Some of the things to be avoided when selecting a name are:
DragonStone has a strict name policy and if the name is found to be unsuitable, you may be asked to recreate your character.
Chances are an online immortal has decided that the name you have chosen totally violates the standard for name selection. It is nothing personal; please try again with another name. If you are at a loss to find the right name, given below are some links to random name generators that could help you to find one.
You should pick a password just as you do for any computer account. Use a word, phrase or anagram, that isn't obvious. Don't, for instance, use the same name as your character, or your own first name, or your girl/boyfriend's name. And never use the same password as the one on your computer account. It's also not a good idea to use the same password on different MUDs, since if your password gets out on one MUD, all your MUD characters have been compromised. If you use the auto-login feature of your client, protect the file containing the login information against reading by others. If you have reason to believe that someone has got access to your password, change it (using the password command). Always keep a hard copy of your password somewhere. If you have forgotten your password, do not ask the immortals for it. For reasons of safety, they would not divulge the password unless they are absolutely sure the character is indeed yours.
Next, you have to choose a race. Once again, choose wisely, as you will be stuck with it. Each race and class have an upside and a downside. If this is your first time here, you could start by playing a human, as they are well-rounded, without advantages or disadvantages. For more detailed descriptions of the races, look at the section on the website. Choosing a class is just as important as your race, as it decides what skills/spells you are able to learn. Most people choose a class first, then choose their race accordingly. This is a good idea, because your race can restrict your ideal class choices.
There are advantages and disadvantages for being either single or multiclassed. Being single classed means relatively faster leveling, since the experience needed to level is much less. On the flip side you abandon the skills and spells of the other class. If you are a first timer and decide to multiclass, you could chose some combination of fighter and spellcaster. The first would offer the fighting skills, the latter the protective spells.
Several factors enter the calculations when making this choice.
Leveling a fighter first tends to be easier at the lower levels because of the higher hit points, but involves sacrificing the higher percentage of skills gained (thus, less probability of succeeding with a spell/skill) and lesser effectiveness of the skills/spells of the second class.
The word "mob" means mobile, which stand for a monster creature in the mud. NPC is also a synonym of mobile and stands for Non-Playing Character. As for PC, well you may have guessed.
To begin with, identify the monster you want to fight. Second, determine a keyword for the mob. A keyword is the word to describe it, like dog, zombie, fighter, etc. If you can't figure out what it is, try using the scan command. Type scan, and it will give you the name of not only the creature in the room, but also those within three rooms of you in every direction (unless there is something about the room(s) that specifically prevent you from scanning). Third, type kill <keyword> or k <keyword>. This command will automatically start combat. You will fight the mob until 1) you die or flee, or 2) the mob dies or flees.
NOTE: As you gain levels, you may gain spells or skills to be used in combat. Some of these can only be used to start combat.
Some mobs will attack a player first for no apparent reason. If a mob does that it is said to be "aggressive" or "aggro". There is no way to tell for sure whether a mob is aggro or not until you enter the same room as it (although some mobs do have names that would serve as a strong indication that they are). If you are not sure if a mob is aggro or not, and you think you might get killed, ask other players while online.
Sometimes you may find that you have got yourself into a fight that you feel you will just not be able to win. There are a few things that you can do to avoid getting killed:
You can use the con or consider command to see what your chances of success against a mob are. Type con <mobname> for a comparison of your and the mob's level and hitpoints. The mob's magical shields and class-specific skills do not enter into the comparison.
When you enter a new area and find that the first few mobs con as being unexpectedly hard, recalling would be in order.
It is safer to push any mobs you don't want to fight out of the room before initiating combat (The syntax is: push mob <direction>). This way, you and your target mob will be left to fight without any outside intervention. Please note, however, that some mobs cannot be pushed.
Fighting in a group has certain advantages since members of a group can fight relatively harder mobs for more experience and kill mobs that are already killable much faster. The only restriction on groups is based on level. To be able to group with someone, the players need to be within 5 levels; to follow, one has to be within 20 levels. You can group with someone, by typing follow <player's name>. The leader then adds you to his or her group by typing group <name of person> to group a single individual at a time or group all to add all those players that are following into the grou). Those following someone, as the name suggests, move automatically wherever the leader is going (hidden exits and rooms which have certain entering restrictions are an exceptions). Group members share experience points from kills (as long as they are actually in the room where the kill has been made) and divide the coins obtained from the corpse of the dead mob (assuming autogold and autosplit options are on). They can also use the gtell command to communicate with others in the group. If anyone in your group is attacked, you will automatically join the fight.
Yes, there is the Kill History (KH) Command. It lists your last 30 different kills, if you kill something on this list it will be added to the total, it is not classed as another kill.
Areas reset at regular intervals between 3 and 15 minutes, depending on a) whether or not the area is a newbie area and b) whether there are people remaining in the area. If you want the mobs to come back, leave the area, and stay out till they return.
You can use weapons. However, if you are a monk, you also get a damage advantage
if you are using your fists.
As a player spends time in the land, fights and kills mobiles and quests, he accumulates experience points. If you get enough points, you gain a level. The higher level you are, the more powerful you become. Upon gaining a new level, your maximum hit points, mana, and movement points go up. You also gain a certain number of practice points. Practice points are used to raise your stats, and learn spells, skills, or languages.
The experience you get from a kill depends on several things: how many players are in your group, your level versus the level of the monster, your alignment versus the monster's alignment, how many of this monster have you killed lately, and some random variation.
If you are a single classed character, you require less exp to gain a level [formula being 10000 + (your level x 750)], unlike dual classed characters that require 15000 + (your level x 1250). The higher in level you are, the more experience you will need to earn to level. You can lose experience by fleeing, recalling from battle, and dying.
There are 5 attributes in DragonStone, each having their own effects. The higher your attributes, the better. Your permanent attributes are influenced by your first class (your second class plays absolutely no role) and race modifications. The current attributes are also influenced by the spells currently affecting you and the modifications of your equipment. When you look at your score, the first number is your base attribute; it is the attribute you have while naked with no spells. The second number is with all modifiers added to it. The five attributes are:
HP (Hit Points) refers to the state of your health. When someone hits you, you lose some hps, when you are down to nothing you die. How hard the mob you are fighting is reflected in the loss of hps caused by it. Mana works like hit points- when you cast a spell it will cost you some mana points, when you are down to nothing you can't cast anymore. Moves are Movement Points that are lowered each time you move from one room to another, when you are down to nothing you cannot move. All of these stats are regained during the game. Sleeping or resting will increase your regeneration rate. Therefore, this can and will help you greatly.
Vampires do not use mana, relying on blood instead. Blood points may be regenerated by drinking blood or by the use of the feed skill. They CANNOT be regenerated by resting.
You can raise your statistics and attributes with build points. Training an attribute costs three building points for your class's prime statistic, and 5 building points for all the others. To train you need to:
After this your attribute will be raised by one permanently or the statistic by a random number. You can only train your attributes to a certain point. The limit you can train any of your attributes is determined by your class and race combination.
As you gain levels, you have the ability to learn a variety of spells and/or skills. The slist command lists all the spells and skills you can learn, at what level you can learn them and how much it would cost you to do so. All spells and skills that you can use start at 0%. This means that you have the ability to use them, but you just do not know how yet. When you practice a spell or skill, your learning percentage for the spell or skill will go up. Practicing a spell or skill requires a certain number of practice points. This number is listed to the right of the name of the spell/skill in the slist. To view the spell/skill list for a specific class, just type slist followed by the three letter code for that class. For example, slist war or slist mag.
To practice a spell or skill you need to:
Once you have practiced the skill or spell at least once, you can begin using it. The main difference between spells and skills is that casting spells costs mana points.
Most spells follow a basic syntax. Just type c <spellname> <target> where <spellname> is the name of the spell and <target> is the keyword of the thing you want to cast it on. If the spell is a two word spell (such as magic missile), you must enclose the name of the spell in single quotes ('). For example, to cast magic missile at a boar you would type: c 'magic missile' boar. Many spells and skills have the same syntax, but if you are not sure how to use one of your spells/skills, just type help <spell/skill> while online to read the helpfile on it.
[The single exception to this that of first class bards who, being more poetically inclined, sing their spells. Persons that are bards in their second class cast their spells like everyone else].
Skills act as commands. An example is the thief skill 'backstab'. To backstab a mob, you would type bs <target> (you could type backstab instead of bs, but bs is much easier to type and does the same thing).
(Be careful when using certain skills/spells because they cause you to become temporarily stunned. Some of the important ones which do this are: disarm, kick, punch, BS, and awe.
Most do. Practicing a skill/spell takes the percentage to which the skill/spell has been learned from the original 0% up by a fixed percentage depending on your current wisdom. You can subsequently improve your skills further by casting the spell or using the skill learned. As the percentage to which the skill has been learned rises, the chances of your success with it increases. Also, in the case of certain offensive skills/spells, the amount of damage done increases with higher percentage.
Of course some skills are automatic once you practiced them; they work most of the time without you having to do anything. Some examples of this are multiple attacks, dual and dodge.
Okay, you died. It happens to everyone sooner or later, so don't get disgruntled. After you die, you reappear in the morgue. You would have lost some of your experience points and the spells affecting you are canceled. All of your equipment is, naturally, with your corpse. If you die at or under level 20, you and your corpse will be transferred here as well, but after level 21 you will have to go back to where you died. Get your equipment from the corpse and save. You will then have to enter <your portal of choice>. After that you will have to go back to the place of your death to find your corpse. Of course, if you have no luck in finding your corpse you will have to re-equip yourself with no armor to aid you. You only have a limited time to get your equipment before it rots and your equipment is left on the ground (30 minutes real time). You can see why it is very important to remember where you died. If you can't find it, you could lose all your stuff permanently.
To get your corpse, you can:
See the help file for costs associated with the recover command.
You can move in any direction for which the room you are in has exits. These exits might be in the form of hallways, doors, stairs, or secret passages. To move in any of these directions, just type the name of the direction, or abbreviate it by typing just the first letter of the direction (e.g. to move north type north or n).
It does. There is usually a hint in the description of the room indicating its presence. If you suspect that there is a hidden exit in a particular direction, use the search command (search <direction>) to find it. You will not be able to use a hidden exit until you have searched for it, and once you have moved from that room, or found another hidden exit in the room, you will forget about the exit you found.
If you are about to fight a mob that resides in a room with one exit only which happens to be hidden, it is strongly advised to enter, search for the exit and then start fighting in order to ensure that there is a place left for you to flee.
Doors can be opened and closed like they can be in real life (type open <direction>). If they are locked, they can be unlocked with the right key. Thus, if you see a closed door leading east, type open east. If it says its locked, find its key and keeping it in your inventory, type unlock east. If you are a thief you could also try picking the lock (pick east, assuming you have the skill practiced). If you are a warrior, you could also bash the door down (bash east, but remember the door once bashed down cannot be closed again until the mud reboots). Keep in mind that not all locks can be picked or doors bashed down. Finally shadows and those having the passdoor spell or one of its derivatives cast on them can pass through some closed or locked doors. (A word of caution in the latter case, if you walk into a room inhabited by an aggressive mob having only one closed exit, you will be unable to flee through it once combat is joined).
If the key to some room/s has to be obtained by killing something, or getting it involves ANY risk, ALWAYS drop it in a safe place before entering the area. If you die in there, and are unable to get the key to the door that leads to the room with the corpse, you might run the risk of losing it. Keys last only one session. If you quit while it is still in your inventory or equipment, it will disappear.
New adventurers in the realm may recall by typing recall. Those level 11 and above have to use the spell 'word of recall' (assuming they can practice it) or use scrolls of recall. Recite recall works only when you have a scroll of recall, and you must have practiced the scroll skill.
Some rooms have certain peculiarities associated with them. Some of these include:
You regenerate movement points, hit points, and mana as time passes. You regenerate the fastest when you are sleeping, a little less while resting or sitting, and slowest while standing.
The scan command will show you the names of any PC or NPC that is in the adjacent rooms. The spell scry (assuming you can practice it), when cast enables you to actually take a peek into the adjoining room. When affected by it, typing look <direction> gives the description of the adjoining room lying in that direction, exits leading in and out, and the names of the mobs and objects therein.
In addition to walking there are spells which magically transport you to other places.
Drop (drop <object>) drops an object on the ground. Get (get <object>) gets an object, either lying on the ground (get <object>), or from a container (get <object> <container>), or even from a corpse (get <object> corpse). Take is a synonym for get. Give (give <object> <character>) gives an object, to another character.
Most object manipulation commands allow the use of #.object format, where #
is a number or the word "all". For example, if you had five daggers
and you wanted to give the third one away, you would type give 3.dagger <name>.
If you feel like getting rid of all the daggers that are cluttering your inventory,
you could type "drop all.dagger".
If you want to drop only a certain number of an item, you just type 'drop #*item',
where # is the number of that item you want to drop. Example: drop 6*key.
The trans or transport command was created as a convenience to players to pass items between themselves when they are far apart throughout the mud. Typing trans <item> <player> would, if he can hold the weight and has space for it, take it to that player's inventory.
Likewise, the auction command may be utilized. A person who is unable to hold any more weight (say because of poisoning) would be nevertheless able to receive additional auctioned items. Thus, pills/potions of cure poison may be obtained by asking someone to auction a green when poisoned and stuck in an aggressive area.
You read it by typing read <keyword>. It is basically the same as look, but has been introduced for role play purposes.
Often when writing a description, some extra text is added which can only be made visible if you look at it. Thus, a room description of a room may mention the existence of a book, or a book may mention its chapters. In order to do so, you have to identify the keyword for the same- book, chapter name (This is often, but not always, distinguished by different coloring of the letters). All extra descriptions are not necessarily inscriptions and could often offer more detailed descriptions of anything alluded to in the room.
Examine is another derivative of the look command. With armor and weapons examining an object makes one look at it and gives an indication of the condition it is in. With other types of items it only gives the same information that look would give.
Please note however, that the information about the state of the object is fairly unreliable…
You can get equipment from the corpses of the mobs that you kill. In addition, some equipment can be obtained as a reward of quests (either from the questmaster or as part of area quests). Finally, there are shops in the land that sell equipment. Explore the areas for equipment to find the right mix. As a rule of thumb, items obtained as part of quests tend to be better than normal items.
You can see the equipment you are wearing by typing equipment (eq). You can see what you have picked up by typing inventory (inv or i).
How you wear your equipment depends on its type. Some of the commands are hold, wear, wield and remove. These commands will take an object from your inventory and take it into your equipment. Hold is for light sources, wands, and staves. Wear is for armor, and wield is for weapons. Wear all will attempt to hold, wear, or wield one item in each equipment slot available.
No. Whatever equipment you have been wearing or had accumulated will be saved on you when you log off. There are only two exceptions to this rule: items above your level and keys. You cannot use any equipment that is a higher level than you, and you cannot save any equipment of higher level when you quit. If you quit with any equipment of higher level than you in your possession, it will disappear, and you will not have it when you log back in.
You may unable to use an item if its is above your level, has flags that mark it anti- your class, race or alignment, is above your level or is too heavy for you. Identifying an item will reveal the reason why it is unusable for you.
Basically the more the better. A fighter has 25 slots whereas a pure spellcaster 26 (type help equipment slots when in the mud to get the detailed list of slots available).
This means the item is cursed. You need to wear/hold the item and have a cleric or druid remove the curse from you. If you do not have the spell, and no one is at hand to cast it, use scrolls or potions of curse removal for the same. The spell will not succeed unless the item is actually in your equipment.
The best way to know the statistics of an item is to identify it. Doing an ID on the item will reveal all there is to know about the item enabling you to decide whether it fits your needs. To ID something you could use the spell 'identify' or use scrolls of identify sold in shops.
You could also try using the compare command, but that is fairly unreliable. For armor it only compares the basic armor class and for weapons the average damage of weapons. Assorted added effects do not enter the calculation.
Wearing most items modifies your stats in certain ways. Thus, wearing armor tends to increase your ability to protect yourself and wielding a sword tends to raise your capability to inflict damage on mobs. These effects are reflected in identify which shows the effects of wearing the equipment. Some of the common effects on equipment are hitroll, damroll, armor class, saving throw, attributes, stats and spells. Please note that not all modifiers may be beneficial to you.
That is because hit and damroll aren't the only factors that determine the amount of damage a weapon does. Other factors include the average damage of the weapon, the nature of enchantments on it, the damage type and weight of the weapon itself. Furthermore, the weapon may have other affects like additional armor class or hps that cushion the amount of damage done to you by the mob.
The item's armor class reflect its effectiveness to withstand damage caused
by spells or weapons. It acts as an indication of the sturdiness of the item,
so the higher this armor class the better. When an item affect the armor class
it means that the item will change your AC by the number specified, so the lower
the better. Both these figures are added to the calculations of your armor class.
This means that wearing this item would ensure that you remain affected by this spell as long as you are actually wearing it. Such items tend to be rare. The spell in question is usually a protective spell.
If you are able to use the piece of equipment, i.e. its level is not above yours and it has no flags making it unusable for you, you should be able to use this spell. There are even a few very powerful items that give your character a spell that you normally would not have; these few items are usually very hard to get. If the item having invokes is in the worn in eyes slot, the command for invoking it is stare, and not invoke.
The item is level 10, so it means that a player needs to be of level 10 or higher to be able to hold the wand. If the player invokes the item, it will cast the listed spell as a level 27 spell.
Containers are objects that you can place other objects in. They vary in size, and some containers can be used as armor. Containers allow you to carry more items than you normally can in your inventory.
To place an item into a container, type put <item name> <container name>, where <item name> is the name of the item to put inside the container, and <container name> is the name of the container. To take an item from a container type get <item name> <container name>. To look inside a container type look in <container name> or l i <container name> for short.
Sometimes there are items in the mud that look as if they could belong together, for example: a sword hilt and a blade of a sword. One can try to see if they belong together by trying to join them (join <first item> <second item>).
When you kill mobs, they usually drop body parts: limbs, hearts, eyes, etc. Pick these up and eat them. This is a quick and easy way of ensuring a full stomach. Guts are poisoned, so don't eat them.. You may also buy food at any city bakery store. You can buy water skins at any city general store. Most cities also have fountains and pools for their thirsty citizens. To view the items sold and price in a store that you are in, type list. Store lists will show you the item, level, and price. By typing eat <food name> (e.g. eat tart), to drink type drink <container>.
If you get hungry and/or thirsty, and you do not have any food or drink, you will not regenerate hit points, mana, or movement points much at all (due to starvation, dehydration). Starvation and dehydration are rarely fatal.
Once the liquid in a container is finished, the container always vanishes.
To prevent this fill you waterskin at regular intervals. The command to do that
is fill <container> <water source> (e.g. fill waterskin fountain).
Also please note that you cannot refill a container with a liquid other than
that it was intended for, e.g. filling water in a wine jug.
Drinking alcoholic beverages tends to make people drunk. Side effects often include disjointed speech and lack of muscular coordination that causes people to wander off into directions they had not intended. Consequently, it is not recommended that people under the influence of alcohol try to talk on public channels (if they want to be understood that is). Fighting in aggressive areas under heavy influence may take you straight into the jaws of death.
To use a potion type quaff <potion name>, where <potion name> is the name of the potion. To eat a pill type eat <pill name>, where <pill name> is the name of the pill. By eating a pill, or quaffing a potion, you will receive the effects of the spell contained in it. Some effects are good, others are bad. The best advice (like real life) is don't put anything in your mouth unless you know what it is.
White potions restore mana. Blues have one charge of the heal spell and most reds have two. Green potions and pills tend to be have the 'cure poison' spell.
Magic wands, staves, and scrolls allow you to use magic spells that you may be able to cast normally. Be sure to identify these items to ascertain what they do before using them. Scrolls can only be used once and once used vanish. You recite scrolls, zap wands and brandish staves. One has to hold the wand or staff while using which would mean removing any dual wielded weapons that you may be using at the time.
Having an enchanted weapon tends to be quite helpful. It could either come that way or one can ask one of the players to enhance it for you. The three principal enchantments are:
Poison (thief-43, bard-72), though not technically an enchantment, also improves your weapon. A weapon can have only one enchantment at a time (unless the item originally has one of these enchantments). A weapon with a magical flag cannot be enchanted, but it can be poisoned. A poisoned weapon also poisons the victim, giving them the chance to die without giving the player experience at small levels.
The Paladin's and Cleric's Holy Sword spell and the Mage's Enchant Weapon spell are also enchantments that enhance the hit/damroll on a weapon. However, you would have to remain the same alignment as the caster to use it
Can I also enhance armor?
Yes, Clerics, Druids, and Paladins have the spell 'enhance armor' that would
increase the ac on an item. However, but it would be rendered unusable to those
other than the caster's alignment. Consequently, be careful before having it
cast on your equipment because you might find it fall off your back in the middle
of combat.
You can see who is online by typing who, this will show you an list of all
players currently online, with their level, class, race and name of player (including
those that may be affected by spells that render them otherwise invisible to
you.
Typing who without an argument enables you to see who is online giving their name, title, clan status and level, their level and class/race combo. Other options include
Syntax: who <level-range>
Syntax: who <class>
Syntax: who <class> <level-range>
who immortal lists all immortals playing.
who playername shows you the specified player.
You could also check who is currently online without being actually connected to the mud by checking the webwho on the website.
Who gives a variety of information, often in a fairly abbreviated form. Some of the abbreviations in use include:
| <O> | Outcast | [PK] | Player Killer | [Legend] | Player above level 80 and below 150 |
| [BH] | Bounty Hunter | [Champion] | Player level 150 and above | ||
| [Mentor] | One of the Mentors. The legend flag will appear green of the legend is also a Mentor. |
Type wizlist in the mud to find the list of immortals along with their levels. Typing mentors will produce a list of Mentors.
There are several channels that can be used for communication. Some are public channels- channels that can be heard by all persons who have access to them. Thus, as in real life, if you shout, everyone around you would be able to hear what you are saying. Other channels are private channels that are accessible to only the single individual it is addressed to. In addition there are other channels in the game that are used exclusively to send information to the players.
You can type ‘channels’ to find out what channels are currently accessible to you. The fist of channels may be obtained in DragonStone. As you can see each has its own purpose, and you would be expected to use them in an appropriate manner. Please note however, that immortals can hear ALL these channels, including those of your clan.
| chat | For IC conversation. '.' is a synonym for CHAT. |
| ooc | For OOC discussions |
| class | For discussion by all members of the same class |
| music | Talk about music, or sing a song |
| newbie | Channel accessible to new players (11 and below) and mentors |
| shout | Sends a message to all awake players in the world. |
| clan | Accessible to members of the same temple |
| yell | Yell something to the other people in the area you are currently in |
The OOC channel, or Out-Of-Character channel, is to be used whenever something is discussed that your "character" would not normally say. Aspects of the game, comments on life outside DragonStone, and cross-character statements ("My alternate is a level 84 werewolf") are made here. In contrast, use chat only to say what for example a elven paladin/druid would say; everything else goes to ooc.
Some examples of the types of issues appropriate for chat and OOC are as follows:
| IC (In character, use chat) | OOC |
|---|---|
| Can someone help me retrieve my corpse? | I do not have enough exp or QP to recover my corpse! |
| You stole my Morphic, now you will pay! | Statistics about anything (damroll, levels, to-next-levels) |
| My haste spell has worn off, may I get another? | Client (tintin, gmud, etc.) discussions |
| Discussions about bugs, crashes, or ideas | |
| Stating that you have an alternate character that can do something |
You have the ability to turn the channel off and turn it back on when the conversation is over. However, please keep in mind that in so doing you may be missing something useful that may be said on that channel. The syntax for turning a channel of is ‘channels -<channel>’ and to turn it back on is ‘channels +<channel>’.
You can. It is called the ‘ignore’ command. This command can be use to ignore a number of players for a session. Typing in ignore <player> will simply toggle that player on and off your ignore list, which can be seen by typing ‘ignore’ by itself. Your ignore list will be cleared every time you log out. This is to encourage you to settle your differences instead of merely ignoring them. Please note that clan officers and Immortals cannot be ignored.
As in real life, one has the option of communicating with a smaller group of people, instead of shouting what you are saying to the whole world. There are four special communication commands: say, tell, reply and gtell.
The say command sends a message to all awake players in your room. Type say <message>, where <message> is what you want them to hear. The single quote (') is a synonym for SAY. The tell command sends a message to one awake player anywhere in the world. Type tell <player> <message>, where <player> is the person you want to talk to, and <message> is what you are trying to say. You cannot send a tell to a person you cannot see for some reason. The reply command sends a message to the last player who sent you a tell, and reply will work even if you can't see the player. Please note however, that if you are currently conversing using tells with more than one individual you might accidentally send a reply to the wrong person, at times with embarrassing to hilarious or embarrassing results. The identity of the person to whom a person is sending a reply will not be revealed.
Group tell (GTELL) sends a message to all of the characters in your group, wherever they are, even if they are sleeping or stunned or dying. ';' is a synonym for GTELL. You can GTELL no matter what your own condition is (i.e., sleeping, fighting, mortally wounded).
Each race in DragonStone has its own language. Consequently, every character will automatically know the language of his or her own race and Human (which serves as a link language). One can increase one’s proficiency in the same by practicing it (practice <language name>). Languages do not improve with use, and have to be practiced all the way up to 100% proficiency. If you try to speak in a language that you have not practiced completely, other people would not always be able to understand you, nor would you be able to understand them. To speak in another language you must first set the language you want to speak in (speak <language name>). If you want to return to speaking human/common, type speak human.
Learning a language of another race will require a certain amount of intelligence and practice points. To see the requirements on a particular language, use the languages command when in the mud.
The emote command allows you to interact with other players in the same room by different actions rather that by speaking. For example, if you typed ‘emote smiles big and wide’, then everyone in the room will see "<your name> smiles big and wide" where <your name> is your character's name. This command is especially helpful if one wants to express feelings and perform customized actions within the mud.
No. By using the remote command one can effectively emote in another room as well. Type remote <target player's name> (action), to send an emote to a player in another room.
Socials are a standard list of emotes. They are invoked by typing the name of the social, and the target of the social. Typing social by itself will bring up a list of all the socials available (There are over 200 socials in the list). For example if you wanted to smile at another character in the same room, you would type smile <target> where <target> is the name of the person you want to smile at. Please try out the socials before you use them on someone else to avoid possible misunderstandings, embarrassment and confusion.
When you log into the mud you are told what, if any new notes have been posted since you were on last. They are divided under several heads, or boards, depending on the nature of their content. Typing ‘messages’ will enable you to see the total number of notes that await you. I would suggest reading help note example for how to write notes. It is rather long, but is reasonably comprehensive. If you feel compelled to add color to your note, please try to ensure that it is legible. Some people have difficulty reading black and dark blue, while others find excessively bright colors painful to the eye.
Notes are automatically removed after 7 days. If a person has not been on during this time to read his or her mail, he will have missed it.
DragonStone supports online help using the help command. Just type help <topic>, where <topic> is the topic you want help for, and the information on that topic will be displayed. The keywords include all the commands, spells, and skills listed in the game. Help without any arguments shows a one-page command summary.
If you are unable to determine what keyword to use to find the information you want, you can use the helpfind command (helpfind <topic you want to find>). When using this command try to make your keyword as specific as possible. Thus, helpfind mud will list several help files with mud in the keyword, whereas help I want to go to mudschool will list nothing.
A Mentor is a player who has decided to dedicate some of his time to helping the new players of the realm. If you are new and want to know how to get started, where to go or have any other questions, ask them for help. The newbie channel has been specifically coded in to enable members to answer your questions. Please note, however, that they are not here to help players to get equipment or spells, although a mentor may do so if he wishes.
The Immortal staff are the people who run the mud. They enforce policies, run quests, fix problems, as well as a myriad of other tasks. If you have a question that another player cannot answer, feel free to ask any Immortal online. After you ask, be patient. Most of the time, the staff is quite busy, and it might take a minute or two to get to your problem, but they will answer.
Most of the players are very friendly. Everyone started at level 1, and so many people probably have had the same questions as you. The best way to ask a question is on the channels and your question shall probably be answered.
It is important to deposit money accumulated by you in banks that are located in various parts of the land. Doing so prevents its loss caused by your death and subsequent inability to reach your corpse. Also there are thieves who would be only too ready to steal your money. Some of the commands in use are DEPOSIT <# of coins> <gold/silver/copper> which will deposit this number of coins into your account and WITHDRAW <# of coins> <gold/silver/copper> which will withdraw this number of coins from your account. Typing account within the bank premises will tell you what your current balance is.
When within a bank, typing store <name of item to be stored> will store an item in locker. A 1000 gold charge per item is deducted from your account when logging into DragonStone. Store alone lists items in your locker. You can retrieve the item by typing retrieve <item name>.
1 gold=10 silver=100 Copper
Shops will automatically calculate if you have enough money on you to purchase an item, even if you do not have the correct amount in the desired currency and charge you in the currency type that you do have.
You can also convert money in the bank by typing convert <amount> <currency your converting> <currency your converting to>. The bank will however deduct a conversion charge for undertaking this.
You can find out what is available for sale in a shop by typing list. At times there are several objects of the same type, having similar names being sold at the same time. One can ask for a list of only items of a particular type by typing List <object>, which lists only the items corresponding with <object> the shopkeeper will sell you. Show Items will also list the items you can buy.
Buy also allows the use of #.object format, where # is a number or the word "all". For example, if List dagger showed you that a shopkeeper had five daggers, and you were interested in buying the third one, you would type "buy 3.dagger". Having chosen the item you are interested in, you buy it from the shop keeper.
It is possible to buy more than one item of the same type at once by typing buy <object name> <number of items wanted>. This is especially important when buying items like scrolls and potions.
Yes, you can. However, please keep in mind that shopkeepers specialize in the type of things that they are ready to buy and sell. Thus, an armor smith will probably not purchase potions from you. Also shopkeepers prefer to keep only a limited stock of any item. When several items of the same type are sold to the same shopkeeper, the amount of money he is ready to give for the item comes down and he would ultimately refuse to buy any more items of that type. The Value command asks the shop keeper how much he will buy the item for.
When selling back items previously purchased from a shop keeper, the money that the shopkeeper will give you is likely to be less than that you had originally spent to purchase it.
There are two options for doing the same:
Those under level 5 are strongly advised to stay within the mudschools. Each town of DragonStone has its own mudschool at present- Bethaven, Ravenwood and Arnath. These contain instructions on how to play, are a good source of starting equipment and have the mobs specifically designed for that level. After that (level 5-10), the academy is a fairly good place to be in. You could also start exploring the rest of the world.
There is a list of all available area's that are on the mud that can be viewed by typing areas. This will show you every available area, its recommended level range and the name of its builder. If you want to view only the areas of a particular level, you could either type areas <level you want to find> (eg. Areas 10) or areas <lower level> <higher level> (e.g. areas 5 15, to find areas in the 5-15 level range).
There are maps available on the website and you can also get a map by typing help map world within the game.
The recommended range of an area is just that- a range. The lower limit is the level of the easiest mobs in the area and the highest is that of the hardest mobs. In an area that has mobs over a 20 or 30 levels range, some sections may have mobs that are relatively harder than others. Also its possible that there may be more mobs falling towards the higher side of the recommended range.
Here in Dragonstone we have 4 types of quests. The first quest you face when you enter here is what we term a static quest. The second and more frequently used quests are the automated ones that you obtain from the Questmaster. The third are the Immortal Generated quests, these to some degree are automated but you will get full instructions as and when they take place. Last, but not least, are area quests that have been written into some areas.
The questmaster is a specialized mob that gives out quests to those willing to undertake them. As a reward for successful completion of the task, he awards quest points which can then be exchanged for equipment, build points or practices (it would be advisable to put the name of the item to be purchased in quotes when to avoid purchasing the wrong piece of equipment). He could at random times also reward you by giving extra experience, practices or buildpoints in addition to quest points. The points you gain while questing are saved every time you log off and across levels.
Autoquests are random, and chosen so as to be suitable for your level. It could involve killing a mob or finding an object. While you are questing you will have a [QUESTING] flag (which means you would not be able to hear chat, ooc, clan and other public channels).
If you are assigned an object quest, the object will have a [quest] flag on it and will be placed in the same room with a mob that is suitable for your level. Please note that scavenger mobs will not be able to pick up these item. If you are assigned a mob quest, the mob you are to kill will have a [TARGET] flag. You must get the object or kill the mob (as the case may be), return to the Quest Master and type QUEST COMPLETE. He will then take the object from you and reward you with quest points.
The amount of time you are given for a quest is random, and can range anywhere from 10-30 minutes. Once you have completed a quest, you must wait 30 minutes real time before you can autoquest again. If you had rejected a quest, you would have to wait for 20 minutes till you can get a new quest.
For further information, read help autoquest in the mud.
The Questmaster will not repeat his instructions, so listen carefully. If it’s a quest to kill a mob you need to remember the exact name of your target (there may be several mobs with similar names) and the QM’s statement where he is to be found (that is the room where the mob is). Together this should provide all the information that you would need to complete the quest.
Typing show quest at certain rare items, such as quest pillars, will tell you what the quest is. It would probably tell you what item is required for the completion of the quest. When you think you have the correct item you must offer the item to the quest (by typing offer). If it is the right item, you will be reward with experience and may also receive some items as reward. Please note that you must be holding the item or it will not accept your offer.
You can do a particular static quest only once in your life. The number of completed static quests is displayed in your score. Make sure you read the rules regarding quests that can be found under Help Rules.
Some areas have been built with a quest built into it. A reward (usually an item of equipment) is awarded for completing it. Look for hints within the area that could point towards the existence of a quest. If a mobile starts talking to you when you are exploring an area, answering him would be a good way to start. Please keep in mind that some mobs would not give hints until they are killed.
Respect others and treat your fellow players as you wish to be treated. No harassment of any sorts, including any vulgar or sexually suggestive comments or actions to any other players, of ANY kind will not be tolerated. We wish you to have fun here and enjoy yourself. Most rules are written with that intention. Anything not covered specifically by the rules, will be covered by immortal interpretation of the rules.
A limit of one character per player is allowed online simultaneously (although you could create as many as you want). This is considered multiplaying, which is not allowed. If you are caught doing so, you can fully expect to be punished heavily. Disconnecting and failing to quit before logging in your other character would also be considered multiplaying.
No, you cannot exchange equipment or money with one of your characters. This includes donating it, leaving it on the floor for someone to pick up and giving it to someone to hold it for you. Anyone helping in this will be also punished.
Spamming, derived from a famous Monty Python sketch, is the flooding of appropriate media with information (such as repeated very long say commands). Unintentional spamming, such as what happens when you walk away from your computer screen for a few minutes, then return to find several screenfuls of text waiting to scroll by, is just a source of irritation. Intentional spamming, such as when you repeat very long say commands many times at someone, is usually frowned on, and can get you in trouble with the MUD administration.
Make sure you read Help rules when you are within the mud. Cheating, rule breaking or harassment will not be tolerated in any form. These rules are for your benefit and by breaking them you are only spoiling the enjoyment for others and yourself. Likewise, breaking them will result in punishment. This could be whatever the immortal’s deem fit, ranging from loss of exp. or levels to deletion and banning. An Immortals word on any matter is final.
You have to read and agree to the rules as part of logging in to DragonStone.
While mortals are the lifeblood of a MUD, Immortals are the staff of the mud and constitute the guiding force directing it in the right direction. It is their responsibility, among other things, to ensure that the rules of the game are obeyed and the game runs smoothly. It is part of their duties to administer punishment for violation of the rules. Remember that like you, they have their own set of rules that they have to respect You may at times disagree with their judgement, but remember that they are only trying to do their duty the best way they can. On the other hand, good role play and helpful behaviour is likely to be rewarded.
Favour is a reward for such things as good RP whereas disfavour acts as a warning to the character for rule breaking or other such actions. Favour/ Disfavour adjusts the character’s exp gain and damage done by a certain percentage based on the level of the favour/disfavour given. It also increases/decreases stat gains (hp per level, etc.) Favour/Disfavour lasts for a period of 12 hours of playing time. You can see that a person is favored or disfavored by looking at him, and the information about it is displayed in that person’s score. There are different degrees of favour and disfavour.
DragonStone supports role playing, and as such recognizes the right of players to role play an evil or chaotic orientation. However, remember it the fantasy world of possibly hundreds of people, and not just yours in particular. There is a human being on the other side of each and every wire. Also remember people who treat others badly gradually build up bad reputations and eventually receive the NO FUN Stamp of Disapproval. DS may be just a game, but there are real people playing it.
When a new character is created, his title by default is derivative of his race and class, for example so and so the Shadow Thief. One can replace that title with something more original or get rid of it altogether using the title command. To change your title type title <whatever you want your new title to be>. The game retains the title you created when you advance a level. Do pick an appropriate title.
When you look at another player, you see their name, a small description, and what equipment they are wearing. For a new character this description only says that there is ‘nothing special about him’. You can customize how another person sees you by setting your description. To write a description type description which takes you into the description editor. Type it in using the same commands as you would while writing notes (type .h on a new line in the buffer to get the list of commands available to you). Make sure that you description is well formatted and is not excessively long to ensure that it is easy to read when somebody looks at you.
Normally when one tries to send a message to someone who is currently afk, one receives a pre-set message saying that so and so is afk (Away From the Keyboard). One can change this by using the afkmes command, i.e. typing afkmes <whatever you want it to say>. Thus typing afkmes is AFK mixing up a cup of coffee, would mean that the player attempting to talk to you when you are afk would read ‘Ashin is AFK mixing up a cup of coffee’.
During the time of character generation one receives only the first name. Later if the immortals so will, they could set a surname for you. This last name is visible on who, when looking at that person and when looking in the room in which the character is standing. You only get one surname, unless you marry, so make it good.
Yes, but it will cost you 100,000 gold to rename it. To rename an item you must be at an artifactor. When in the room type rename <object name>. It then prompt you add new keyword/s, a short description (how it looks in inv or equiped) and long description (how it looks when on the ground or looked at). Avoid renaming things to that of things that are not in accordance with the mud’s theme. Items having names that include foul, sexually explicit words or you will be seized from you.
Your prompt has the potential of giving you a variety of information. When you first create your character, your default prompt tells you how many hit points, mana, and movement points you have. You can change this to display more information if you wish. You can customize it using the various special characters (%*). Where ‘*’ is a number of options including your maximum current stats, experience till next level and, alignment, (strongly recommended), gold held, and current experience. You could also add color to your prompt. For more information on how to customize your prompt type help prompt within the mud and select the options that you want in your very own prompt.
DragonStone has color. To see it, you need an ANSI compatible telnet client. Most game elements are colored and you can place color in your prompt and in your title. To add color to what you are typing, add a color code before the text to color. These codes will be interpreted by the game to display the corresponding color. All the color codes start with a & sign. For example, &rred would come out red. To find what color codes are supported in DragonStone, type help color.
The mud allows you to set aliases to simplify your life of MUD playing. Basically, aliases allow you to assign any command to a shortcut abbreviation. The procedure to do so if fairly simple. Type alias <whatever shortcut abbreviation> <whatever you want mud to do>. For example, if you type <alias fb cast fireball> you have an alias set for casting fireball. In future you shall only need to type fb <target mob> to cast the spell, instead of typing the whole sentence.
The alias only works if the letters form the first letters on a new line, and do not trigger the spell if they are in the middle of a sentence. If particular letters already serve as abbreviations for some mud command or social, you would not be able to set them as the abbreviation for the alias. It is not possible to give the mud the order to perform more than one action through a single mud alias (use your mud client to do that, if it supports that option). Typing alias by itself will give you a list of alias you have currently set.
There are the config and auto commands (help auto) which helps you to change and see some of your character’s behavior options. It is advisable to configure your settings to configure autosplit (automatically split coins with group members) on at all times. Configuring autoloot (automatically loot corpses) and autosac (automatically sacrifice corpses) on may be advisable when you know that the corpses of the mobs you are killing contain no valuable equipment.
Brief enables you to view brief descriptions of rooms you are currently in- limiting it only to the room name, the exits and the names of any mobs or objects therein. This is NOT recommended since in so doing you lose the sense of how the area was intended to be viewed, increase your chances of being lost in it, and sacrifice any information that may be contained within these descriptions.
DragonStone,like any other software program, occasionally stops running. Sometimes this is due to the software (crashing), and other times it is due to the network or the machine the game is running on. The only advice is to wait an hour or so, or try again.
This happens when the network or the host machine is "lagged" which means the machine is running slow because of all the data it has to process, or the network is so busy it takes awhile to get all the information moved back and forth. The only thing you can do is wait until it clears, or quit and play later. (Late night is usually the time with the least lag.)
DragonStone values the quality of our building. If you feel that you have encountered a problem somewhere, be it the description of a room, mob or item, help file, something a mob does or says or a spell up or spell down message- please bring it to the notice of the immortals. Use the typo command for this. If it is a building related problems, go to the room where you encountered the problem and type typo <whatever is the problem>. Please try to include sufficient information for the reader to be able to isolate the problem. The problem will be rectified as fast as possible (fixing spell related information takes relatively longer since it would involve minor code changes).
If it is something that you feel requires coding changes, e-mail your suggestion to ideas@dragonstone.org. You could also drop a note to immortals in the mud, but remember that notes only last one week real time, and making the changes you desire may take longer than that. Also Immortals often get many notes on a single day and your note may be inadvertently missed in the midst of junk mail.
Many of the immortals in DragonStone can be contacted individually by e-mail. To find the addresses of the immortals type help email when within the game.
Generally the corpse should load after a reboot. However, if you are able to prove that you have lost it as a result of an error on the part of the mud, you WILL receive reimbursement. If, on the other hand, if you lost your corpse as a result of something that went wrong on your end—either you personally or your isp, we are not responsible and shall therefore not be in a position to reimburse you. It is a risk you take when you play an online game.
Telnet is a rather ugly way to connect to most muds, since it doesn't do any fancy text wrapping, and if someone says something while you're typing out a line, it will make a mess out of your line, making it hard to see what you're typing and hard to keep track of what's going on in the mud. A client program is simply another program you use instead of telnet to connect to a mud. Clients also provide useful things such as macros and the ability to gag or highlight certain mud output.
The server is located in Canada. The game time is Eastern Time.