Welcome! On behalf of the entire staff here at World of Vale, we're glad to have you join us. The following document was written with the aim of acclimating new players and easing what might seem to some as a somewhat steep learning curve. As always, if you have any questions, please feel free to email us.
World of Vale is a text-based online game of the variety usually referred
to as MUDs, an acronym for Multi-User Dungeon. Perhaps the most
helpful way to think of it would be to consider it an interactive novel; you
will take on the role of a character in this novel, and you have the ability to
shape its outcome in whatever way you feel comfortable.
Unlike most other MUDs on the internet, World of Vale is an RPI, an
acronym that stands for Role-Play Intensive. Although our code is complex
and enjoyable to play with, the main goal of both our players and administrators
is to engender a realistic and engaging environment in which to roleplay.
Therefore, the focus is on the characters themselves - their quirks, lives, and
ambitions - not on numerical statistics or skill rankings. In fact, you will
notice that we have taken great pains to hide things that are generally the
hallmark of MUD mechanics: you will encounter no numbers whatsoever here.
Everything is specifically engineered to help further the suspension of
disbelief necessary to fully engage yourself in roleplay - which is strictly
required and enforced.
Another important thing: unlike most other MUDs, in keeping with our aim to
provide a realistic and well-crafted environment, the death of your character
is permanent. Again unlike other MUDs, however, it is entirely possible to
play through a character's entire life without ever needing to put him or her in
direct danger - crafters, scholars, and other such professions abound. However,
make no mistake: the moment you leave civilized areas, life can become nasty,
brutish and short rather quickly. Combat here is realistic; and just like real
life, combat here is harsh.
That said, we cater to the more adventurous player as well as to the
socially-oriented ones. With more and more of Vale coming online, dangerous and
long-forgotten places to explore are not infrequent: some hold riches, while
others hold only death.
Remember: here, at World of Vale, only you are in control of your PC's
destiny.
The first step on the road to playing World of Vale is registering for a MUD
account. Unlike most MUDs, our login system is account-based. Really, you should
think of it like a handle for a bulletin board or an instant-messaging service.
Although your character names will change during your time here, your account
name will not; it is used to store past characters, as well as any roleplay
points you accrue during the course of your travels.
Choose your account name carefully - it is permanent.
To register for an account, you'll need to
connect to the MUD. Choose option 'C' from the login menu, to create a new
account. Then, enter the email address you'd like to receive MUD-related
correspondence at.
Be sure to enter a correct email address - if you do not, you will not
receive your login password, and will be unable to use your new MUD account!
Once you have entered your email address and confirmed that it is correct, you
will be disconnected. An automatically-generated password will be emailed to the
account you gave; once you receive that, you may log into the MUD server and
begin the process of creating your first character.
Here at World of Vale, characters are by application only. This allows us to
screen any new incoming PCs to ensure that the integrity of the roleplaying
environment is preserved; also, it means we're at your disposal if you're stuck
without any good character ideas! Don't be afraid to ask the staff if you need
help at any point.
To create a character, from the main MUD account menu you'll need to choose
option 'R'.
If for whatever reason you are interrupted in the midst of your application, you
will be able to pick up where you left off by choosing option 'E' instead, and
selecting your character's name; this will drop you back into chargen where you
left.
It will first ask you what you would like to name your character. A few words, then, on what exactly is expected in a name. Primarily, you need to avoid using the names of characters from fantasy books; yes, this means no Aragorns, Drizzits, or Rand al’Thors. In addition, these should be proper names - not names made of compound words, like "DeathStrider BlackBlade". Save those for any hack-and-slash MUDs you like to play - they aren't allowed here.
The next step in the process is to select your character's gender. As the prompt mentions, it makes no difference whatsoever in terms of the code; gender is an important element in roleplay, but not in mechanics. This, of course, leads us to the next point: generally speaking, we recommend that people play a character of their same gender. Although this is by no means a hard and fast rule, most find it easier to roleplay a character effectively when they share major elements of that character's psychology.
You will next be presented with a list of 30 'slots'; if this is your first
character, most of them, you will notice, are blank. As you become a regular
player of World of Vale, and the administrators have an opportunity to gauge
your roleplay, you will be awarded what are called roleplay points.
As you earn more roleplay points, more of these racial options will be available
to you for your next character.
Upon selecting the number of a race, a dialog will be shown providing a bit of
information about the selected race. You will then have the opportunity to
either confirm your choice and continue, or return to the list to choose another
option.
After choosing your character's race, you will be asked to select an age. Generally, we recommend that starting players choose an age between 18-35 or so. People seem to have great difficulty playing children realistically - if you expect to be a hardened, orc-slaying soldier, and you choose age 13, you'll quite likely be politely asked to either act more appropriately or retire your character. Likewise, choose a 62 year-old, and don't expect to go jaunting around at whim; advanced age has its drawbacks.
Next, you'll have an opportunity to assign priority to your different attributes. Attributes are mainly used to determine your skill caps - that is, the maximum level to which your character's various skills can advance. Unsurprisingly, then, if you want a character highly proficient in academic skills, you would concentrate on intelligence and willpower; martial skills, strength and dexterity; so on and so forth. Note that you don't actually get to assign any values; rather, only the relative ranking of your attributes. Some characters are luckier in this regard than others.
You're almost there! After the keyword list, you'll need to choose a height and frame for your character. This section of the process is relatively self-explanatory, but one thing bears mentioning; these are relative between races. That is to say, a tall, massive halfling is probably about the same size as an average, medium human.
Your short and long descriptions are what other characters in the game will recognize you by. Unlike other MUDs, as an RPI World of Vale never reveals your PC's name in a coded way to others. Thus, if you choose the short desc of a burly, black-bearded man, that is what other characters will see whenever you act. Likewise, setting your long description to 'A burly, black-bearded man is here, gazing about.' will display that line to other characters when they LOOK inside the room you're standing in.
Next, you'll be asked to supply a list of keywords for your character. This keyword list contains all the words that people will be able to use to interact with your character. Generally speaking, they should include your character's name, as well as any important words in your short and long descs. So, to continue with our example, a burly, black-bearded man named Kelron might have 'Kelron burly black-bearded man' as his list of keywords. A few important things to note: first, there should not be any commas, as this is simply a list of words. Second, if you include, for example, black-bearded, and someone types look black, this will still bring up your character; so, there is no need to add long strings of every possible variation of 'black' and 'bearded' to your list.
Often the most difficult part of a character application, the full description is an elaboration on your character's physical description. It should be at least four sentences in length or so, and should not contain any references to things that aren't physical in nature. For example, you shouldn't tell people that your character is kind, or mysterious, or battle-hardened; rather, describe something physical about him that might lead people to believe so. Also, another common mistake we encounter is the inclusion of objects such as clothing or jewelry in these descriptions; in World of Vale, these are in-game items that you will come across during the course of the game, and thus should not be included.
The next step is to select a "profession" for your new PC. Please note that this choice has no direct in-game bearing whatsoever. Rather, these professions are simply pre-selected templates of skills, chosen by the admins to be conducive to a certain type of work. For example, if you wish to pursue having your character become an armorsmith in-game, you would choose the Armorsmith profession; this will enable skills that would be helpful in this pursuit on your playerfile, which you may then further customize in the next step.
At the moment, there are no professions to choose from, so this step will be skipped.
After writing up your full description, you'll be asked to choose a list of starting skills for your character. The skill set required by the profession that you selected in the previous step will be chosen by default. You can choose a skill by typing its name at the prompt; if you'd like to remove it, simply type its name again. Once you're finished, simply type DONE.
Finally, the last step! This is your opportunity to flesh out your character's history, motives, desires, and generally, his or her story. Tell us why she has the skills she does; how she came to where she is today; what she's looking to accomplish in her life. The background is a valuable resource to both the administrative staff as well as to you; a well-written background can provide a continuous source of roleplay once you're approved and in-game. Also, note that your background will be available for you to peruse from inside the game, via note one in your journal.
Upon completing your background, you will be taken to the main character generation menu, where you will have the opportunity to review your application to ensure that everything is in order. If you see something amiss, you may go back to that particular stage to correct it by using the appropriate command from the list. Otherwise, type SUBMIT at the prompt to submit your character for review.
Now that you've submitted a character to the administrators, all you have to do is wait. An admin will normally be on hand to review your character within a few minutes, but sometimes, especially during off-peak hours, review of the app will be delayed for a few hours.
At this point you'll have received an email response to your application; in
many cases you'll be asked to make some changes before you can be approved, and
in others you'll be allowed into the game directly. Once you are approved, you
can then choose option 'E' to log in as that character. The first time you will
log in, you will be dropped into our OOC lounge. You're free to stay there as long as you like, and indeed you're
advised to remain there, if you need to
speak with an administrator about any issues regarding your character before
you actually begin play.
Once you are ready to enter the gameworld proper, type
COMMENCE at the prompt.
Again, welcome to World of Vale. Best of luck, and have fun out there!