If you've never MUSHed before, or it's been a long time since you have, have no fear. This guide will take you through the basics of the commands that you'll want to know.
Obtaining a Character
Connect to the MUSH at roadtoamber.com 6250. You can do this with a basic telnet program, but we strongly recommend getting a MUSH client instead. A client will provide you with handy features like word-wrapping, logging, input and output history, spell-checking, etc.
Type connect guest guest in order to connect to a guest character.
Once you're connected, you can get your own character by typing:
+request character = email
where character is the name you want to use for your character (case-sensitive, no spaces allowed) and email is your email address. You should receive email from r2a-reg at roadtoamber.comimmediately. This email will contain a temporary password; if you don't have it in a few minutes, check your spam mailbox. (If your mail server is slow, the email may take longer to arrive, but if you don't get it within a day, ask a staff member for help.)
Follow the directions in the email to connect to your new character. You can change your password to something you remember by typing:
@password temporary-password = new-password
where temporary-password is the password you got in email (the gibberish "word"), and new-password is whatever password you want to use (eight characters at most, case-sensitive, no spaces allowed).
If, at some later point in time, you want to change your name, just type:
@name me = new-name
So, don't agonize over what name you want to use when you +request a character — just pick something, and you can change it later if you want.
The Structure of a MUSH
A MUSH is a series of rooms, connected to each other with exits. The game has players — fellow sentients like yourself — as well as things, objects which can be picked up, dropped, etc. Every player and thing in the game has a location. In other words, you're always somewhere, and depending on where you are, there may be one or more other people in the same location that you're in.
Every object in the game has a name, as well as a number, known as a dbref (database reference number). You will normally refer to everything by name. You can also refer to yourself as me, and to your current location as here.
All objects in the game can have attributes — properties associated with them, like a description. These attributes can also contain code; every player on a MUSH has the ability to build (add on to the MUSH) as well as code.
The MUSH has commands that are server built-ins; typing help will show you the server help. The MUSH also has commands that are specific to this particular MUSH; these commands are sometimes known as softcode. Typing +help will show you the softcode help.
Looking Around
The look command (which can be abbreviated to just l) will show you your surroundings — it'll tell you where you are, what your location looks like, and what other players and things are there. It will also show you the list of exits from your current location.
If you want to see a description of something in your location, you can type:
look object
This will let you look at another player, at a thing, or at an exit. For instance, to look at yourself, type look me.
On this game, heavy use is made of ANSI color. If your client can display color, type @set me = ANSI to enable color, and do a look to see the results; if you don't like them, type @set me = !ANSI to disable color.
If you would like to see a list of where all the exits in your location go to when you look at the room, type @set me = _LOST. Do a look to see the results; if you don't like them, type @set me = !_LOST to disable it.
Seeing Who Else is Connected
To get a list of who else is connected to the game, type WHO
You can get a more compact list of who's connected by typing +3who — this will format the list in three columns, shortening it considerably.
Type +help WHO-command if you're wondering what the colors mean.
You can find out more information about a character by typing +finger player
Talking to People in Your Location
You can talk to other people in your location by using the say command, which can be abbreviated to ".
say words
"words
Your name says, and quotation marks, are automatically provided (a pair for say, and the closing quote for ").
For instance, if your character name is Corwin, and you type say Hello. other people in your location will see:
Corwin says, "Hello."
You can emote (describing an action) using the pose command, which can be abbreviated to :.
pose action
:action
Your name is automatically provided.
For instance, if your character name is Corwin, and you type :waves. other people in your location will see:
Corwin waves.
You can eliminate the space by using ; instead of : — typing ;'s face falls. results in:
Corwin's face falls.
If you don't want your name included, you can use the @emit command:
@emit message
That will just display the text of message to everyone in your location. Note that it's impolite to "spoof" other people, so don't use this command to pretend to be someone else or to imply something has happened to someone else.
If you'd like what you're saying to be heard clearly by some people, but not by others, you can use the +mutter command (which can be abbreviated to just +m):
+mutter list-of-people = message
This will display message to that list of people. Everyone else in the room will see that you muttered something, and they'll see your message with some of the words removed.
If you'd like to say something private to someone, you can whisper to them (abbreviated w):
whisper list-of-people = message
This will display message to the list of people, but nobody else in the room will see anything.
If you're in an in-character (IC) area, everything you say is presumed to be in-character. To make an out-of-character (OOC) statement, type:
ooc message
This will display the message to everyone in your location, marked as OOC. Note that many people consider it impolite to chatter at length with the OOC command in the midst of a roleplay scene, so if you're roleplaying, try to keep use of this command to just what's necessary.
Talking to People Elsewhere
If you want to speak to someone in a different location from you, use the page command (which can be abbreviated to just p):
page player = message
You can page multiple people at a time; just provide a list of player names.
You can re-page the same people again with just p message
You can reply to the person who last paged you, along with everyone else that they paged at the same time, with r message
There are also a variety of long-distance IC communication commands, tied to RPG systems like Trumps. Those have their own commands, described in +help.
There is also a channels system. The main channel is Public. To speak on it, use:
=pub message
If you want to see who else is on the Public channel, type =pub who
If you want to get off the Public channel, silencing it, type =pub off
To rejoin the Public channel, type =pub on
To see all of the publicly-available channels, type @clist
To join a new channel, use:
addcom alias = case-sensitive channel name
In addition to the general channels system, there is also the Organization system. Organizations are used to keep track of IC affiliations. All orgs have a three-letter abbreviation (the "org code").
To see a list of all of the organizations, type +orgs
To see everyone who is part of an org, type +rwho/all org
To see who on an org is currently connected, type +rwho org
To talk on an org that you're part of, use:
=org message
Getting Around
To walk through an exit, simply type its name.
To see the exits in your current location displayed in compass fashion, type +compass
If you're lost or just want to shorten a walk, you can get to a room within the area of the MUSH you're in, via the +zoom command:
+zoom player
+zoom room-name
You can either use the name of a player, to get to that player's location (or just outside the room he's in), or a room name. If you're not sure what the room is called, you can use wildcards in the name. For instance, +zoom *library* would show you all the rooms with "library" in their name that you can zoom to.
There is an ASCII map of Amber City available in-game. To see it, type +map
You can also use it to display where other people are, relative to where you are: +map zoom-location
Certain places on the "grid" (as the rooms on the MUSH are often colloquially referred to) can be reached instantly, for player convenience. (Instant movement isn't IC, of course.) Type +go to see the list of places. +go place will take you to that place.
There's also a teleport command, @tel which will move you to an arbitrary location. The room needs to have a flag called JUMP_OK. You can go to a room with @tel dbref where dbref is the dbref of the room.
Every object on the game has a home. You can always get to yours by typing home.
Building
If you want to create a home for yourself, read our Building Policy; it contains a detailed tutorial on how to do so.
There is an in-game mail system, called +mail. You can use +mail for both IC and OOC purposes; just make it clear in your message whether it's IC or OOC.
The +skim command shows the equivalent of an inbox view — a numbered list of who your messages are from, what the subject lines are, when you received them, and how large they are. +skim, like most +mail commands, operates on a "range" (see +help mail ranges). The range you'll use most commony is "unread" (abbreviated to "u"). To look at what new messages you have, type:
+skim u
You can also use a number; to read message 1, for instance, type +skim 1.
The +read command shows the entirety of a message. To read all of your unread messages, type +read u. To read a specific message number, type:
+read message-number
To reply to a message you were sent, type:
+reply message-number
To write a message in general, type:
+mail list-of-people's names = subject-of-message
Both writing and replying will put you in an editor. Type the text you want to enter, prefixing each line with a dash, i.e. "-Here is some text." To see what you've written so far, type +proof. When you're done, use +send to send the message.
Bulletin Boards
There are in-game bulletin boards ("bboards") for announcements. You can use these for both IC and OOC purposes; just make it clear in your post which it is. You should also read the bulletin boards on a regular basis, since this is where thestaff makes announcements, and where other people will announce scheduled events and other things of interest.
To get a list of the bulletin boards, use:
+bbread
This command will show you a numbered list of bulletin boards, with the board name, number of messages you haven't read, total number of messages, and board purpose listed for each bboard.
To see a list of all posts that are on one of the boards, use:
+bbread number
where number is the bulletin board number. (You can also use the bulletin board name instead of the number.)
To read one or more posts that are on a board, use:
+bbread/number post-numbers
(You can also use Myrddin BB-style syntax: +bbread board-number/post-numbers)
Once you've read a board once, you are effectively "subscribed" to it. You can read all unread posts on all the boards you've read before, with:
+bbnew
To post a message, use:
+bbpost/number subject
This will invoke the editor, allowing you write your message. When you're done editing, the message will be posted, and everyone connected will also receive a notification of the post.
