INFO: An introduction to using a MUSH Client

[Varitius]

Daddy, What's Telnet?

How to get along using a MUSH Client

Table of Contents: 

Prerequisites

Firstly, you need a client to connect to the Blood of Dragons server. I'd recommend http://www.gammon.com.au/mushclient/mushclient.htm - MUSHClient as its simple,lightweight and does everything you need.

However you can use what ever client you feel you want too, I'm not going to list any more because I can't answer questions on how to do things in them speifically although, most things like Triggers^{You'll learn about these later} and the like will work in exactly the same way no matter the client.

You need also the Blood of the Dragon connection details;

Address: bod.westeros.orgPort: 3000

A MUSH accepts commands, exactly like a command line prompt (Such as DOS) theres a basic syntax for interacting

[command] [variable]

A command tells the client to do something with the variable provided for example, you could speak in a channel by typing

+public Hello!

Here we are sending the command +public with the variable Hello! to server. A variable is named such as it will always change, a command is static, unchanging.

Opening the connection:

Spoiler

So, you've downloaded your MUSH Client, installed and opened the program.

Creating a World File

• Click File, Top right and select "New World".
• Enter World Name, "Blood of Dragons"
• Under the MUD Address and Port section, you'll enter the details from above.
• I would Check Save World Automatically On Close as this will save things like triggers, connection settings ect.
• Press OK

Well that was easy!

Opening a saved World File

• Click File , and select "Open World..."
• Choose the newly saved, "Blood of Dragons" world file.
• Now a new window will open, text will show up showing the following

==============================================================================                      WELCOME TO BLOOD OF DRAGONS MUSH!                       ==============================================================================We are a MUSH based on George R.R. Martin's 'A Song of Ice and Fire', agritty and political fantasy series set in a medieval-inspired world.Join us at the royal court in King's Landing and at the court in Sunspear, toplay the Game of Thrones.Webpage: http://www.westeros.org/BoD/Forum:   http://asoiaf.westeros.org/index.php/forum/16-blood-of-dragons-mush/Contact: webmaster@westeros.org------------------------------------------------------------------------------Use create <name> <password> to create a visitor account.Use connect Guest Guest to connect to a guest account.Use connect <name> <password> to connect to your existing account.Use who to find out who is online currently.Use +n <message> to speak on the Newbie channel.Use +g <message> to speak on the Guest channel.==============================================================================

If you have a character you can skip the next few points [Go to Chapter: Playing your character], if you don't listen closely!

Selecting a Character:

Spoiler

You have opened a connection to the world in MUSH Client, the next step then, is to create a guest account.

Enter in the white, COMMAND LINE , at the bottom of the screen the following

create [Username] [password]Example:create Varitius myfancypasswordthatitotallywontforget

You'll see that you're successful as you'll see some new text on screen. You'll see that you've enter a ROOM called the 'Godswood'.

​You'll most likely be greeted by a admin/staff member.

"<Newbie> (Admin) Nymeria says, "Hi, [YOUR USERNAME]. You can use +n <message> to speak on this channel, and please let me know if you have any questions at all. :)"

Let's break this down quickly,

"<Newbie>" - This is a channel, there are many channels in the game, this will be the first you encounter and can actively talk on. Channels are like chat rooms. you have to be in there to hear whats going on and talk back, they are global so anyone, anywhere within the game if connected to that channel will hear and be able to respond.

"(Admin) Nymeria" - This is the greeter's name (In this case, Nymeria), the brackets indicate that the person is a member of the BoD Staff, they are all very friendly and are there to help you!

" says, [Rest of the line...]" - This is the actual message, sent by the person, in the channel specified.

You can reply to the greet by typing, as stated, in the COMMAND LINE

+n [Your message]Example:+n Hi Nymeria, Nice to meet you!

This will produce in the output screen , "<Newbie> Varitius says, Hi Nymeria, Nice to meet you!".

But lets break this down quickly,

" +n " by typing this, you're telling the system that the message following is to be sent to the Newbie channel. Other channels include <Public> (+public) and <Roleplay> (+roleplay) but you won't have access to these until you have you character in play.

" Hi Nymeria..." The important thing here is the SPACE between +n and your message. If you did, +nhi nymeria. You'd get " Huh? (Type "help" for help.) ", that is because the system parses between spaces.

Now, importantly, it is suggested you take a Cameo character, however I'm not going to cover that here.

There are two types of characters you can play, a character that has been generated (their statistics and other things already made) or those are haven't been. I'm only going to cover playing a Pre-Generated character here. (This is known as a CG'ed character).

Firstly let me introduce a new command to you, +cdb , this is the Character Database command, here we can do a number of things. View a description of a character, view lists of characters and more. The command we are interested in right now is,

" +CDB/SEARCH TYPE/OPEN|CG/YES|STATE/NPC"

This will filter through all the characters in the database to find an open character that has been already generated.

Go ahead and type it and you'll get a list that looks like this.

[+CDB] Matching DB entries: Triston Templeton (1773), Addison Darklyn (12), Sherion Caron (2), Pennei Massey (23), Harmon Massey (28), Melene Darry (53), Jonald Baratheon (55), Andrion Baratheon (58), Elanna Baratheon (65), Harstyn Tully (87), Darmen Tully (90), Jeomar Waters (118), Endros Buckler (128)

It's messy, but this is a list of characters you can look at playing. So let's look at one in detail.

"+CDB 1773" OR "+CDB Triston Templeton" - These two commands work in exactly the same way, we're just calling it with two different variables. Firstly, 1773 is the database number of Triston, or we can simply call it with his name. By entering either or these commands we get the following;

==============<+CDB Info for Triston (1773) - Male Open IV NPC>===============Fullname:  Triston TempletonFamily:    Son of Ser Symond Templeton and Lady Elene Arryn. Unmarried.      Age:       24 (b. 16-9-140)                Religion:   The SevenHouse:     Templeton                       Allegiance: TempletonRegion:    The Vale                        Location:   King's Landing------------------------------------------------------------------------------Status:    An heir of a greater landed knightly house.Title:     Knight                                                            Position:  Heir to Ninestars                                                 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------Hair:      Dirty blonde curls              Height:     1.83m/6'0"Eyes:      Bright Blue                     Weight:     71kg/156lbsShortdesc: Tall, broad-shouldered, and quite thin. Keen, bright blue eyes are           at odds with the shaggy mess of curls left collar-length. His                manner is reserved, but his countenance seems amiable and sincere.===============================<Played 5 Times>===============================

That is quite a heap of information, and you'll need to look at a good number of the characters brought up by the search we just did until you find one you want to play.

The last step in the process is to request a character, you do this by entering the command,

+CDB/REQUEST [Database number]=[Your email address]Example:+CDB/REQUEST [email protected]

What will happen next, is shortly, you'll receive an email with an extended look at the character you've selected and what steps you need to take to play them. Follow the email, its really simple and the important thing is here is to read about your character!

Well done! You've now entered the world, created an account, searched for a character to play and requested him! It may take up to a day for this process to be completed (the admin's are awesome though and usually will have you in game as soon as they can!). If you're accepted you'll receive a new email.

Playing your Character:

Spoiler

So you've just received your email, you've been accepted to play Triston! Huzzah! Now, we're going to open Mushclient back up and open the world as before.

Remember we created an account, well, the account will be changed now, so instead of the username you created earlier you'll be using your characters first name (in most cases, the email will tell you!).

connect [Character name] [The password YOU entered earlier]exampleconnect Tristan myfancypasswordthatitotallywontforget

Now you're in, the process now is fairly simple, just read what comes up and request help if needed. I strongly suggest going through the Newbie Trail if you haven't MUSH'd before or even if you just want to refresh your memory.

Now, you've set yourself IC (In Character) and you've found yourself in game! What are you going to see??

Planky Town: Orphan's Market        The market ... from the west.Contents:Tristan                                 Obvious Exits:The Dancing Turtle <In>  Caravan Road <E>  Quays <SW>  Citadel <W>

Let's break this down,

" Planky Town: Orphan's Market " - This first line is where you are in the world, in this case, at the Orphan's Market in Planky Town,

" The market ... from the west." - This is shortened than the actual descriptor but here you'll see information about the environment and surroundings of your character.

" Contents: " - A list of Players, (Yourself being Tristan in this case) and anyone else or anything you can interact with.

"Obvious Exits: " - A list of exits you can take.

What can you do? Well you can speak, this is simple, " " [message] "

" [message]Example" Well hello Ser Pounce, I did not expect to see you here in Planky Town.Produces,You say, "Well hello Ser Pounce, I did not expect to see you here in Planky Town."

You can pose, or emote. " : [emote] "

: [emote]Example: falls over, smashing his face into a barrel of apples.Produces,Tristan falls over, smashing his face into a barrel of apples.

Or you can take one of the exits listed earlier, Let's go into The Dancing Turtle , we do that by typing the command in <>'s located next to the exit, in this case its "In" .

InExampleInProduces,You head inside through the door to: The Dancing Turtle.

These three commands, Speaking , Posing or Moving will allow you to start playing. You'll pick up more advance commands as you go, but for now. These are all you need!

Two extra commands to see who's online and where they are are;

+who [better than who] which will give a reading like

====================================<+Who>====================================NAME & ALIAS       DBNUM  MODE  SEX  HOUSE        ALLEGIANCE   AREA==============================================================================Jordan             2152   IC     M   Dayne        Dayne        DorneCarmella           1581   OOC    F   Dondarrion   Dondarrion   UnknownAidan (Ran)        1000   IC     M   Dayne        Dayne        King's Landing

The next being +where this will show where people local to yourself are, and where you may find some Roleplay

==============================<+Where for Dorne>==============================       Planky Town#3870  The Dancing Turtle       Jordan ------------------------------------------------------------------------------==========================<1 Players IC & Findable>===========================

You've come so far! A few paragraphs ago you had no idea what a MUSH client was capable of, now you're wandering around the Seven Kingdoms!

Customizing your experience:

Spoiler

Up until now it's likely that the mess of white on black text has confused you, but MUSH Clients have a system called "Triggers" that allow you to do many things, one of them being to color words, or the hole line of output from the game.

Let's make a basic trigger, to color in text from the Public channel.

In MUSHClient, pressing Ctrl+Shift+8 will open the Trigger list, or you can go to the top menu, Game > Configure > Triggers..

So you'll want to press the Add button.

In the first input box named "Trigger:" we are going to type in " <Public> * says, "* " [Without the quotation marks]

Then, we are going to check the "Regular Expression" box.

Then all you need to do is select a custom colouring scheme from the " Change colour and style to:" box and press Ok

Go ahead, type +public test and you'll see that now instead of white text appearing you'll have beautiful coloured text appear.

There are many many things you can do with Triggers, and to go into depth with them here would be an overkill.

Here- http://www.gammon.com.au/mushclient/funwithtriggers.htm - is a great resource for setting up Triggers.

As an example, here is a screenshot of some of the triggers I have inplace at the moment to identify locations, and Houses.

http://i.imgur.com/gpOcx5u.png