A. Last modification date
B. Credits
C. Basic format
D. Organization
I. Area headers
II. Numbering
III. Mailing
IV. A note about help files
V. Potential errata
E. The area format breakdown
1. #AREA: (not sure)
I. #AREA
II. filename.are~
III. Area Name
IV. {1 50} Builder Sample Area
V. ZX00 ZX99
2. #MOBILES
I. <vnum>
II. name list
III. short description
IV. long description
V. look description
VI. race
VII. Act, Affect, Alignment and group
VIII. Level, hit bonus, hit dice, mana dice, damage, damtype
IX. Armor classes
X. Offenses, Immunities, Resistances, Vulnerabilites
XI. Positions, Gender and Treasure
XII. Form, Parts, Size and Material
3. #OBJECTS
I. <vnum>
II. <object_name>
III. <object_short>
IV. <object_long>
V. <description>
VI. <material>
VII. Flags, Extras, Wear locations
VIII. V0 through V4
IX. <level> <weight> <cost>
X. <applies>
XI. <flags>
XII. Object extra descriptions
4. #ROOMS
I. #<vnum>
II. <room header>
III. <room description>
IV. <room flags>
V. <exit direction>
VI. <extended description of what is seen in direction>
VII. <door keyword>
VIII. <door state> <exit vnum> <key vnum>
IX. <extra descriptions>
X. Mana and hp recovery adjustments
XI. <S>
5. #RESETS
I. M load a mobile into a room
II. O load an object into a room
III. P put an object in an object (gold in a safe, etc.)
IV. G give an object to mobile
V. E equip an object to mobile
VI. D set state of door
VII. S stop (END OF LIST)
6. #SHOPS
<mob#> <items> <profit-buy> <p-sell> <op-hour> <close>
7. #SPECIALS
M <mobvnum> <special>
8. #$ -- closing the area file
F. Definitions
1. vnum
2. warp_stone
3. trash
4. pickproof
5. dice
6. mobile
7. jukebox
G. Closing notes
A. Last modification date
Rom 2.4/2.5 docs version 1, compiled by Satin (Gabrielle Taylor)
7-9-1995.
Don't forget to look for appendices dated past this document on the ftp
site! There may be additional area-related code added in future Rom
releases, and rather than force you to print out a whole new copy
each time, a dated appendix will be placed on this ftp site.
B. Credits
This file contains material and information from the Merc release 2.1
Area help files (done by Furey, Hatchet, and Kahn), material from the
Merc Diku Mud code itself, material and examples from various area files
that are found in both ROM2 and MadROM, as well as coding material that
was adapted and modified by Alander for ROM1 and ROM2, and later by
Madman for MadROM. It also contains information from Alander written
for ROM 2.3 and ROM2.4x, from Zump for Rom 2.4x, and information from
ozy.doc by Ozymandias. It was compiled and rewritten by Satin for
Tesseract (hypercube.org 9000), and then adapted by her to Rom 2.4x.
Many of my examples are drawn from Diku's Midgaard, and my example of a
fountain is drawn from Conner's New Thalos area.
C. Basic Format
An area file consists of 8 basic sections, as follows:
The area header:vital statistics for the area
The mobiles: the stats and descriptions of all monsters in the area
The objects: the stats and descriptions of all objects in the area
The rooms: a listing of all rooms and exits in the area
Area resets: instructions for loading/maintaining the area
The shops: a listing of any shops that the area contains
Specials: procedures to enchance the performance of mobiles
Areas may also include special notes and procedures, such as a help
file, information on where on the area should be placed, and any special
code that should be written to make the area work properly. This should
be included outside the main body of the area, but within the same file.
D. Organization
I. The sections should all be contained in one large file, organized in
the following manner (the file proto.are can be used as a template):
#AREA
<area header>
#MOBILES
<the mobiles>
#0
#OBJECTS
<the objects>
#0
#ROOMS
<the rooms and exits>
#0
#RESETS
<the area resets>
S
#SHOPS
<shops>
#0
#SPECIALS
<special procedures>
S
#$
<to terminate the file>
II. Numbering
You will notice below that all these sections require numbers. For
example, Hassan is mobile #1203, and the temple of Midgaard is room
#3001. To make your area as simple to add as possible, number your
files as follows:
XX00-XX99 (1st 100 of anything)
XY00-XY99 (2nd 100 of anything)
And so on. Thus, your mobile, object, and world files should ALL begin
with XX00 as the first entry.
III. mailing
If you are on a unix system, please use the following protocol for
mailing your area: ([name] is the name of the area, preferably a short
one, i.e. shire.are or chapel.are.
If you have gzip:
gzip [name]
uuencode [name].gz [name].gz | mail target@address
(make SURE you type the name twice here)
Otherwise use compress and the .Z suffix (instead of .gz).
If you can't compress your area and it is over 100k, make sure the
person you are mailing it to can handle receiving large files.
IV. A note about help files
It used to be possible to include help files in areas. However, it is
now preferred that the help file be sent in a separate file for
inclusion in another file set aside specifically for helps.
V.
If you notice anything wrong or confusing in these docs, please mail me
at gtaylor@pacinfo.com, and I will attempt to explain the confusion or
correct the error -- these docs weren't exactly banged out overnight, but
pretty damn close. :)
E. The area format
1. #AREA:
I. #AREA
II. filename.are~
III. Area Name~
IV. {1 50} Builder Sample Area~
V. ZX00 ZX99
Breakdown:
I. #AREA is the signifier that the code uses to mark the beginning of a
zone.
II. Select an appropriately unique filename for your area to be saved
as. Keep it short -- for instance, if your area is titled 'The Dell of
the Darkness' an appropriate name is darkdell.are. Do not forget to close
with a tilde.
III. Type in the area name here as you expect it to appear when the
'area' command is typed, plus a closing tilde.
IV. This is the line that will appear in the 'area' command. The
numbers in brackets signify the minimum and maximum levels that a player
character should be before venturing into the area. Insert the area
author's name in the spot labeled 'Builder' above, and the area name
where the example says 'Sample Area'. Do not forget to close with a
tilde.
V. This is the virtual number (vnum) range your area is using. You
must declare a range from 0 to 99 here even if you don't use that many
numbers, or a range from 0 to 199 if you use more than 100, etc. Use a
placeholder or variable such as 'ZX' instead of a specific range unless
you have been assigned a range by the implementor of the mud you are
writing for.
2. #MOBILES
I. <vnum>
II. name list~
III. short description~
IV. long description
~
V. look description
~
VI. race~
VII. <act flags> <affect flags> <alignment> <mobile group>
VIII. <level> <+ to hit> <hit dice> <mana dice> <damage> <damage type>
IX. <pierce ac> <bash ac> <slash ac> <magic ac>
X. <offensive flags> <immunities> <resistances> <vulnerabilities>
XI. <start position> <default position> <sex> <treasure>
XII. <form flags> <part flags> <size> <material>
example mobile:
#ZX01
Sample~
Sample~
A sample mobile is here, waiting for a face.
~
It looks bland and boring, and like it belongs nowhere near an area
file, but is a good example of a mobile.
~
human~
ABTV CDFJVZ 1000 3000
45 30 1d1+3999 1d1+499 5d4+40 crush
-25 -25 -25 -15
ACDEFHIKLNOT ABP CD 0
stand stand either 0
0 0 medium 0
Breakdown:
I. The vnum is the number used to reference your mobile. There may
only be one mobile of any given vnum at one time. (see definitions)
II. name list~
This is a list of names that the mobile can be referenced by, for
example a fat, ugly worm might have a name list of:
fat worm~
It's best to have more than one name per mobile. Don't forget the ~ at
the end of the line.
III. short description~
The short description is seen when the mobile fights or performs
actions, i.e. "The large orc". It should be kept fairly short,
preferably 20 characters or less. Don't forget the ~ at the end of the
line.
IV. long description~
The long description is seen whenever a character looks at the room a
mobile is in (provided, of course, that they can see the mobile in question).
Example:
The large orc peers suspiciously at you.
~
Ideally it should be one line in length, but in some cases two line or
longer long descriptions are justified. Be sure to put a ~ BELOW the
description (not at the end of the line).
V. look description~
This is the equivalent of a character's description, and is seen when
you look at a mobile. It can be as long as you like, but 1-5 lines is
probably best. Try and make it at least a little descriptive, players
should feel rewarded for looking at a mobile. Be sure to put a ~ BELOW
the description (not at the end of the line).
VI. race~
Every mobile should have a race, whether it be goblin, orc, troll, or
whatever. See the list below for races that already exist. If you feel
your race is sufficiently distinct to merit creation of a new one, include
a note containing the abilities the race should have to the implementor you
are working with. Do not forget to put a ~ at the end of the line.
The following is a list of acceptable races on Tesseract. Your
mileage on other muds may vary.
avariel
affect flags: flying
immunities: holy
vulnerabilities: negative
form: edible, sentient, biped
parts: ABCDEFGHIJKP
bat
affect flags: flying, dark vision
offensive flags: dodge, fast
vulnerabilities: light
form: edible, animal, mammal
parts: ACDEFHJKP
bear
offensive flags: crush, disarm, berserk
resistances: bash, cold
form: edible, animal, mammal
parts: ABCDEFHJKUV
cat
affect flags: dark vision
offensive flags: fast, dodge
form: edible, animal, mammal
parts: ACDEFHJKQUV
centipede
affect flags: dark vision
resistances: pierce, cold
vulnerabilities: bash
form: edible, poison, animal, insect
parts: ACK
dog
offensive flags: fast
form: edible, animal, mammal
parts: ACDEFHJKUVo
doll
immunities: cold, poison, holy, negative, mental, disease, drowning
resistances: bash, light
vulnerabilities: slash, fire, acid, lightning, energy
form: other, construct, biped, cold-blooded
parts: ABCGHK
dragon (NPC dragons will typically have some flags stripped)
affect flags: infravision, flying
resistances: fire, bash
vulnerabilities: pierce, cold
form: edible, sentient, dragon
parts: ACDEFGHIJKPQUVX
dwarf
affect flags: infravision
resistances: poison, disease
vulnerabilities: drowning
form: edible, sentient, biped, mammal
parts: ABCDEFGHIJK
elf
affect flags: infravision
resistances: charm
vulnerabilities: iron
form: edible, sentient, biped, mammal
parts: ABCDEFGHIJK
fido
offensive flags: dodge, assist race
vulnerabilities: magic
form: edible, poison, animal, mammal
parts: ACDEFHJKQV
fox
affect flags: dark vision
offensive flags: fast, dodge
form: edible, animal, mammal
parts: ACDEFHJKQV
giant
resistances: fire, cold
vulnerabilities: mental, lightning
form: edible, sentient, biped, mammal
parts: ABCDEFGHIJK
goblin
affect flags: infravision
resistances: disease
vulnerabilities: magic
form: edible, sentient, biped, mammal
parts: ABCDEFGHIJK
gnoll
affect flags: detect invis, dark vision
resistances: cold, magic
vulnerabilities: sound
form: edible, sentient, biped, mammal
parts: ABCDEFGHIJKUV
hobgoblin
affect flags: infravision
resistances: disease, poison
form: edible, sentient, biped, mammal
parts: ABCDEFGHIJKY
human
form: edible, sentient, biped, mammal
parts: ABCDEFGHIJK
kobold
affect flags: infravision
resistances: poison
vulnerabilities: magic
form: edible, poison, sentient, biped, mammal
parts: ABCDEFGHIJKQ
lizard
resistances: poison
vulnerabilities: cold
form: edible, animal, reptile, cold-blooded
parts: ACDEFHKQV
mephit
immunities: negative
vulnerabilities: holy
form: edible, sentient, biped, mammal
parts: ABCDEFGHIJK
minotaur
affect flags: regeneration
offensive flags: bash, berserk, kick
resistances: poison, weapons
vulnerabilities: mental
form: edible, biped, mammal
parts: ABCDEFGHIJKLQW
modron
affect flags: infravision
offensive flags: assist race, assist alignment
immunities: charm, disease, mental, holy, negative
resistances: fire, cold, acid
form: sentient
parts: ABCGHJK
oni
affect flags: flying
immunities: lightning
vulnerabilities: bash
form: edible, sentient, biped mammal
parts: ABCDEFGHIJKW
orc
affect flags: infravision
resistances: disease
vulnerabilities: light
form: edible, sentient, biped, mammal
parts: ABCDEFGHIJK
phaylynx
affect flags: dark vision
offensive flags: area attack, fast
resistances: charm, light
vulnerabilities: sound, drowning
form: edible, sentient, biped, mammal
pig
form: edible, animal, mammal
parts: ACDEFHJK
rabbit
offensive flags: dodge, fast
form: edible, animal, mammal
parts: ACDEFHJK
school monster
action flags: no alignment
immunities: charm, summon
vulnerabilities: magic
form: edible, biped, mammal
parts: ABCDEFHJKQU
snake
resistances: poison
vulnerabilities: cold
form: edible, animal, reptile, snake, cold-blooded
parts: ADEFKLQVX
song bird
affect flags: flying
offensive flags: fast, dodge
form: edible, animal, bird
parts: ACDEFHKP
troll
affect flags: regeneration, infravision, detect hidden
offensive flags: berserk
resistances: charm, bash
vulnerabilities: fire, acid
form: edible, poison, sentient, biped, mammal
parts: ABCDEFGHIJKUV
water fowl
affect flags: swim, flying
resistances: drowning
form: edible, animal, bird
parts: ACDEFHKP
wolf
affect flags: dark vision
offensive flags: fast, dodge
form: edible, animal, mammal
parts: ACDEFJQV
wyvern
affect flags: flying, detect invisible, detect hidden
offensive flags: bash, fast, dodge
immunities: poison
vulnerabilities: light
form: edible, poison, animal, dragon
parts: ACDEFHJKQVX
VII. Act, Affects, Aggression, Alignment, Mobile group
Act flags (short for "action") determine the in-game behavior of your
mobile. Input all of the flags you have chosen into the proper mobile
section (as shown in the examples above). Following is a listing of act
flags:
A NPC Mobile is an NPC (set automatically by the game)
B sentinel Mobile doesn't wander
C scavenger Mobile picks up items on the floor
F aggressive Mobile attacks any character in the same room
(see the section dealing with aggression)
G stay area Mobile will not leave a zone (this should be set)
H wimpy Mobile will fly when badly hurt
I pet Mobile is a pet (and hence safe from attack)
J train Mobile can train statistics
K practice Mobile can practice skills
M mount Mobile can be sold as a mount
O undead Mobile has special undead powers (i.e. life draining)
Q cleric Mobile has cleric casting powers
R mage Mobile has mage casting powers
S thief Mobile has thief combat skills (backstab, etc.)
T warrior Mobile has warrior combat skills (disarm, parry, etc.)
U noalign Mobile is unaligned (unintelligent animals, golems, etc.)
V nopurge Mobile isn't removed by the purge command
W outdoors Mobile will not wander into a building
Y indoors Mobile will not wander outside a building
a healer Mobile can heal characters (i.e. the heal command)
b gain Mobile can grant new skills (i.e. the gain command)
c update Mobile is always updated, even in idle zones (rarely
needed)
d changer Mobile can change coins (i.e. Otho the Money Changer)
e tame Mobile can be tamed and then mounted
Affect Flags
Affect flags are used to assign various spell and spell-like effects to
a mobile, such as sanctuary, hidden, or detections. The following list
contains all usable affect flags:
B invisible Mobile is invisible
C detect evil Mobile can sense evil
D detect invis Mobile can see invisible. **
E detect magic Mobile can see magic
F detect hide Mobile can see hidden (sneaking/hiding) characters
G detect good Mobile can sense good
H sanctuary Mobile is protected by a sanctuary spell. **
I faerie fire Mobile is surrounded by faerie fire (a hindrance)
J infravision Mobile can see heat sources in the dark
N protect evil Mobile takes less damage from evil characters
O protect good Mobile takes less damage from good characters
P sneaking Mobile is sneaking (hard to detect while moving)
Q hiding Mobile is hiding (cannot be seen without detect hidden)
T flying Mobile is flying
U pass door Mobile can walk through closed doors
V haste Mobile is affected by a haste spell
Z dark vision Mobile can see in the dark without a light source
b swimming Mobile is swimming (or capable of swimming)
c regeneration Mobile recovers hit points and mana faster than usual
** Sanctuary and detect invisible are often overused, so please be
careful with them. Not every mobile should be able to see invisible, or
the spell is worthless, and similarly not every hard mobile should have a
sanctuary spell.
Example: a glowing ghost might have faerie fire, flying, and protect
good, for an affect flag of IOT. There is no limit to the number of affect
flags that may be set on a mobile, but be sure not to type the same letter
twice.
Alignment
Alignment is a number between -1000 and 1000, meant to represent the
ethos of your creature. -1000 is irredeemably evil, 1000 is saintly. All
but the most extreme monsters should fall between -500 and 500, and in
particular it is hard to justify any low-level mobiles having extreme
alignment.
Mobile Group
The mobile is used to group mobiles into allied groups. They are
assigned by XXYY, where XX is your zone number (for Midgaard 30) and YY
is some increasing number (so Midgaard's groups will be 3000, 3001, etc.).
Any mobile in the same group as another mobile will assist it in combat.
The actual number has no real meaning, but please use the numbering system
above so that each area keeps unique grouping.
VIII. Level, Hit bonus, Hit dice, Mana dice, Damage, Damage type:
(See the appendix at the end of the documentation for details on
recommended values depending on the mobile level)
Level
This is a very important statistic, as it determines the recommended
values for your mobile's combat abilities. Try and make the level choice
reasonable to believe. Just as a level 2 Ancient Blue Wyrm makes no sense,
neither does a level 50 snail. Look over the recommended values for the
level and please try to stay fairly close to them, otherwise your mobile
may well be out of balance with the others in the game.
Hit bonus
This statistic is normally 0, but in mobiles with exceptional (and I do
mean exceptional) combat abilities it may be higher. Clumsy mobiles may
deserve a -1 or -2.
Hit dice
Hit dice are expressed as ndn+n (so many d-whatevers + a bonus).
Consult the recommended mobile values to get a rough idea how many hit
points your mobile should have. The hit points will determine how much
raw damage your monster can take before expiring. For a fixed quantity
of hit points enter it as x+1d1: i.e., for 100 hps, 1d1+99.
Mana dice
Mana dice are expressed as ndn+n. Consult the recommended mobile values
to get a rough idea how much mana your mobile should have.
This value will determine how many spells your mobile can cast in a combat
(non-spellcasters have a mana value as well, as their mana can be tapped by
the energy drain spell). Note that the mana value is not currently used,
but mobiles WILL in future use it (and therefore be able to run out of it)
so don't forget to define this section.
Damage
The damaging power of a mobile is expressed as ndn+n, just like hit
points and mana. It is very important to stay close to the values
recommended, in particular where the damage bonus is concerned, or the
mobile's balance will be skewed.
Damage Types
A mobile's damage type defines three things: what message is seen when
it attacks in combat, what armor class is used to defend against the
attack, and what type of resistance or vulnerability affects the damage
received from the attack. The following damage types are supported, listed
by the type of attack and the damage messaged sent (if a name follows the
damage message, you should use that name in your area file, otherwise just
use the message itself). If you can't find a damage type that fits your
mobiles, by all means make a new one (but be sure to note that a new damage
type was added and how it should be defined, or your mobile will not function
properly!)
piercing attacks (pierce ac):
bite pierce sting
chomp scratch thrust
peck stab
bashing attacks (bash ac):
beating crush smash
blast peck(peckb) suction
pound punch thwack
charge slap
slashing attacks (slash ac):
claw grep slice
cleave slash whip
acid attacks (magic ac):
acidic bite (acbite) digestion slime
cold attacks (magic ac):
chill freezing bite (frbite)
energy attacks (magic ac):
magic wrath
fire attacks (magic ac):
flame flaming bite (flbite)
holy attacks (magic ac):
divine power (divine)
lightning attacks (magic ac):
shock shocking bite(shbite)
negative attacks (magic ac):
life drain (drain) coldfire (cfire)
light attack (magic ac)
brilliance (brill) illumination (illum)
The acceptable kinds of damage (some with no damage messages as yet)
are:
bash disease light
pierce drowning lightning
slash energy mental
acid fire negative
charm harm poison
cold holy sound
Harm, disease, and poison are generally used only on spells, but are
included here on the outside chance that a mobile might need them.
This list is by no means exhaustive, so please feel free to expand it as
your write your area.
IX. Armor Classes
In order, the 4 armor class values for a mobile are piercing (i.e.
daggers and spears), bashing (i.e. clubs, rocks), slashing (swords and
axes), and magical (everything else). Usually the first three will be
fairly close to each other (it's nice to have them be a little different,
however), and the magical AC will be considerably weaker. Please adhere
to the AC guidelines set out in the appendix dealing with recommended values
for such.
X. Offensive flags, Vulnerabilities, Resistances and Immunities:
Offensive Flags
Offensive flags control mobile behavior in combat -- allowing some
variety in how your mobiles fight back against players. A typical mobile
should have a few (2-3) attack abilities and one or none defensive abilities,
more skilled mobiles may have more, but try not to make them too flexible.
The following offensive flags are available, although not all are currently
active (please use them anyway if they are appropriate, as they will be
enabled at some future date):
A area attack Mobile hits all characters fighting against it. Very
powerful.
B backstab Mobile can backstab to start a combat
C bash Mobile can bash characters off their feet
D berserk Mobile may go berserk in a fight
E disarm Mobile can disarm _without_ a weapon wielded**
F dodge Mobile dodges blows
G fade* Mobile can fade "out of phase" to avoid blows
H fast Mobile is faster than most others, so has extra attacks
I kick Mobile can kick in combat for extra damage
J kick dirt Mobile kicks dirt, blinding opponents
K parry Mobile can parry _without_ a weapon wielded**
L rescue* Mobile may rescue allies in a fight
M tail* Mobile can legsweep with its tail or tentacles
N trip Mobile trips in combat
O crush* Mobile can crush opponents in its arms
* not yet enabled
** warrior and thief mobs (see action bits) can disarm and parry
with a weapon wielded automatically
Offensive flags also control the assisting behavior of a mobile, by
using the following flags:
P all Mobile helps all other mobiles in combat
Q align Mobile assists mobiles of like alignment
R race Mobile will assist other mobiles of the same race
S players Mobile will assist players (by race/alignment)
T guard Mobile assists as a cityguard
U vnum Mobile assists mobiles of the same number only
Assisting by race and vnum are by the far the most common assist types.
Mobiles also assist mobiles in the same group, as defined by the group
number.
Notes: The area attack and fast flags are quite powerful, and mustn't be
overused. Only the most powerful mobiles should be capable of area
attack, and only mobiles that really are faster than most should be
fast. Proper assist flag setting can greatly enhance the
cooperation within an area.
Example: An orc might have bash, kick, and kick dirt (it will probably
be a warrior, so will parry and disarm if armed), and will assist by
race and alignment, for an offensive flag of CIJQR. There is no limit to
the number of offensive flags that may be set on a mobile, but be sure
not to use the same letter twice.
Immunities, resistances, and vulnerabilities
Mobiles have differing immunities, resistances, and vulnerabilites both
to better explain certain creatures (i.e. dragons) and to make fighting
them take a little more strategy than just mindlessly pumping out damage.
Most normal mobiles probably won't have much in the way of these flags, so
don't add flags without sound reason. It's important to make shopkeeper-type
mobiles (as well as guild masters, healers, et cetera) immune to summon,
charm, magic, and weapons (immunity flag ABCD) just to insure that they
cannot be killed. Similarly, weak, low-level mobiles (goblins, for example)
might be made vulnerable to magic just to accent their weakness. All three
flags share the same fields, which are as follows:
A summon Summoning and gating magic
B charm Charm spells (the beguiling spell group)
C magic All magic (be very careful using this flag)
D weapons All physical attacks (be very careful using this flag)
E bash Blunt weapons
F pierce Piercing weapons
G slash Slashing weapons
H Fire Flame and heat attacks and spells
I Cold Cold and ice attacks and spells
J Lightning Electrical attacks and spells
K Acid Corrosive attacks and spells
L Poison Venoms and toxic vapors
M Negative Life draining attacks and spells, or unholy energies
N Holy Holy or blessed attacks
O Energy Generic magical force (i.e. magic missile)
P Mental Mental attacks (such as a mind flayer's mind blasts)
Q Disease Disease, from the common cold to the black death
R Drowning Watery attacks and suffocation
S Light Light-based attacks, whether blinding or cutting
T Sound Sonic attacks and weapons, or deafening noises
X Wood Wooden weapons and creatures
Y Silver Silver or mithril weapons and creatures
Z Iron Iron and steel weapons and creatures
Note: Resist the temptation to make "Achilles Heel" style mobiles, that
is creatures that are immune (or almost immune) to all but a single
attack type. Such mobiles are extremely boring to fight, and ultimately
not very hard to defeat. Strive to make a balanced mobile, with no flags
that aren't explainable by its nature.
Important Note: the two generic categories (weapon and magic) are merged
with more specific flags, so that a mobile which is (for example) immune
to magic but vulnerable to fire will take normal damage from fire.
Example: a fire demon might be immune to fire and negative energy (HM),
resistant to mental attacks and weapons (DP), and vulnerable to holy
attacks as well as cold (IN).
XI. Start position, Default position, Gender, Treasure
start and default position
The start position is the position a mobile will be loaded in, the
default position is the position it returns to after a fight. These are
often the same, but a sleeping mobile (for example) is not likely to go
back to sleep.
The acceptable positions are stand, sit, rest, and sleep.
sex
Mobile sex (as in gender, mobiles don't reproduce) can be none, male,
female, or either (either will be set randomly for each mobile of that
type which is loaded). It has no real game effects, but does add color.
It's a good idea to make generic mobiles (i.e. rabbits) sex 'either', just
for variety.
treasure
The average treasure carried by the mobile, in silver pieces. Most
mobiles should carry no more than 100 coins per level, and usually much
less unless they are supposed to be wealthy. Non-intelligent mobiles should
usually have no treasure.
XII. Form, Part, Size, Material
Form flags
The forms flag is used to define a body form for your mobile, and also
related data like what happens to its corpse when it dies, and whether or
not it is edible. Much of the forms code is not yet implemented, but please
be as thorough as possible when defining your mobile, as it will all be
used at some future point in time. The acceptable flags for body form are
as follows (use your best judgment to determine which flags should be
mutually exclusive, most mobs already have these):
corpse-related flags:
A edible Mobile can be eaten
B poison Mobile is poisonous when eaten (should also be edible)
C magical* Mobile's magic nature causes strange effects when eaten
D vanishes* Mobile vanishes after death (i.e. a wraith)
E other* Mobile is not flesh and blood (defined by material type)
form-related flags:
G animal Mobile is a "dumb" animal
H sentient Mobile is capable of higher reasoning
I undead Mobile is an undead, and not truly alive at all
J construct Mobile is a magical construct, such as a golem
K mist Mobile is a partially material mist
L intangible Mobile is immaterial (like a ghost)
M biped Mobile is bipedal (like a human)
N centaur Mobile has a humanoid torso, but a beast's lower body
O insect Mobile is an insect
P spider Mobile is an arachnid
Q crustacean Mobile is a crustacean (i.e. a crab or lobster)
R worm Mobile is a worm, that is a tube-shaped invertebrate
S blob Mobile is a formless blob (when used with mist, a cloud)
V mammal Mobile is a mammal
W bird Mobile is a bird
X reptile Mobile is a reptile (and should be cold-blooded)
Y snake Mobile is a snake (and should be a reptile)
Z dragon Mobile is a dragon
a amphibian Mobile is an amphibian (and should be able to swim)
b fish Mobile is a fish (and should be able to swim)
c cold blood Mobile is cold-blooded, cannot be seen with infravis.
* Not yet implemented
parts flags
The body parts flag is used to detail what limbs and organs a creature
has, and currently has no game effect beyond determining what hits the
ground when you kill a monster. In the future, body parts will also
determine what can be worn by the creature in question, and possibly
special attacks (i.e. the tail attack) that the mobile may do, so please
do try to be thorough in describing your mobile's body parts. The
following body parts are defined (most established mobs do not need these
and should just have a 0):
A head Mobile has a head
B arms Mobile has arm(s) (usually assumed to be 2)
C legs Mobile has leg(s)
D heart Mobile has a heart
E brains Mobile has brains (not all mobs with heads have brains)
F guts Mobile has intestines
G hands Mobile has hands capable of manipulating objects
H feet Mobile has feet
I fingers Mobile has fingers capable of wearing rings
J ear Mobile has ear(s)
K eye Mobile has eye(s)
L tongue Mobile has a _long_ tongue (like a lizard)
M eyestalks Mobile has eyestalks (it should also have eyes)
N tentacles Mobile has one or more tentacles
O fins Mobile has fins
P wings Mobile has wings
Q tail Mobile has a usable tail (no stubs)
U claws Mobile has combat-capable claws
V fangs Mobile has combat-capable teeth
W horns Mobile has horns, not necessarily dangerous ones
X scales Mobile is covered with scales
Y tusks Mobile has some teeth elongated into tusks
size
The size of the mobile has many game effects, and should be chosen
carefully.
The acceptable sizes are as follows:
tiny: small birds and anything smaller
small: large birds (ducks and up) to halflings
medium: elves and dwarves to humans
large: ogres, gnolls, and other large humanoids
huge: giants, small dragons, and wyverns
giant: for VERY large critters, i.e. dragons, titans, and the biggest
giants
material
The material type for mobiles is not currently supported. It should be
left blank (0) for flesh-and-blood creatures, or spirits, but golems and
other animated beings should have a material appropriate to their body
construction (i.e. stone, iron, diamond). Put the material in single
quotes if it is longer than one word.
Appendix A: Recommended Values
The following values should be followed closely for all mobiles -- try
not to go more than 1 level away from the recommended values unless you are
absolutely sure you want your mobile to be harder or easier than a
default monster. In particular, avoid making them easier. Certain action
flags (namely the 4 class-related flags) can modify the recommendations,
they are explained in detail at the end of this section.
level hit pts ac damage level hit pts ac damage
1 2d6+10 9 1d4+0 31 6d12+928 -10 4d6+9
2 2d7+21 8 1d5+0 32 10d10+1000 -10 6d4+9
3 2d6+35 7 1d6+0 33 10d10+1100 -11 6d4+10
4 2d7+46 6 1d5+1 34 10d10+1200 -11 4d7+10
5 2d6+60 5 1d6+1 35 10d10+1300 -11 4d7+11
6 2d7+71 4 1d7+1 36 10d10+1400 -12 3d10+11
7 2d6+85 4 1d8+1 37 10d10+1500 -12 3d10+12
8 2d7+96 3 1d7+2 38 10d10+1600 -13 5d6+12
9 2d6+110 2 1d8+2 39 15d10+1700 -13 5d6+13
10 2d7+121 1 2d4+2 40 15d10+1850 -13 4d8+13
11 2d8+134 1 1d10+2 41 25d10+2000 -14 4d8+14
12 2d10+150 0 1d10+3 42 25d10+2250 -14 3d12+14
13 2d10+170 -1 2d5+3 43 25d10+2500 -15 3d12+15
14 2d10+190 -1 1d12+3 44 25d10+2750 -15 8d4+15
15 3d9+208 -2 2d6+3 45 25d10+3000 -15 8d4+16
16 3d9+233 -2 2d6+4 46 25d10+3250 -16 6d6+16
17 3d9+258 -3 3d4+4 47 25d10+3500 -17 6d6+17
18 3d9+283 -3 2d7+4 48 25d10+3750 -18 6d6+18
19 3d9+308 -4 2d7+5 49 50d10+4000 -19 4d10+18
20 3d9+333 -4 2d8+5 50 50d10+4500 -20 5d8+19
21 4d10+360 -5 4d4+5 51 50d10+5000 -21 5d8+20
22 5d10+400 -5 4d4+6 52 50d10+5500 -22 6d7+20
23 5d10+450 -6 3d6+6 53 50d10+6000 -23 6d7+21
24 5d10+500 -6 2d10+6 54 50d10+6500 -24 7d6+22
25 5d10+550 -7 2d10+7 55 50d10+7000 -25 10d4+23
26 5d10+600 -7 3d7+7 56 50d10+7500 -26 10d4+24
27 5d10+650 -8 5d4+7 57 50d10+8000 -27 6d8+24
28 6d12+703 -8 2d12+8 58 50d10+8500 -28 5d10+25
29 6d12+778 -9 2d12+8 59 50d10+9000 -29 8d6+26
30 6d12+853 -9 4d6+8 60 50d10+9500 -30 8d6+28
Thief* mobiles should read their hp, ac, and damage at one level lower
Mage mobiles read hp and ac at one level lower, and damage three levels
lower
Cleric mobiles read damage at two levels lower
Warrior mobiles read hit points one level higher
Armor class vs. magical attacks should be computed by this formula:
(ac - 10) / n + 10, where n is 4 for most mobiles, 3 for thieves and
clerics, and 2 for mages.
Remember, +hit should only be given to very exceptional mobiles.
* a thief mobile either has ACT_THIEF set or is decidedly thief-like in
nature. The same holds true for the other modifiers.
Appendix B: Removing Flags
There are times when a mobile will clearly belong to a certain race, but
for whatever reason you will not it to have certain flags belonging to
that race. For examples, dragons may normally be resistant to fire, but
you may wish to make a white dragon that is vulnerable to fire and immune
to cold. To remove flags from the mobile, add flag removal commands at the
end of the entry (below the form/parts/size/material line).
The base syntax is:
F
<flag type> <flags>
Flag type may be either action, affect, offensive, immunity, resistance,
vulnerability, form, or parts ( usually just written as act, aff, O,
I, R, V, F, and P).
For example, to make a dragon that is not vulnerable to cold or
resistant to fire, use:
F
R H
F
V I
More than one flag can be removed on the same line, as long as they are
all part of the same flag group. So to remove fast and dodge from a wolf,
you would type:
F
O FH
Don't be afraid to move flags if you have to, and absolutely do NOT
define a new race just because a few of the default flags don't agree with
you.
4. #OBJECTS
I. #<vnum>
II. <object_name>~
III. <object_short>~
IV. <object_long>~
V. <material>~
VI. <type> <extra:flags> <wear:flags>
VII. <V0> <V1> <V2> <V3> <V4>
VIII. <level> <weight> <cost>
**IX <applies>
**XI. <flags>
**XII. <extended object description keyword>~
<extended object description text>
~
* varies by object type, may be nonexistent
** optional
Breakdown:
I. The vnum is the number used to reference your object. There may
only be one object of any given vnum at one time. (see glossary)
II. This is a list of names by which the object may be referenced. Do
not forget to put a tilde at the end of it.
III. This is the short description of the object. It is seen when the
object is used, picked up or worn. Example: a short sword named
'Nightbringer', THE Long Sword, a scale mail coif, etc. Do not forget to
put a tilde at the end.
IV. This is the description seen when the object is on the ground.
Example: A short sword lies here on the ground.~ Do not forget to put
a tilde at the end.
V. This is the substance of which the object is composed. Ie: a sword
might have material steel~, or a cloak have material wool~. If you must
define a new material type in your area, go ahead, but please make a note
of this to the person you are submitting the area to. A listing of material
types that are already defined follows:
plastic slime jelly wax rubber
oil balm cream hard/soft leather
kid leather fur snakeskin gut food
meat bread wood hardwood softwood
bamboo ebony cork horn light laen
sponge elastic silk satin lace
wool linen canvas cloth velvet
felt paper parchment vellum hemp
feathers webbing cardboard steel gold
silver mithril platinum iron lead
copper electrum bronze brass wire
tin pewter metal dark laen porcelain
ivory marble stone quartz corundum
flint lodestone granite enamel obsidian
adamantite glass pottery crystal ice
bone shell coral energy fire
air water acid coal sandstone
clay ash earth diamond etherealness
nothingness dragonscale blue dragonscaleblack dragonscale
white dragonscale red dragonscale.
Although you would normally have to place multiple words in single
quotes, in this instance, do NOT. Do not forget to end the material type
with a tilde.
VII. Type, Extras, Wear
Type
Type determines what kind of object you are creating. A list of item types
used by Rom 2.4x follows:
*weapon
*armor
*container
*light
*food
*drink
*money
*wand
*staff
*potion
*scroll
*pill
*furniture
*portal
innkey
clothing
*fountain
key
boat
map
warp_stone
treasure
jewelry
gem
trash
* indicates that the item has special values, examples of which will be
given at the end of this section.
Many of the item types have no practical purpose aside from to
control what shops they may be sold at. A jeweler might buy only jewelry,
and not gems or treasure, for example.
V0 through V4
Items marked with an asterisk in the Item Types section have special values
that must be given in the area file. Items not marked with an asterisk have
*no* special settings and a 0 must be placed in each slot.
Example of an item with no special values:
#3043
ring protection~
a ring of protection~
an enchanted ring of protection sits on the floor.~
silver~
treasure G AB
0 0 0 0 0 <-- vo through v4 slots held with zeroes
8 10 640 P
Examples follow, with explanation of what each special value denotes:
Weapon:
#3005
scimitar blade~
Hassan's scimitar~
Hassan's scimitar lies upon the ground, waiting for its owner.~
adamantite~
weapon BI AN
sword 4 10 cleave EF
42 450 5600 P
E
scimitar blade~
It is quite heavy. The blade is made of some metal that you can't even
spell. The edge of the blade looks as if it could cut through anything
or anyone.
~
For weapons, v0 is the weapon type (sword in the example), v1 is the
number of dice (4 here), v2 is the number of sides each die has (10),
v3 is the damage message (cleave) and v4 holds the weapon flags (E is
vorpal, F is two-handed). Acceptable damage messages are listed in the
mobiles section, and a listing of acceptable weapon flags follows:
A flaming D sharp G shocking (electrical)
B frost E vorpal H poisoned
C vampiric F two-handed
(energy drain)
Armor:
#3045
jacket scale mail~
a scale mail jacket~
A scale mail jacket is lying on the ground.~
steel~
armor 0 AD
3 4 4 0 2
5 160 850 G
V0 is armor vs. pierce, v1 is armor vs. bash, v2 is armor vs. slash,
v3 is armor vs. exotic weapons, v4 is bulk. Bulk is currently unused
by the code, but please enter it so that when it is implemented, your
file will be current. A listing of example bulks follows:
clothing 0 buckler 0
hard leather 1 small shield 1
scale/chainmail 2 medium shield 2
platemail 3 kite shield 3
light plate armor 4 tower shield 4
heavy plate armor 5
Light:
#3031
lantern~
a hooded brass lantern~
A hooded brass lantern has been left here.~
brass~
light 0 A
0 0 250 0 0
0 40 75 P
E
letters~
They say, "Use 'hold lantern' to activate."
~
E
lantern~
It is a large and robust but somewhat battered oil lantern made from brass,
equipped with a handle to make it handy and a hood to protect its flame.
Some letters have been scratched on its bottom.
~
V0 and V1 are empty, held with a 0. V2 is light duration in game hours,
(250 hours in this case). If V2 is set to -1 the light is permanent.
V3 and V4 are empty and held with zeroes.
Money:
#3132
silver coins~
the silver coins~
A lot of silver is here.~
silver~
money 0 A
1000 0 0 0 0
0 0 0 P
E
silver~
Looks like at least a thousand coins.
~
V0 is the silver value (in this case, 1000) of the money object. V1
is the gold value (remember that Rom 2.4x uses both silver and
gold coins). V2, V3 and V4 are held with zeroes.
Drink containers:
#3138
skin water buffalo~
a buffalo water skin~
A bloated dead buffalo is on the floor.~
leather~
drink 0 A
64 64 'water' 0 0
0 40 24 G
V0 is the maximum amount of liquid the container may hold (64 here).
V1 is the current amount it holds (64 here, as the container is full,
but it will decrease as the player drinks from it. You may also
make half-full containers that may be filled up.) V2 is the type
of liquid the container holds when it is loaded (water here). V3 has
two settings: 0 for normal and A for poisoned. V4 is unused.
A listing of acceptable liquid types follows:
Name Color Proof Hunger Thirst
water clear 0, 1, 10,
beer amber 12, 1, 8,
red wine burgundy 30, 1, 8,
ale brown 15, 1, 8,
dark ale dark 16, 1, 8,
whisky golden 120, 1, 5,
lemonade pink 0, 1, 9,
firebreather boiling 190, 0, 4,
local specialty clear 151, 1, 3,
slime mold juice green 0, 2, -8,
milk white 0, 2, 9,
tea tan 0, 1, 8,
coffee black 0, 1, 8,
blood red 0, 2, -1,
salt water clear 0, 1, -2,
coke brown 0, 2, 9,
root beer brown 0, 2, 9,
elvish wine green 35, 2, 8,
white wine golden 28, 1, 8,
champagne golden 32, 1, 8,
mead honey-colored 34, 2, 8,
rose wine pink 26, 1, 8,
benedictine wine burgundy 40, 1, 8,
vodka clear 130, 1, 5,
cranberry juice red 0, 1, 9,
orange juice orange 0, 2, 9,
absinthe green 200, 1, 4,
brandy golden 80, 1, 5,
aquavit clear 140, 1, 5,
schnapps clear 90, 1, 5,
icewine purple 50, 2, 6,
amontillado burgundy 35, 2, 8,
sherry red 38, 2, 7,
framboise red 50, 1, 7,
rum amber 151, 1, 4,
cordial clear 100, 1, 5,
Fountains:
19 2
#9601
fountain water~
a fountain~
A large fountain is here gurgling out an endless stream of water.~
marble~
fountain G 0
100000 100000 'water' 0 0
0 0 0 P
V0 and V1 for fountains are technically set the same as drink containers
(max capacity and current capacity) but since a fountain holds an
endless supply of liquid, usually V0 and V1 are set to some arbitrarily
large number. Any number above zero should work fine. :) V2
is the type of liquid the fountain holds. Any liquid in the table
associated with drink containers will work in a fountain. V3
and V4 are held with zeroes.
(And yes, you can have fountains of wine, or fountains of coffee :)
Wands and Staves:
#3044
wand magic missile missiles~
a wand of magic missiles~
a wooden stick lies on the ground.~
wood~
wand G AO
4 10 10 'magic missile' 0
2 10 320 P
E
wand~
It has a little note that says 'point this end at target'.
~
Wands and staves have exactly the same v0-v4 formatting. V0 is
spell level (the example wand having a 4th level magic missile),
v1 is the maximum number of charges, v2 is the current number of
charges (the mud will decrement the charge number as the wand is used,
but you could also make a half-charged wand that could be refilled
with the 'recharge' spell.) V3 is the spell name, which must be
enclosed in quotes. V4 is unused and held with a zero.
Potions, Scrolls and Pills:
#3241
potion yellow~
a yellow potion of see invisible~
A small yellow potion has carelessly been left here.~
glass~
potion G AO
12 'detect invis' '' '' ''
0 10 220 P
E
potion yellow~
The potion has a small label 'Detect The Invisible'.
~
V0 holds the level of the spell (this potion having a level 12
detect invisible spell in it). v1 through v4 hold the spells --
potions, scrolls and pills may have up to 4 spells in them. Should
you not wish to have all four slots filled, use empty quotes (as
shown in the above example, a potion with only one spell) as
placeholders.
Containers:
#3032
bag~
a bag~
A small bag.~
leather~
container 0 A
50 0 0 5 100
0 10 9 G
V0 holds the maximum weight that the container may store. V1 holds container
flags, a list of which follows. V2 is unused. V3 holds
the maximum weight of a given object that the container may store.
(i.e.: the above bag may be able to hold 50 pounds, but the opening
of the bag is so small that nothing larger than a 5 pound object
can fit through it. The bag could then hold up to 10 5 pound objects,
50 1 pound objects, some combination thereof, or some other combination
of weights.) V4 holds the weight multiplier of the container, which
is a number that may not be less than 1.
A weight multiplier of 100 means that the objects, while inside the
container, weigh 100% of their normal weight. If v4 were set to,
for example, 75, the objects would weigh 75% of normal (a 100 pound
object would have an effective weight of 75 pounds); if v4 were set
to 125, objects would weigh 125% of normal (the 100 pound object would
weigh 125 pounds). Be conservative with weight multipliers --
a container with, for example, a weight multiplier of 1% is an extremely
powerful item!
Food:
#3014
danish blueberry~
a blueberry danish~
A scrumptious blueberry danish is here.~
food~
food 0 A
8 6 0 0 0
0 10 5 P
V0 holds the number of game hours the food will keep the person who
eats it full. V1 holds the number of hours it will keep the person
from getting hungry. (Think of it as the distinction between food
caloric value and food density -- pasta is both dense and high
calorie, so the fullness and hunger values of a plate of linguine
should be roughly the same -- whereas cotton candy as a high calorie
value but a low density, so you can eat a lot more of it before you
get full, but the sugar will keep you from feeling hungry.) V2 is
unused and held with a zero. V3 is either 0 for normal or A for
poisoned. V4 is unused.
Portals:
#XX00
black hole~
a black hole~
A swirling black hole spins in the centre of the room.~
energy~
portal 0 0
0
0 0 0 P
V0 is the number of charges the portal has (for limited use portals) --
similar to how a wand or staff has charges. Set it to -1 for a permanent
portal. V1 is exit flags -- see the section of #ROOMS dealing with doors
for a listing of usable exit flags. V2 is gate flags, a listing of which
is at the end of this example. V3 is the vnum of the room that the portal
goes to. V4 is unused, and held with a zero.
Gate flags:
A Normal exit (should be set if no other portal flags are used)
B No curse (can't be used by people who are cursed)
C Go with (portal entrance moves with the person using it)
D Gate buggy (chance it will teleport the person to a random room)
E Random (will always teleport the person to a random room)
Furniture:
#XX00
white wicker couch~
a white wicker couch~
A white wicker couch with pink cushions is tucked into a corner.~
wood~
furniture 0 0
2 200 BEHKN 100 100
0 0 0 P
V0 is the number of people that can fit onto the piece of furniture
(in the case of the couch, 2 people). V1 is the total weight the
piece of furniture can support (200 pounds here, meaning while in
theory 2 people can sit on the couch, the people sitting on it can't
weigh more than a total of 200 pounds). V2 is furniture flags, which
determine the message to the room when the person uses the furniture
in various different ways. The couch can be sat on, rested on, slept
on, stood on, and have things put on it. However, a bathtub might be
sit in, rest in, have no setting for sleep (sleeping in a bathtub is
a bad idea) and allow things to be put in it -- hence the configurability
on the messages. You can only flag the furniture with one of each type of
message -- one sit, one rest, one sleep, one stand and one put -- and you
don't have to use all of them, like I said in my bathtub example. V3
determines how much of a healing bonus or penalty the person receives for
using the furniture -- look at the section dealing with
heal/mana bonus/penalty under #ROOMS. V4 determines the mana recovery bonus
or penalty. 100 is normal heal/mana recovery.
A list of furniture flags for V2 follows:
A Stand at
B Stand on
C Stand in
D Sit at
E Sit on
F Sit in
G Rest at
H Rest on
I Rest in
J Sleep at
K Sleep on
L Sleep in
M Put at
N Put on
O Put in
P Put inside
(Note that the Put flags in furniture are not yet enabled, but please
design your furniture using them anyhow, so that when the code is written,
your area will be current to it.)
Extra flags
Extra flags are visual effects and other controls on how the object may
be used. A listing of extra flags follows:
(Glowing) A (Humming) B
Dark (hidden) C Evil E
Invis F Magic G
Nodrop H Bless I
Anti-good J Anti-evil K
Anti-Neutral L Noremove M
Inventory N Nopurge O
Rot_death P Vis_death Q
Nosac R Nolocate T
Melt_drop U Sell extract W
Burn proof Y No uncurse Z
Non-metal S
Items with applies or other magical effects should be flagged magic.
Anti-good/evil/neutral prevents the item from being worn by persons of those
aligns -- you may mix and match two of three, but do NOT flag an item as
unwearable by all three aligns, it will cause problems for the mud.
Inventory should usually be present on items given to a shopkeeper, and
NEVER on any other object. It ensures that the item never runs out in a
shop. A shop item not flagged inventory will only be able to be sold once.
Nopurge means that the 'purge' command cannot affect this item unless it is
directly purged -- stationary objects like furniture should be flagged this.
Rot death places a short timer on the object when the mobile carrying it
dies and it disintegrates when the timer is up. Vis death means that the
item is undetectable until after the mobile carrying it is dead. Nosac
means the item cannot be sacrificed. Nolocate prevents locate object from
finding the object. Melt drop means that the item dissolves when dropped
(used for sub issue eq to prevent clutter). Sell extract ensures that the
item will be purchased at the full value it was sold at (this should ONLY
be used for gem stores where people may convert gold, which is very heavy,
into more valuable and light gemstones). Burn proof makes the item
invulnerable to damage by fire or acid.
Wear flags
Wear flags determine where an object may be worn. Note that if you want
the item to be able to be picked up it should be flagged Take, AS WELL AS
having a wear location flagged if the object should be worn. Leaving off
a take flag but flagging it wearable will make it impossible to pick up the
object should it be dropped. So to make a ring that can be picked up and
worn on finger it should be flagged AB. Note that items can not have
multiple wear locations (take does not count as a wear location, it only
determines if the item can be picked up).
A Take H Hands O Hold
B Finger I Arms Q Float
C Neck J Shield
D Body K About body
E Head L Waist
F Legs M Wrist
G Feet N Wield
IX. Level, Weight, Cost
Level determines how high of level a character must be to use an item.
Higher level items should be more powerful, and lower level correspondingly
less powerful.
Weight determines how heavy an object is, which factors into how much a
character may carry. It is entered into the area file as tenths of
pounds, so a three pound dagger would have an entry of 30.
Cost determines how much an item may be sold to a shop for (although
shops virtually always buy for less than they will sell at) or how much
a shop will charge for it. When in doubt on an item sold in a shop,
overprice it; when in doubt on an item that can be found in an area,
underprice it.
The fourth slot on objects is timer, which is not implemented, and should
be set to P. So far as I'm aware, setting it to anything other than P can
cause the area to not boot.
XI. Applies
apply
<location> <modifier>
Location is the type of affect being placed on the item. Modifier is a
positive or negative number that will increase or decrease the location
in question. A listing of locations follows:
1 Strength 12 Mana 21 Save rod
2 Dexterity 13 Hitpoints 22 Save petrification
3 Intelligence 14 Movement 23 Save breath
4 Wisdom 17 AC 24 Save spell
5 Constitution 18 Hitroll 25 Save spell effect
6 Sex 19 Damroll
20 All saves
example
A
1 1
A
13 4
The above would be the pink ice ring's affects.
XII. Flags
F
(R, I, V, A) 0 0 (affect bits for A, or immun, vulns, and resist from mob
chart)
Flags let you put what are usually perm aff bits as well as
immune/resist and vulnerability bits when wearing an item. Note that
you may also specify a location here (or 0 if none) so that spells with
two effects can be done (like a ring of haste would have a dex modifier
in addition to the bit).
A
listing of affects follows:
affect bits:
*A Blind *I Faerie_fire Q Hide *Y Weaken
B Invisible J Infrared *R Sleep Z Dark_vis
C Detect_evil K Curse *S Charm *a Berserk
D Detect_invis T Flying b Swim
E Detect_magic *M Poisoned U Pass_door c Regen.
F Detect_hidden N Prot_evil V Haste d Slow
G Detect_good O Prot_good *W Calm
H Sanctuary P Sneak *X Plague
* items will be detrimental to the character, possibly for cursed
items.
** not yet implemented
examples:
F
A 2 3 V dex+3 and AFF_HASTE
F
A 0 0 CDEFG a true sight item
F
I 0 0 CD immune to weapons and magic! :)
For obvious reasons, be VERY careful in creating permanent affected
items. A permanent sanctuary item, for instance, would be of questionable
balance and will likely be stripped from your area unless you have some
extreme justification for it.
See the #MOBILES section for a listing of imm/resist/vul flags.
XIII. Extra descriptions.
E
extra description~
Yep, this is an extra desc alright.
~
extra signifies the start of an extra description. 'extra description'
are the keywords that 'examine' will accept. Typing 'examine extra' or
'examine description' would yield the output of 'Yep, this is an extra
desc alright.'
For further examples, see the section dealing with extra descs in #ROOMS.
5. #ROOMS
II. The #ROOMS section
I. <#vnum>
II. <room header>~
III. <room description>
~
IV. <room flags>
{V. <exit direction>
*VI. <extended description of what is seen in that direction>
~
*VII. <door keyword>
VIII. <door state> <exit vnum> <key vnum>}
*IX. <extra>
<extended room description keywords>~
<extended room description data>~
*X. <mana recovery adjust> <healing recovery adjust>
*XI. <clan rooms>
XII. <S>
* denotes optional, not necessary for the room to function.
Sections that are enclosed in braces must be kept together, and placed
in the order that the above example shows. Example: if there are doors
north, south and west, all of three sets of door data must go before the
extended description related information.
Example:
#1000
The Lego temple~
You stand in a tiny, red temple; built entirely from Lego bricks. It is,
sadly, not a very interesting place, and perhaps you should leave through
the portal which leads south to a sunny garden.
~
0 BC 0
D2
You see the grand portal of the Lego church. Beyond is an inviting
garden.
~
portal grand~
1 1001 1007
extra
portal~
The portal is high and arched, built out of lego bricks of the finest
quality.
~
extra
brick~
The bricks are all in bright different colours.
~
M 110 H 90
S
#1001
<data for the next room>
I. The vnum is the number used to reference your room. There may only
be one room of any given vnum at one time. (see glossary)
II. This is the label of the room, and should be short. Characters
with 'brief' mode on will only see this section of the room. Do not forget
to end it with a tilde.
III. This is the room description. It should be a minimum of three
lines, preferably at least four or five, but not more than eight to ten.
(if you want more information than that, do it in extra descriptions) Do
not forget to end it with a tilde.
IV. Room flags, sector types
The first slot of line IV is a hangover from old file format, retained
for compatibility.
The second slot is room flags. A listing of room flags follows:
DARK (A) A light source must be carried to see in this room
NO_MOB (C) Monsters cannot enter this room
INDOORS (D) Room is inside (i.e. not affected by weather)
NO_SCAN (E) Can't use 'scan' command in room
PRIVATE (J) Room is limited to two characters (i.e. chat rooms)
SAFE (K) Safe from pkilling and aggressive mobs
SOLITARY (L) One character only can enter this room
PET_SHOP (M) see addendum about pet shops
NO_RECALL (N) players cannot use the 'recall' command to leave this room
HERO_ONLY (Q) heroes only in these rooms
NEWBIE_ONLY (R) Level 5 and under in these rooms
NO_WHERE (T) Can't use the 'where' command in this room
LIVERY (V) Room where mounts can be sold
NO_MAGIC (W) No spell casting in the room
RENTAL (X) Players can rent this room for security and healing
Pet shops: the room that the pets are to be sold in must be flagged
act_pet. However, the pets themselves must be loaded into the sequentially
next room (ie if the shop is 1036, the pets MUST be loaded into 1037 for the
shop to work).
The third slot is sector type. A listing of sector types follows:
Sector types:
type number move pts notes
INSIDE 0 1
CITY 1 2
FIELD 2 2
FOREST 3 3
HILLS 4 4
MOUNTAIN 5 6
WATER 6 4 swimmable
DEEP WATER 7 - boat required
AIR 9 - fly spell required
DESERT 10 9 will eventually affect thirst and recovery
V. Exit directions
Exit directions are signified by a line with D# on it, with # replaced
by 0 for north, 1 for east, 2 for south, 3 for west, 4 for up and 5 for down. An exit line containing D2 signifies an exit south.
VI. Exit descriptions
This section determines what will be seen if a character looks in the
direction the exit designates. Ie:
You see a river south.
Would be what would be seen if a character typed 'look south' and the
above was the exit description. Do not forget to put a tilde on the line
*after*.
Ie:
You see a river south.
~
VII. Door keyphrase
If the exit you are working on is to be a door, you may define a
keyphrase that the character may access to open the door and will see
when he opens it.
Ie:
D5
You see a dusty trap door.
~
trap door~
as the keyphrase will allow the character to type 'open trap' or 'open
door' or 'open down' to open the entryway, and when they do, they will
see the message: 'You open the trap door.'
VIII. Door state, Connecting room vnum, Key vnum
Slot one sets the door as open, closed, locked, etc. 0 denotes an open
door, 1 denotes closed and can be locked, 2 denotes a locked door with
pickproof, 3 denoted a locked door with no passdoor, and 4 denotes a locke
door with pickproof and no passdoor.
Slot two denotes the vnum of the key used to unlock the door, if the
door is lockable and if you choose to have a key that allows it to be
unlocked.
Slot three denotes the vnum of the room that this exit links to.
IX. extra, extra keywords, and extra description text
E denotes the beginning of an extra description. Extras are used to flesh
out room descriptions by giving keywords that may be looked at or
examined to give more information. Also, to have multiple sets of
extras, you must input all of the data under independent extra lines.
Example: in the following room description:
You stand under a trellis on which climb beautiful roses. A lovely
flower garden extends to the north and west of here, and a path leads to
a small white summerhouse to the south.
with the extended descriptions
E
beautiful roses~
They smell sweet and are delicately soft to the touch.
~
E
trellis~
It is made of wicker and painted white.
~
would yield the following result when 'exa beautiful', 'exa roses',
'look beautiful' or 'look roses' was typed:
They smell sweet and are delicately soft to the touch.
or the following if 'look trellis' or 'exa trellis' was typed:
It is made of wicker and painted white.
Do not forget to put a tilde after the keywords or the text.
X. Mana recovery adjustments, Healing recovery adjustments
The default recovery rate is 100% (normal). However, you may adjust
recovery of mana or hit points up or down to 1% of normal or 200% of normal.
To adjust mana, the syntax is M <number> (ie: M 90 to decrease mana to 90%
of normal recovery rate) or H <number> to adjust hit point recovery
(ie: H 110 to increase healing by 10%).
Example:
M 75 H 125
Note! Increasing healing or mana recovery is a room option that should
be used very sparingly. Decrease of healing/mana recovery may be used more
frequently.
XI. If your mud has clans, you may wish to have clan halls that are
restricted from access by anyone who is not a member of that clan.
Example for a room for the hall of clan Moonstone:
C
moonstone~
Existing clans:
guardian
darkheart
drifter
imagica
XII. S
S signifies the end of the room. All rooms MUST be ended with S.
XII #0
#0 signifies the end of the rooms section.
6. #RESETS
This is the section that installs all the mobiles in their various
locations,equips the mobiles, locks and closes any necessary doors,
randomizes any random room exits, and generally sets up the area and
populates it.
To reset an area, the server executes each command in the list of reset
commands once. Each area is reset once when the server loads, and again
periodically as it ages. An area is reset if it is at least 3 area-
minutes old and is empty of players, or if it is 15 area-minutes old and
has players in it.
An 'area-minute' varies between 30 and 90 seconds of real time, with an
average of 60 seconds. The variation defeats area time-keepers.
The #RESETS section contains a series of single lines.
The reset commands are:
I. M load a mobile into a room
II. O load an object into a room
III. P put an object in an object (gold in a safe, etc.)
IV. G give an object to mobile
V. E equip an object to mobile
VI. D set state of door
VII. S stop (END OF LIST)
Note! You may put a comment after an asterisk (*) on any line, but NOT
on a line that is blank otherwise.
Breakdown:
I. Loading a mobile into a room
M 0 <mobile vnum> <global mob limit> <room vnum> <local mob limit>
M signifies that a mobile is being loaded. 0 is a placeholder for a no
longer used field. The fourth slot is the vnum of the mobile to be loaded;
the third slot is the number of the room that the mobile is being loaded into;
the fifth slot is the total number of copies of that mobile that may exist in
the game world; the sixth is the number of copies of that mobile that may
exist in that room.
Example: M 0 1000 6 1000 1
Will reset mobile 1000 into room 1000 once, but allow you to place five
other copies of that mobile in other rooms.
Note that if you wish to have multiple copies of the same mobile you
must enter multiple resets for them. Example:
M 0 1000 6 1000 2
M 0 1000 6 1000 2
Will reset mobile 1000 into room 1000 twice.
II. Loading an object into a room
O 0 1000 0 1000
O 0 <object vnum> <global limit> <room vnum> <room limit>
Breakdown:
O denotes that an object is being loaded. 0 in both instances is a
placeholder for a defunct reset slot. The third slot is the object vnum
and the fifth slot is the room it is being reset into. Ergo, the above
example will reset object 1000 into room 1000.
That loads (O)bject ZX01 once into room ZX02. Again, 0 denotes unused.
III. Putting an object into another object:
P 0 <object being placed> <global limit> <object that is put into> <local
limit>
P denotes that this reset is putting an object into another object.
Both 0 entries denote placeholders for defunct slots. The third slot is
the vnum of the object that is being contained, the fifth slot denotes the
vnum of the container. The sixth slot denotes the number of copies of the
object that will be loaded into the container. The above example will put
3 copies of object 1001 into container 1000.
Note! If you wish to have, for example, five mobiles carrying containers
called 'backpacks' with 'bread' 'cheese' and 'water jug' items in them,
and have an abandoned backpack with the same gear as would be in the carried
backpacks, you are best off making a total of six *individual* 'backpack'
containers and resetting the *same* 'bread', 'cheese' and 'water' items.
Let's try explaining that one again. :)
If you wish to have multiple copies of a container resetting with things
being Put into them, you are in fact having several identical container
objects with different vnums for the things to be put into. If you have
six backpacks with bread, cheese and water resetting into them, after it
finds the first backpack to place the items into, the mud sometimes becomes
confused and misplaces items. If you have different containers, the mud
will not become confused. We are not sure what causes containers to become
confused, and doubtless this attempt at explanation is confusing, but
hopefully you get the idea.
You may use the same items *going into* the containers but *not* the same
container item. Get it? Good. :)
IV. Giving an object to a mobile
G 0 <object to be given> <global limit>
G denotes that a give reset to a mobile is being done. This reset
places the object being given into the inventory of the mobile. 0 denotes,
as before, a placeholder for a defunct option. The third slot in the reset
is the vnum of the object being given.
Note! The give reset MUST be placed, in the reset ordering, DIRECTLY
after the loading of the mobile that the object is being given to. Example:
M 0 1000 1000 6 2 <resetting mob 1000 into room 1000 with a global limit
of 6 and a local limit of 2>
G 0 1006 0 <places object 1006 into the inventory of the most recently
loaded mobile>
V. Equipping an object to a mobile
E 0 1007 0 3
E denotes that an equip reset is being done. 0 denotes unused slots.
The third slot indicates the vnum of the object being equipped. The fifth
slot is the number of the wear location that is being equipped to (in this
instance, 3, which is <worn on finger>).
Wear flags are as follows:
Left finger 1 Right finger 2
Neck (1) 3 Neck (2) 4
On Torso 5 Head 6
Legs 7 Feet 8
Hands 9 Arms 10
Shield 11 About body 12
Waist 13 Left Wrist 14
Right Wrist 15 Wield 16
Held 17 Floating 18
VI. Door resets
D 0 1000 1 BC
D denotes that a door reset is being generated. 0 denotes a placeholder
for an unused slot. The third slot is the vnum of the room that the door
reset is being generated in. The fourth slot is the direction of the door
reset is being generated in (since any room may have up to six doors) and
the fifth is the condition that the door is being placed in. The above
example shows the eastern door of room 1000 being set in a closed and
locked position. The following list shows the correlating numbers for the
door directions:
0 North 1 East 2 South
3 West 4 Up 5 Down
The following is a list of door flags that may be used:
1 -- door resets to closed
2 -- door that is locked
Note! If you have a door going north from room 1001 to room 1002, you must
also have a door going south from room 1002 to room 1001, unless you wish
the door in 1001 to be ONE WAY ONLY.
VII. Ending the resets:
S
S denotes the end of the #RESETS section.
Remember, for all LIMIT-NUMBERS, a '-1' means an infinite number of the
objects, mobiles, etc. can exist in the world, and the game will keep
loading up these objects/mobiles. Keep this in mind, if you are thinking
of using a '-1' for a limit-number.
It's a good idea to comment your resets thoroughly for debugging purposes.
7. #SHOPS
<mob#> <item types> <profit-buy> <p-sell> <op-hour> <close>
0
Example:
3000 2 3 4 10 0 105 15 0 23 * the wizard
All of these options are on the same line. 0 ends the section.
The first value, the mobile-vnum, is the 'keeper', or the mobile who is
the shopkeeper. ALL MOBILES with that vnum will be shopkeepers.
The <item types> section designates what the keeper will buy. He may buy
up to five types of items, and zeroes must be placed in the shop entry for
anything less than five. (The wizard above buys scrolls, wands, staves and
potions, and a zero is placed in the last option since he only buys four
types of things. If all the slots were set to zero, he wouldn't buy
anything, but he would still sell what he was loaded as having.)
The following is a list of acceptable object numbers and their corresponding
types:
1 Light
2 Scroll
3 Wand
4 Staff
5 Weapon
8 Treasure
9 Armor
10 Potion
11 Clothing
12 Furniture
15 Container
17 Drink container
22 Boat
26 Pill
28 Map
29 Portal
30 Warp_stone
32 Gem
33 Jewelry
(Any item type not listed in the above is not listed either because it is
not appropriate to have a shopkeeper that would buy that type of item, or
because that type of item can't be sold (like money :).)
The 'profit-buy' number is a markup for players buying the item, in
percentage points. 100 is nominal price; 150 is 50% markup, and so on.
The 'profit-sell' number is a markdown for players selling the item, in
percentage points. 100 is nominal price, 75 is 25% markdown, and so on.
The buying markup should be at least 100, generally greater, and the selling
markdown should be no more than 100, generally lower.
The 'open-hour' and 'close-hour' numbers define the hours when the
shopkeeper will do business. For a 24-hour shop, these numbers would be
0 and 23.
Everything beyond 'close-hour' to the end of the line is taken to be a
comment.
Note that there is no room number for a shop. Just load the shopkeeper
mobile in to the room of your choice, via that #RESETS section, and make the
mobile a sentinel in the ACT-FLAGS section of the mobile in #MOBILES. Or,
for a wandering shopkeeper, just make it non-sentinel.
The objects the shopkeeper sells are exactly those loaded by the 'G'
reset command in #RESETS for that shopkeeper. These items replenish
automatically. If a player sells an object to a shopkeeper, the shopkeeper
will keep it for resale if he, she, or it doesn't already have an identical
object. The items a player sells to a shopkeeper, however, do not replenish.
8. #SPECIALS
M <mobvnum> <special>
example
M 1000 spec_breath_gas
Special procedures are not assigned in the mobile structure itself, but
they do relate directly to mobiles. The procedure for assigning procedures will be detailed in another document, but the basic function is covered here.
A special procedure gives a mobile some added functionality, allowing it
do more complicated actions than are normally possible. Examples are
Hassan's guardian duties, the fido's ability to eat corpses, and the
warring mobiles in the dangerous neighborhood. New specials can be
requested, but don't rely on someone else being willing to code one for
you. At this time, no mobile may have more than one special procedure.
The following specials are available:
spec_breath_acid Mobile breathes acid in combat
spec_breath_fire Mobile breathes fire in combat (area attack)
spec_breath_frost Mobile breathes frost in combat (area attack)
spec_breath_gas Mobile breathes poison gas in combat area attack)
spec_breath_lightning Mobile breathes lightning in combat
spec_breath_any Mobile may use any breath weapon
spec_cast_adept Mobile casts helpful spells on low-level players
spec_cast_cleric Mobile casts clerical spells (ALWAYS cleric act flag)
spec_cast_judge Mobile fires bullets (for Mega-City One only)
spec_cast_mage Mobile casts mage spells (ALWAYS set the mage act flag)
spec_cast_undead Mobile casts spells appropriate for the undead
spec_executioner Mobile attacks Killers and Thieves
spec_fido Mobile devours corpses
spec_guard Mobile protects good-aligned people from attack
spec_janitor Mobile cleans up junk lying on the ground
spec_poison Mobile has a poison attack
spec_thief Mobile steals gold (ALWAYS set the thief act flag)
spec_nasty Mobile attacks, robs, and runs (ALWAYS set thief flag)
The following specials are coded, but should NOT be used because they
are tailored to specific mobiles. Check them out online for examples of
unique or area-specific specials that can possibly be coded for your mobiles:
spec_cast_judge Mobile fires bullets (for Mega-City One only)
spec_troll_member Mobile attacks ogre gang members (gangland mobs only)
spec_ogre_member Mobile attacks troll gang members (gangland mobs only)
spec_patrolman Mobile tries to break up fights (gangland mobs only)
spec_mayor The Midgaard mayor special(opens/closes city gates,etc.)
Other specials are available, but are highly limited. However, should you
need a special to be coded in, write the implementers and see if it
possible.
9. Closing your area file:
The syntax to end the file is:
#$
Be sure to put a couple of carriage returns at the end of the file.
F. Definitions
Vnum
A vnum is a unique number used to identify a mobile, object or room.
You can use the same vnum for a mob as for an object or for a room (since
the code keeps track of them separately) but NOT for different mobs, objects
or rooms.
Warp_stone
A component used in the portal and nexus spells. Further spell
components will eventually be implemented. Keep them rare and NEVER
describe an object in such a way as to suggest that it might be a warp_stone.
It should be indistinguishable from a normal gem or rock except by
identifying it. Lore will eventually identify components (including
warp_stones) as such.
Trash
Mobs will spec_janitor target trash as the first thing to pick up. It's
the catch-all for objects that fall under no other categories.
Pickproof
Immune to being picked with the pick lock spell.
Dice
Role playing games commonly use dice of more or less than six sides for
purpose of generating random numbers for damage, hit probability, etc.
For example, 1d11 (not possible in real life, but possible in the game)
would generate a value from 1 to 11. 2d4 would generate a range from 2 to 8. Usage of multiple dice generates a belled result where a range generates a linear one (for example, 2d4 averages 5, whereas a range from 1 to 8 averages 4.5).
Mobile or mob
A being/monster within the game capable of the functions the area
builder defines. Note that mobiles that have ACT_SENTINEL (stay in one
place) aren't mobile per se, but why quibble? :)
Jukebox
The jukebox will 'play' songs either in the room you are in or play them
loud (over the MUSIC channel). Ask your implementor for a list of songs
that the jukebox (if used on your mud) uses.
G. Closing Notes
Make your rooms direction insensitive unless there is only one exit. If
a room has a south exit and a west exit, the line 'You enter through the
southern door' is a bad line. However, if the southern door is the only
entrance to the room, it's permissible. Also, if you are using one way
doors, direction sensitivity is permissible.
Also, a room doesn't know if you've seen it before, so avoid lines like
'you gaze on the mighty mirror of Zenabit for the first time'.
Avoid putting sentiments into the mind of the reader. If the line has
'you think' in it, it's probably bad, since you don't know if that's really
what they think. Try to convey things in another manner as to make them
think what you want them to think.
Avoid pointless anachronism. It's tacky. Areas should have some
internal logic, as well as logic to the rest of the world, instead of
just being a lump of anachronism to provoke a titter the first time, and
gradually to become tiresome. Strive for cleverness and wit instead.
Put in extra descriptions in rooms especially, but also on objects. It
fleshes the area out more. Overdo extra descs rather than underdoing
them.
Write utility linker rooms. If you have a long and winding road going
up to the castle -- write at least a couple of road rooms. Be sure to say
'the castle to the north' and not 'the castle in front of you' since the
person might have left it.
Write 'useless' objects for colour. If the princess is the sort to wear
perfume, put some type furniture perfume in a type object vanity table
that could be found if looked for. It too fleshes out the world. (Note
that Satin wrote 600 useless objects for Cordreas Heart, but you don't have
to be asthorough (read, insane) as her. ;)
If there's furniture in a room, write it as an object and load it there,
so that it could be sat on/etc.
If you have no_take objects (such as the donation pit) or mobs that
cannot be killed and are sentinel (shopkeepers, adepts, etc.) write them
as normal objects/mobs, consider giving them no long description, just a ~,
and describe them as part of the room, to blend them into the world more.
If the mob can be killed, or the object taken, though, you should give it a
long desc, since it might not be there.
Do NOT write descriptions of a mobile into the room description if you
also load that mobile in the area. Do not do the following:
<room desc>
You are in a throne room. A huge gold throne with the king of the
goblins sitting on it is in front of you. He cries out and several
bodyguards attack!
Instead do:
<room desc>
You are in a throne room. A huge gold throne is immediately in front of
you. Tapestries depicting the greatness of the ruler whose castle you have
intruded hang on all walls.
<mobile>
The king of the goblins is here. He cries for help!
<mobiles>
A bodyguard screams and attacks!
A bodyguard screams and attacks!
A bodyguard screams and attacks!
A bodyguard screams and attacks!
NEVER write an area that is too easy, or that has absurdly powerful
equipment, just to make it popular. Do not rely on a mobile being 'really
tough' as the sole balance to an otherwise overpowered item -- people have
soloed 30,000hp mobiles (admittedly, people with nothing better to do, but
you get the idea). A well-balanced item (for example, the enchanted leather
bracer) will ultimately earn popularity of its own right, and be less likely
to be adjusted by a disgusted implementor who was tired of seeing people
immort after spending a half day in your zone. Besides, then all the Real
Studly Area Builders like Satin and Andersen will laugh at you. :)