Building Rooms

Room Title

The first step to editing a room is to choose the title of the room. All the main words in the title should be capitalized.
For Example: Along the Harbor ‘the’ would not be capitalized, because it is not a main word.

In order to add the title of the room, type: name <title>
Room titles should always start out capitalized and never end with a period.

To change the title of the room, just type a different one.

Room Sector

Room sectors define the type of terrain the room or area is. If you are creating a desert area, you would define the sector as desert. If it is a a large kingdom or city, you’d set the sector as city.

To see a list of sectors, type: ? sector

To set the sector of your room, type: sector <sector type>

You can only set one sector at a time, so to change it just type a different sector.

If you want to set all the sectors in your current rooms at once, type: sector <sector type> all. This will only work if the rooms are already made.

There are explanations for all room related flags and sectors at: Room Flags

Room Size

Room size defines the size of the room, and who can enter it. It is useful for rooms like, holes in trees that belong to a pixie, and a giant obviously can’t enter, etc.

The size should be set to anything but all on very rare occasions, so as not to disclude the bigger races. Also, ALL ROADS that span over a long distance should have the room size flag HUGE in order to lengthen walking distance.

To see a list of sizes, type: ? size
To set the sector of your room, type: size <size type>

If you want to set all the sizes in your current rooms at once, type: size <size type> all. This will only work if the rooms are already made.

All = all races, Huge = Giants, Large = Orc/Aeromi, Medium = human/hydrel/elves/felar/centaur, Small = dwarf/gnome, Tiny = brownies/pixies

Room Flags

Room flags help customize the room. You can set a room to prevent people from gating, or teleporting. Use your discretion when flagging a room.

In order to add a room flag to your room, type: room <flag>
To see a list of room flags, type: ? room
To remove a room flag, you must type the flag again, to toggle the flag as off.

If you want to set all the room flags in all your current rooms at once, type: room <room flag> all. This will only work if the rooms are already made. This is useful if you know you want all your rooms to be no_gate or something.

There are explanations for all room related flags at: Room Flags

Room Description

Setting room descriptions are a bit more difficult. I suggest having the description written up in a text file and already spell checked before setting them to the room.

In order to set the room description, type: desc

You also have the option of setting Night Descriptions (not required), which work the same way as descriptions by typing: ndesc

*Night Desc Note: You don’t need night descriptions for rooms that are inside, or where the description is exactly the same for the daytime description

This will take you into the description editor, which has very strict commands for use. It should look like this:

-=======- Entering APPEND Mode -========-
Type *h on a new line for help
Terminate with a ~ or @ on a blank line.
-=======================================-
>
Your first step is to type in your
description in full. When you are finished there are a few commands you will
absolutely need to know.
First, you will need to format the
description, so it lines up evenly. In order to format, type: *f
If you then wish to see what the
description looks like, you can type: *s
To clear the description and start again
you type: *c

If you want to insert or remove a line type the following:
To insert: *i <line number> (insert text here in parenthesis)
To delete: *d <line number>

And most importantly, to get out of the
description editor, you type: @

To see a complete list of different commands you can do while in the editor, type: *h

To replace a section or word:
*r ‘word/phrase to replace’ ‘new word/phrase’

Note: You -must- put the old phrase in a set of apostrophes, and the replacement in apostrophes. Also, this will not work on a phrase that is on two lines because it will only do one line at a time, or if the sentence has an apostrophe already in it. In those cases you’ll have to delete and replace the individual lines.

Tips on describing rooms:
Describe everything that someone might see in the room room. Whether there are trees, walls, rocks, or tables and chairs (unless they already reset as objects in the room). Describe the temperature if the temperature is constant year round, such as volcanoes. Describe the smell, such as cigar smoke, or fresh fruit. Always put the exits in the room description. All room descriptions must be at LEAST 5 sentences long. Never describe mobs in the room, only describe NPC’s in the room that aren’t actually mobs. Such as a bird in a tree. (If you have any tips to add, note them to Crystal)

Don’t forget to check out our room guidelines.

Room Extra Descriptions

Extra descriptions help add quality and depth to a room and area. Builders can get really creative with their extra descriptions. Describing paintings (the scenario behind the painting), hidden objects, etc. They are intended for all nouns in the room description, that someone might look at, to add detail.

For example: Displayed along each walls are cotton tapestries depicting arcane runes of honor and chivalry.

Someone might possibly wish to see these tapestries in more detail, therefor we add an extra description for it. To add an extra description, type: ed add ‘keywords’ (make sure the keywords are in parenthesis)

This will take you into the extra description editor. To view all the commands of this editor, type: ed, which will look like this:

ed add [keyword]
ed remove [keyword]
ed rename [keyword] [new keyword]
ed edit [keyword]
ed + [text]
ed insert [starting line] [text]
ed delete [starting line] [number of lines to delete]
ed pretty [starting line] [number of lines to format]
ed show
ed save

To remove an entire extra description you’ve added, type: ed remove ‘same keywords’

If you just want to change the keywords a bit, if you misspelled something, you can just type: ed rename ‘old keywords’ ‘new keywords’

To edit an extra description you’ve added, type: ed edit ‘same keywords’

You can also insert and delete lines into your exit description without having to remove it completely and reenter it by using the ed insert and ed delete commands. To use those, you type:
ed insert 1 text – 1 being the line you want to insert the text above, and text being the line of text you are entering.
ed delete 1 5 – 1 being the line you want to delete, and 5 being the amount of lines you also want to delete all together after that line. So it would delete all 5 lines starting with line number 1.

ed + just lets you add another line to the extra description.

ed show lets you see what the extra description is so far.

ed save saves your exit description to your room or object.

ed pretty will format the extra description like all other editors usually do with the pretty command.

When looking over your room, if you want to see the extra descriptions, type: stat room_ed

Room Exits

Creating exits in a room is a simple procedure, and there are many details you can add to an exit, such as a door, or locks and even an exit description.

If you wish to create a generic TWO-way exit into a room, whether the room already exists or not, type: <direction> dig <vnum> or <direction> twoway <vnum>

If you wish to create a generic ONE-way exit into a room, whether the room already exists or not, type: <direction> room <vnum> or <direction> oneway <vnum>

Note: Always check to make sure the other room does not already have an exit going that direction into it. If it does, you will cause the MUD to crash.

If you wish the exit to be made a door, type: <direction> door

If you would like the door to reset as closed, type: <direction> closed

If you would like to make a name for the door type: <direction> name <name>
Example: the wooden gate

If you have created a key for a locked door, you would set it by typing: key <key vnum> (be sure to have the object made ahead of time to be used as a key)

To see a list of all available exit commands, type: ? exit
To remove an exit type: <direction> delete

Room Exit Descriptions

Exit descriptions are intended to give someone an idea of what is in that direction when they look in said direction. There must be a small description for each exit in your room.

To set an extra description, type: <direction> desc

This will take you into the description editor, like above, and you would follow the same commands. Remember all rooms MUST have an exit description for an exit.