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Shadows of Isildur — a roleplay-intensive Tolkien MUD.
Connect at middle-earth.us, port 4500.
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“If you’re looking for a game with good RP, great world, excellent building
and over the top coding, Shadows of Isildur could be for you.”
Evilone
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Welcome! On behalf of the entire staff here at Shadows of Isildur, we're glad to have
you join us. The following document was written with the aim of acclimating new players
and easing what might seem to some as a somewhat steep learning curve. As always, if
you have any questions, please feel free to email us.
What is Shadows of Isildur?
Shadows of Isildur is a text-based online game of the variety usually referred to
as MUDs, an acronym for Multi-User Dungeon. Perhaps the most helpful way to think
of it would be to consider it an interactive novel; you will take on the role of a character in
this novel, and you have the ability to shape its outcome in whatever way you feel comfortable.
Unlike most other MUDs on the internet, Shadows of Isildur is an RPI, an acronym that stands
for Role-Play Intensive. Although our code is complex and enjoyable to play with, the main
goal of both our players and administrators is to engender a realistic and engaging environment in
which to roleplay. Therefore, the focus is on the characters themselves - their quirks, lives, and
ambitions - not on numerical statistics or skill rankings. In fact, you will notice that we have
taken great pains to hide things that are generally the hallmark of MUD mechanics: you will encounter
no numbers whatsoever here. Everything is specifically engineered to help further the suspension of
disbelief necessary to fully engage yourself in roleplay - which is strictly required and enforced.
Another important thing: unlike most other MUDs, in keeping with our aim to provide a realistic
and well-crafted environment, the death of your character is permanent. Again unlike other
MUDs, however, it is entirely possible to play through a character's entire life without ever
needing to put him or her in direct danger - crafters, scholars, and other such professions abound.
However, make no mistake: the moment you leave civilized areas, life can become nasty, brutish and
short rather quickly. Combat here is realistic; and just like real life, combat here is harsh.
That said, we cater to the more adventurous player as well as to the socially-oriented ones. With
more and more of Middle-earth coming online, dangerous and long-forgotten places to explore are not
infrequent: some hold riches, while others hold only death.
Remember: here, at Shadows of Isildur, only you are in control of your PC's destiny.
Registering for an Account
The first step on the road to playing Shadows of Isildur is registering for a MUD account. Unlike
most MUDs, our login system is account-based. Really, you should think of it like a handle for
a bulletin board or an instant-messaging service. Although your character names will change
during your time here, your account name will not; it is used to store past characters, as well
as any roleplay points you accrue during the course of your travels. Additionally, your MUD account
is what you will use to log into our discussion forum. Choose
your account name carefully - it is permanent.
To register for an account, you'll need to connect
to the MUD. Choose option 'C' from the login menu, to create a new account. Then, enter the email address you'd
like to receive MUD-related correspondence at.
Be sure to enter a correct email address - if you do not, you
will not receive your login password, and will be unable to use your new MUD account!
Once you have entered your email address and confirmed that it is correct, you will be disconnected.
An automatically-generated password will be emailed to the account you gave; once you receive that,
you may log into the MUD server and begin the process of creating your first character.
Creating a Character
Here at Shadows of Isildur, characters are by application only. This allows us to screen any new
incoming PCs to ensure that the integrity of the roleplaying environment is preserved; also, it
means we're at your disposal if you're stuck without any good character ideas! Don't be afraid
to ask the staff if you need help at any point.
To create a character, from the main MUD account menu you'll need to choose option 'R'.
If for whatever reason you are interrupted in the midst of your application, you will be
able to pick up where you left off by choosing option 'E' instead, and selecting your
character's name; this will drop you back into chargen where you left.
What's in a Name?
It will first ask you what you would like to name your character. A few words, then, on what
exactly is expected in a name. Primarily, you need to avoid using the names of characters from
Tolkien's books; yes, this means no Aragorns, Gimlis, or Frodos. In addition, these should be
proper names - not names made of compound words, like "DeathStrider BlackBlade". Save
those for any hack-and-slash MUDs you like to play - they aren't allowed here.
Choosing a Gender
The next step in the process is to select your character's gender. As the prompt mentions,
it makes no difference whatsoever in terms of the code; gender is an important element in
roleplay, but not in mechanics. This, of course, leads us to the next point: generally
speaking, we recommend that people play a character of their same gender. Although this is
by no means a hard and fast rule, most find it easier to roleplay a character effectively
when they share major elements of that character's psychology.
Selecting a Race
You will next be presented with a list of 30 'slots'; if this is your first character,
most of them, you will notice, are blank. As you become a regular player of Shadows of
Isildur, and the administrators have an opportunity to gauge your roleplay, you will
be awarded what are called roleplay points. As you earn more roleplay points,
more of these racial options will be available to you for your next character.
Upon selecting the number of a race, a dialog will be shown providing a bit of
information about the selected race. You will then have the opportunity to either
confirm your choice and continue, or return to the list to choose another option.
Age
After choosing your character's race, you will be asked to select an age. Generally,
we recommend that starting players choose an age between 18-35 or so. People seem to
have great difficulty playing children realistically - if you expect to be a hardened,
orc-slaying soldier, and you choose age 13, you'll quite likely be politely asked to
either act more appropriately or retire your character. Likewise, choose a 62 year-old,
and don't expect to go jaunting around at whim; advanced age has its drawbacks.
Attributes
Next, you'll have an opportunity to assign priority to your different attributes.
Attributes are mainly used to determine your skill caps - that is, the maximum level
to which your character's various skills can advance. Unsurprisingly, then, if you
want a character highly proficient in academic skills, you would concentrate on
intelligence and willpower; martial skills, strength and dexterity; so on and so forth.
Note that you don't actually get to assign any values; rather, only the relative
ranking of your attributes. Some characters are luckier in this regard than others.
Height and Frame
You're almost there! After the keyword list, you'll need to choose a height and
frame for your character. This section of the process is relatively self-explanatory,
but one thing bears mentioning; these are relative between races. That is to say,
a tall, massive Hobbit is probably about the same size as an average, medium Human.
Short and Long Descriptions
Your short and long descriptions are what other characters in the game will recognize
you by. Unlike other MUDs, as an RPI Shadows of Isildur never reveals your PC's name
in a coded way to others. Thus, if you choose the short desc of a burly, black-bearded
man, that is what other characters will see whenever you act. Likewise, setting your
long description to 'A burly, black-bearded man is here, gazing about.' will
display that line to other characters when they LOOK inside the room you're standing in.
Keyword List
Next, you'll be asked to supply a list of keywords for your character. This keyword
list contains all the words that people will be able to use to interact with your
character. Generally speaking, they should include your character's name, as well as
any important words in your short and long descs. So, to continue with our example,
a burly, black-bearded man named Kelron might have 'Kelron burly black-bearded man'
as his list of keywords. A few important things to note: first, there should not be
any commas, as this is simply a list of words. Second, if you include, for example,
black-bearded, and someone types look black, this will still bring up
your character; so, there is no need to add long strings of every possible variation
of 'black' and 'bearded' to your list.
Full Description
Often the most difficult part of a character application, the full description is an
elaboration on your character's physical description. It should be at least
four sentences in length or so, and should not contain any references to things
that aren't physical in nature. For example, you shouldn't tell people that your
character is kind, or mysterious, or battle-hardened; rather, describe something
physical about him that might lead people to believe so. Also, another common mistake
we encounter is the inclusion of objects such as clothing or jewelry in these
descriptions; in Shadows of Isildur, these are in-game items that you will come
across during the course of the game, and thus should not be included.
Profession
The next step is to select a "profession" for your new PC. Please note that this choice
has no direct in-game bearing whatsoever. Rather, these professions are simply
pre-selected templates of skills, chosen by the admins to be conducive to a certain type of
work. For example, if you wish to pursue having your character become an armorsmith in-game, you would
choose the Armorsmith profession; this will enable skills that would be helpful in this
pursuit on your playerfile, which you may then further customize in the next step.
Skill Selection
After writing up your full description, you'll be asked to choose a list of starting
skills for your character. The skillset required by the profession that you selected in
the previous step will be chosen by default. This in particular is where our online help database
comes in handy. Check out the skills
section for entries explaining anything you see on the list that you aren't sure of. You
can choose a skill by typing its name at the prompt; if you'd like to remove it, simply
type its name again. Once you're finished, simply type DONE.
Background
Finally, the last step! This is your opportunity to flesh out your character's history,
motives, desires, and generally, his or her story. Tell us why she has the skills she
does; how she came to where she is today; what she's looking to accomplish in her life.
The background is a valuable resource to both the administrative staff as well as to
you; a well-written background can provide a continuous source of roleplay once you're
approved and in-game. Also, note that your background will be available for you to
peruse from inside the game, via note one in your journal.
Reviewing Your Application
Upon completing your background, you will be taken to the main character generation
menu, where you will have the opportunity to review your application to ensure that
everything is in order. If you see something amiss, you may go back to that particular
stage to correct it by using the appropriate command from the list. Otherwise, type
SUBMIT at the prompt to submit your character for review.
After You Submit
So, now that you've done all that hard work and submitted your application, you're
likely wondering what to do while waiting for an administrator to review it. An
excellent place to start is our online help database,
where you may peruse our entire listing of helpfiles to familiarize yourself with the
game's concepts and commands before logging in and playing on the grid for the first time.
Also, you should feel free to log in as a guest. Doing so
will allow you to chat with any of our players who happen to be in the OOC lounge, catch
glimpses of various parts of Middle-earth, and even enter a gladitorial battle in the
dreaded Witchking's Arena in Minas Morgul! It's an excellent way to get a feel for the game
and to fill idle time while awaiting a response for your application.
Entering the Game
At this point you'll have received an email response to your application; in many cases you'll
be asked to make some changes before you can be approved, and in others you'll be allowed into
the game directly. Once you are approved, you can then choose option 'E' to log in as that
character. The first time you will log in, you will be dropped into our OOC lounge - the area
that guests are confined to. You're free to stay there as long as you like, and indeed you're
advised to remain there, if you need to speak with an administrator about any issues regarding
your character before you actually begin play.
Once you are ready to enter the gameworld proper, type COMMENCE at the prompt.
Again, welcome to Shadows of Isildur. Best of luck, and have fun out there!
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