3

MUD COMMANDS

You need to guide your character through the Land by entering commands which are processed by the MUD program. When MUD is ready for you to tell it what your persona is to do, it displays a *. At this point MUD is waiting for you to enter a commnd, telling it what to do. Movement is as in most adventure games: go west (or just W), out, back, south, and so on. In addition to movement, MUD has many other commands. This chapter lists some of them, and gives a few examples of their use.

AUTOWHO
List who is playing every set period. For example, AW:10 will list players every 10 seconds; you can stop this by typing AW:0.

BACK
Move in the direction you just came from.

BRIEF
Shortens MUD's textual descriptions, reversed with the VERBOSE command.

BYE
Quit the game and logoff the system.

COMMANDS
Display a list of all the valid commands.

CONVERSE
Enter "conversational" mode, where all text tped is treated as speech unless surrounded by parentheses. Conversational mode is exited by typing *.

DROP <item>
Drop something that you're holding on to. For example, DROP gems in swamp.

EXITS
Display the valid exits from the room you are in.

FEED <monster> WITH <something>
Try to feed an item to a monster, such as FEED ogre WI acorn.

FLEE <direction>
Retreat from a fight or monster. FLEE OUT (shortened to FO) - for example, means leave very quickly!

FOLLOW <player>
Follow someone (or something) around the Land. FOLLOW zombie - now you're following a zombie, for whatever reason....

GET <item>
Pick up an item in the same room as you. GET axe or GET ring from sack; or even better, GET all - a definite timesaver.

GIVE <item> TO <someone>
Give something to another player, such as GIVE crown TO Paysul - which would be a very generous act.

GO <direction>
Move in the specified direction. GO down - works well on staircases.

HELP
Displays some useful information.

HELP <player>
Offer to assist another player. HELP Egor; perhaps together you can lift a heavy chest?

HINTS
Displays some helpful hints to get you started.

HUG <player>
Hug another player (try it!). Will also transfer a small number of points from the hugger to the huggee.

INFO
Displays some useful information about MUD.

INVENTORY
Lists all the items in your possession.

KEEP <item>
If you keep something, and type DROP all, the kept item will not be dropped. You can get rid of it by either UNKEEPing it, or by specifically telling MUD you want to drop that single item.

KILL <player/monster>
MUD's all time great command. KILL ogre with axe or KILL Igor with broadsword - all fairly self-explanatory.

KISS <player>
Kiss another player (rather like HUG in that a small amount of points is transferred).

LAUGH
Display your amusement.

LOSE <player>
Stops someone from following you.

PRONOUNS
Display MUD's current interpretation of HIM, HER and THEM.

QUICKWHO
Display an abbreviated list of MUD's current players.

QUIT
Exit the game, but don't logout.

REFUSE <player>
Stop another player from helping you.

RETALIATE WITH <weapon>
Defend yourself if attacked. Its wise to type this fairly quickly, and you can shorten it to RET <weapon>.

SAVE
Save your persona in its current state (this is done automatically when you leave the game).

SCORE
Display your character's score.

SHOUT <message>
Shout a message to all the other players in the game. In later versions of MUD, only players in nearby areas will get your messages. SH HI, anyone here playing from Aberdeen?

SLEEP
Go to sleep and recover some stamina.

SPELLS
List the spells you can cast.

STEAL <item> FROM <player>
Try to steal an item from another player.

TELL <player>, <message>
Tell another player something. You can also do the same simply by preceeding your message with the other player's name, eg.: ZAPHOD Where is the umbrella?

UNKEEP
The reverse of KEEP.

VALUE <item>
Display the point of value of an item. VALUE crown - displays a number between thwo thousand and five thousand.

VERBOSE
The reverse of BRIEF.

WEIGH <item>
Display the weight of an item.

WHO
List the names and levels of the other players in the game. QW can also be used (which is short for QUICKWHO) to dosplay a slightly abbreviated list.

WRITE <object>, <message>
Write a message somewhere, in a book perhaps.

This chapter has only touched on MUD's vocabulary, which is immense, and it has not described MUD's ability to understand entire sentences. Using advanced artificial intelligence (AI) programming techniques, MUD is able to parse amazingly complex commands. Keep the above list handy because a quick glance at it while playing can often aid you in solving a puzzle or getting around a problem.