Newbie Guide

Welcome to The Land of Karchan!

Whether you're a first time player, an experienced player in other MUDs, or a returning player of Karchan, this guide is for you!

If you've never roleplayed (RP) before and don't know what it is, you'll want to start with What Is Roleplay.

For players who know what RP is but have never used a MUD before, you'll want to start from the beginning. If you've played other MUDs before and know what RP is, you'll want to skip to the Character Creation section. If you're a returning player to Karchan, you'll want to skip to the A Few More Things section.

What Is The Land of Karchan?

The Land of Karchan is a MUD or MUSH; it's a game that is played with text and a few visual elements right here in your browser. It's a free form role-playing game similar to Dungeons & Dragons or other TTRPGs, with fewer rules, limitations, and typically without dice.

You design a character concept, make that character with the "Create A Character" form, sign in as that character, and act as that character for the duration of your time in Karchan.

There are Deputies who not only build the world you play in room by room, but also run plots, arcs, and events. They enforce the rules and keep the game running smoothly. Karchan's Deupties are the game's biggest asset, and are leaders and servants of our little community here. They are open and welcoming of communication and interaction. If you have any problems, questions, or ideas, please don't be afraid to approach the Deputies.

Character Concepts: A Walk Through Guide

First, you'll want to come up with a general idea of what you would like to play. You can ask yourself questions to get a feeling for what you'd like:

Do you want to be good, evil, or neutral?
Do you want to be a scholar, warrior, domestic, craftsman, or any combination thereof?
Is there a piece of art, a character in a book or movie, or even a person in your life that you'd like to use as inspiration?

Next you'll want to decide on your character's history, purpose, and goals.

Did they survive a fire that wiped out their town and have had no choice but to start again?
Are they the third generation of a merchant or vendor in the largest city in Karchan and want to make their shop the next "big" thing?
Were they raised in a faith, and believe so fervently in their deity that they aim to become the highest ranking clergy member?

Short term and long term goals, haunting backstories full of trials and tribulations, and lifetime quests for revenge or glory are staples of role-playing characters. Of course, a bucolic childhood in the hills with two encouraging and supportive parents that leads to a fantastic University education and results in a life-long dedication to becoming the foremost Historian in Kuri is perfectly acceptable, as well.

Then, you'll want to read through our indexes of

and decide if you want to go with something that already exists in Karchan or invent something of your own. There's no limit to the combinations you can make. No restrictions on what exists or can be made in the Land of Karchan, with a few exceptions (for instance, you may not play a deity of your own making, though your character can follow one that isn't listed). You can also take a look at

to see if there's anything that you're interested in joining and incorporating into your character.

While we don't keep a list of particular skills, talents, and abilities, you'll want to consider which, if any, your character has. Hobbies, interests, and schooling has helped all of us discover skills, talents and abilities that we never knew we had, never knew we wanted, and sometimes never use again.

Next, we want to start fleshing out your character. You can consider things such as hair, skin, and eye color. How old are they? How tall are they? What's their body type and how much do they weigh? Do they have any deformities or disabilities? Do they have tattoos, scars, or birthmarks? What is their hair style and do they have a beard? What clothing are they wearing? Are they wearing jewelry or other accessories? Do they have any pets or familiars with them?

Finally, we want to consider quirks and flaws to really round out your character. Quirks and flaws make your character interesting and fallible. Not every part of a character has to be useful or beneficial. Some of the questions you might ask yourself are:

Is there a habit or compulsion that they have, such as cracking their knuckles or chewing a toothpick?
Are they unwavering about something, like they'll only eat red foods.
Are they addicted to something or someone?
Do they have an unreasonable fear; for instance being terrified of dandelions?
Do they have gross or unacceptable behaviors, such as picking their nose in public?
Do they have an accent or speech impediment?
What is their gait like?
Do they have any tics or tells, like tapping their fingers against their leg?
Do they have a disease or illness?
What is their favorite color, food, or expletive?
Do they have any strange affinities, such as attracting wildlife like a cartoon princess whenever they're in a wooded area?

Actually finally, you want to give them a name. While some races do have naming conventions, those aren't rules that you must adhere to. Characters cannot share a name, so if someone has already made a character named John, and you also wish to have a character named John, you must register with a variation such as Johnathon, Jonathan, or Jon.

Character Creation

So you've got your character concept. You know who they are, what they do, what they look like, and how they like their toast in the morning. Now you've got to create them in the game. Don't worry, this is an easy process.

First you go here and just start filling out the form. Fields with a red asterisk (*) are required, though all other fields are optional.

It is highly recommended that you register your character with your name and email address, so in the event that you forget your password, we're able to reset it. This step is not required to play the game.

Don't be tripped up by the title field. It's just to add a little flavor to your character, and only appears when people look at you or on the who list. You can add some flavor now or leave it blank. There are ways to access it after character creation.

Next select your race by clicking on the field. A list will pop up and allow you to scroll through until you find the race that you want. If you wish to play a race that isn't listed, simply pick the closest thing to it, or anything at all. The Deputies are able to change your race once you're in game.

Select your gender out of the three options by clicking on the circle next to the one you'd like.

The next ten fields all function the same as the race field. You click on the field, a scroll menu will appear, and you click on the selection you want. While Karchan character creation offers many options, we don't have everything. If you want something that isn't listed, simply choose anything and we can customize it for you later!

Notice that there are "none" options for the last three fields. If you choose none for these fields, then your in-game character description will not contain any mention of these descriptors (beard, arms, legs).

When you're done, simply click the "Submit" button. The screen will change, and you'll get a message that your character has been created and directing you to log in.

Where Am I?

Congratulations! You've got your character concept and created your character. You've logged in, and now you're...in a cave? Well, you can see the cave after you dismiss the welcome message popup. There's an X in the upper right hand corner, or you can click OK.

Yes! The Land of Karchan plunks you in a cold, damp, dark cave right off. Scenic, isn't it? It serves as our setting for tutorial and informational purposes. In fact, one of the first things you'll see is a link leading to this very guide.

You should also see another link that will take you the page that explains your In Game Screen. We recommend opening it in another tab.

In this first room, you can try a few things out by simply typing the words in bold below into the text field in the game and pressing submit (or hitting enter on your keyboard).

read book will allow you to read the book on the chain. It pops up a new screen with a description and pictures of the book. It instructs you to type help. To exit this screen, push the submit button.
help pops up a rudimentary list of commands and emotes that you can use in game. To exit this screen, push the submit button.
pull chain does nothing, but does give you a fun readout.
push button gives you an error readout that simply states, "I am afraid I do not understand."
stats will give you a look at yourself.
inventory or i will give you a glimpse into your own pockets, which should be just about empty.

You will see that below the room description there is a word highlighted in blue: west. You can either click this word or type w and press submit (enter) to move into the room to the west.

Outside the Cave

Tutorial over? Nope, not quite. You'll see three directions here below the room description. While you can continue to move on to the west and enter the game proper, we do highly suggest you go south. If you move east, you'll end up back in the cave.

The room to the south is a testing ground for players who are new to MUDs and Karchan, and will get your sea legs for how to execute commands and interact with others. We're going to give you some more functional commands here to use there as well.

Newb School

Newb School's goal is to teach you how to function on a rudimentary level in Karchan. In Newb School you can:

look at map, which will pop up a graphic of the Land of Karchan's various nations and cities. Press the Submit button next to the text bar to exit the map screen.
read sign brings up a list of informational commands and instructions on how to become certain races, join religions, or join particular communities in Karchan. This sign can be overwhelming at first, so take your time. You are not expected to remember all of these commands and options, and they are listed elsewhere. All of the commands listed on this sign are able to be used everywhere else in Karchan.
look at Alec allows you to look at Alec. Alec is a bot, which is what we call automated characters. You can see Alec's description, what he's wearing, and instructions on how to interact with Alec.
say to Alec Hello is the basic first step of in-game communication. This command works on both bots and player characters (when the name is replaced accordingly) and will return:
- You say [to Alec]: Hello.

Head back north either by clicking the blue word under the room description, or by typing N into the text bar and hitting enter. You should end up back in Outside the Cave.

A Few More Things

You should now have a faceted, glass ring in your inventory.
- Access your inventory by typing in inventory or i and hitting the submit button (or enter).
- Equip the ring by typing wear ring on rightfinger into the text bar and hitting submit (enter). You can also choose leftfinger, but the words must run together.
- If you look at yourself again via stats or look at name where "name" is replaced with your character name (i.e. look at John), you should be able to see the ring equipped in your description.
condition message will allow you to create a custom clothing and accessories description for your character.
- condition John is wearing blue pants, a brown shirt, brown shoes, and a red tie, will add that line to your character description below the ring. You can change your character condition whenever you want to, and to whatever you want to (within the rules).
ooc on/off will toggle the ooc channel. We recommend that new players start with it on, in case they have questions.
- ooc message sends a message in the ooc chat to everyone in the game that has the channel on.
  - ooc I'm new and I need help will return:
  - [OOC: John] I'm new and need help.
get item lets you pick up items in game. Items available in that location appear below the room description and directionals in blue. The Deputies often drop seasonal or important items at The Road. You are allowed to pick up whatever is there, though they usually request you pick up one of each item and leave some for others. You usually only need the last word of an item name to pick up, for example:
- get atlas will return:
  - You get a new, detailed, useful atlas.
afk message is a feature that allows you to set a status message on the who list.
- afk Looking for RP will show a blue alert at the end of your title on the who list that says, "Looking for RP". It's a good way to let others know what you're up to!
me is a command that, when used at the front of a message, allows your character to perform custom actions and emotes. This is how most RP in Karchan is done.
- me moves away from the board, kicking up dust and pebbles as he goes returns:
  - "John moves away from the board, kicking up dust and pebbles as he goes," (for everyone else in the room).

What Now?

If you're still standing at Outside the Cave, you'll want to head west.
This is where the game starts; at a dusty road and a battered billboard. You are now in the Land of Karchan, on the World of Kuri, proper.
May you find good friends, good fun, and good food wherever The Road takes you.

Commands
Index of Commands
In Game Screen
What Is Roleplay

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Last modified on November 8, 2024, 04:38:31

Land of Karchan