Imagica Mud

This text is written for newbies and slightly addicted players :-) Read this text if you want to know details about the Imagica mud system (circlemud actually). Reading this text will give you the ability to choose your equipment wisely, not just wearing what people tell you to wear. You will know what to look for, and what should get your attention. Some nice usefull tips will be given at the end. It is written in random order :-)

This text explains about the stats of objects,mobs and players. It is written with the knowledge I gained during playing and reading some creation texts.

Statistics, information about you, mobs and equipment.
Alignment, what's your nature, evil, neutral or good?
How can you tell who is evil or good without speaking with them?
What can i do with stuff i find, like equipment?
Uhm, is there anything else i need to know?

ALIGNMENT

Choose whether you want to be Evil, Good or Neutral. This will get important not just for your equipment, but also for your role in the mud. Your alignment tells you if you are good/neutral/evil.
< -350 is evil
-350 < and < 350 is neutral
> 350 is good

DETECTING ALIGNMENT

If you have a spell, or potion to detect the alignment, then you can see whether a mob is good, neutral or evil. If it says:
"(BLUE AURA) a Guard"
then the mob is good and killing it brings your alignment down.
"(RED AURA) a Thief"
then the mob is evil and killomg it brings your alignment up.
If no RED or BLUE aura, it is neutral. Killing it makes your alignment go towards zero.
How much a kill will change your alignment, depends on the alignment of the mob itself and your own alignment at that moment.

STATISTICS EQUIPMENT, YOU AND THE MOBS

IDENTIFY (buyable at magic shop)
Identify can be used once, so only one item can be identified with one scroll. Your stats tell you what chances you have in a fight. When you buy a scroll of identify, and you recite it, you will see 'stats' like this:
Venice is 108 years, 9 months, 8 days and 17 hours old.
Height 59 cm, Weight 116 pounds
Level: 33, Hits: 305, Mana: 394
AC: -7, Hitroll: 25, Damroll: 22
Str: 12/0, Int: 15, Wis: 12, Dex: 14, Con: 12, Cha: 15

LEVEL
Level is your current level. The higher level you have, the more hitpoints manapoints and movingpoints you have.

HITPOINTS (H)
Hits is the number of hitpoints, when an enemy hits you, he will do damage to you, meaning your hitpoints will be reduced.

MANAPOINTS (M)
Mana is the quantity of magic power. If mana=0 you wont be able to cast spells anymore. Some spells take more mana then other.

MOVINGPOINTS (V)
Those points decrease at every move. They only get important when you have to walk very far or through rough territory like mountains.

ARMOR CLASS (AC)
This is your Armor Class. The lower it is, the heavier armored you are. 100 is a naked body and -100 is a armored battle tank. 0 is full plate armor on all bodyparts. !: in score your AC is shown in decades, so -46 will be -4, in that case the AC can have a value from -10 up to 10.

HITROLL (HR)
Hitroll is the chance you will hit a person. The higher, the better chance you have on a hit in a fight. The better AC your enemy has, the harder it will be to hit him.

DAMROLL (DR)
Damroll is the damage you do _when_ you hit a person. the higher, the better. hitroll is slightly more important then damroll. When you fight it is better to hit somebody 15 times moderate hard then you hit him 2 times hard.

STRENGHT
Strenght represents the sheer physical brawn of your character. This stat influences the amount of damage you can do in physical combat, the amount of weight you can carry, and the size of weapon you can wield. Strenght is prime attribute for fighter-class characters.

INTELLIGENCE
Intelligence is a measure of the mental acuity of your character, which has a dramatic impact on spellcasting capabilities (the number of spell points a character has depends on the intelligence of the individual). A high score in this area results in a character learning new skills and spells more easily, the higher the score, the fewer practice sessions wil be required to achieve mastery of a particular skill. Intelligence is a prime requisite for magic-user class characters.

WISDOM
Wisdom is a measure of the sagacity and intuitive powers of the character, which impacts clerics most heavily. A high wisdom is benificial to all classes in terms of the number of trainig sessions gained per level, low wisdom players may receive a mere one session per level, whereas the character with an 18 wisdom might receive 5. This stat also influences the success with which cleric-class players cast spells.

DEXTERITY
Dexterity is the measure of nimbleness and agility possessed by a character. Highly dexterous individuals will be harder to hit in combat, and likewise, will have an easier time hitting their opponents. The capability also is the key importance in certain skilled actions, such as picking locks and stealing items, thus making dexterity the prime stat for thief-class characters.

CONSTITUTION
This stat is a representation of the fortitude of a character, the capability to resist fatigue and absorb damage inflicted in attacks. High constitution results in a much greater number of hit points (the measure of physical endurance and wellness), thus making the character better able to endure punishing attacks. Physical combat-oriented classes, such as fighters, especialy prize a high constitution, although all characters benefit from increased constitution through an expand number of movement points (the numerical representation of fatigue).

CHARISMA
Charisma is the measure of physical attractiveness and personality. While often berated as "useless" statistic, it does impact the amount of money characters get for selling items in shops (for buying as well, on some systems) and (more importantly) often impacts the percentage share of experience obtained when adventuring in groups.

SCORE
type score (sc)
this tells you a lot about yourself here are a few details:
the number of experience needed to get a higher level.
the number of hit/mana/move points and what the maximum is for them
you AC and your alignment.
the time you've been playing totally.
wether you are hungry/thirsty or not.
what spells are active on you (you feel protected, a mystical shield surrounds you, you are glowing with a bright light etc.)

EQUIPMENT

Equipment is the most important for fighting. Here are 18 possible pieces of equipment.

WHAT KIND OF EQUIPMENT
nr.where it is worn (examples)

used as light (like ball, skull)
worn on finger (rings)
worn on finger (rings)
worn around neck (cloak, necklaces)
worn around neck (cloak, necklaces)
worn on body (shirts, chainmails)
worn on head (helmets, hats)
worn on legs (skirts, sleeves)
worn on feet (boots)
worn on hands (gloves, gauntlets)
worn on arms (bracers)
worn as shield (shields)
worn about body (cloaks, capes)
worn about waist (belts)
worn around wrist (bracelets, wristbands)
worn around wrist (bracelets, wristbands)
wielded in hand (swords,axes,staffs)
hold in hand (emeralds, magic weapons, staffs)

SPECIALS
Most equipment are not just armor but also have special effects on your magic power, your strength, your effetiveness in fighting or whatever. Buy another scroll of identify, use it as: 'recite identify' Identifying an object will tell you the stats of the object:

Object: Gilded gold breast plate
Item is: GLOWING MAGIC ANTI_EVIL ANTI_NEUTRAL ANTI_SMALL
Weight: 25, Value: 15600, Rent: 1560
AC-apply is 9
Can affect you as :
Affects: MAXHIT By 25
This object would apply 9 to your AC (means AC - 9) and makes you quite better armored it also adds 25 hitpoints to your maximal stats. (means the maximum Hitpoints is increased with 25)

ANTI_EVIL ANTI_NEUTRAL
Means you will be zapped if your aligment is evil, or neutral. Zapped, means "ouch". Will cost little hitpoints, but enough to kill you if you are really low on hitpoints.

WEAPONS
Your weapon is ofcourse also important. It is best to choose a weapon that suits your other stats. Some weapons are 'magical' meaning they have a bonus skill, like extra HR or DR. When your HR and DR is not so good, you better choose a weapon that increases them. When you are satified with your HR and DR, choose the strongest you can find, or get. Every weapon has a damageroll, like 3D4 or 2D8. It means:

3 Rolls with 4-side-dices. Meaning a maxhit from 3x4 is 12, avarage 6.
2 Rolls with 8-side-dices. Meaning a maxhit from 2x8 is 16, avarage 8.

So, first your HR decides wether you hit a mob or not. The damage you do, on a hit is calculated with your DR and your weapon's DR.

GENERAL TIPS

* MAP

A global map of the Imagica MUD is available on this Homepage. Note that not ALL city's and other zones are on the map. (we don't want to give it all away :)

* CONS

Consider any enemy you want to attack.

* DIAGNOSE

Diagnose a fleeing enemy make sure you're not attacking the wrong one. Can cause serious trouble if you try to kill a tough mob, they mostly have memory.

* FOOD & WATER

Always take food and water with you when you go exploring. (To regenerate you may not be hungry or thirsty)

* REGENERATING (regaining health)

Sleep to regenerate fast, in Hostile area's or with other not trusted players around, you better rest. Otherwise you might be attacked while sleeping, or somebody might steal something.

* RECALL (brigns back to safe place, the temple)

Always buy a scroll of recall in the magic shop before exploring. (If you get in trouble, like you keep getting attacked by agressive mobs, and your hitpoint go extremely fast down. you can recall safely to the temple.) Use it with: recite recall

* LIGHT

Always take a light source with you go exploring. (in the dark you won't see anything, so you will not see where you go/are)

* EQUIPMENT

Beware, some equip influence your stat negatively !! Like some stones, they reduce your max Hitpoints etc. Don't wear them until your pretty sure what they do.

* CURSED EQUIPMENT

Cursed equip can't be removed. Some spells can remove the curse. Cursed equipment will not harm you.

* WIMPY

Wimpy makes you flee automatically.
Set Wimpy high, safely. Look while fighting how hard a mob hits you. then set your wimpy as high as 2 hits of the mob. that way, you may fail 1 time to flee, and still survive the fight. 50 or higher is a safe wimpy. (at the moment,i have 319 HP, my wimpy is 110 and in tricky area's 130) Fleeing will cost you some experience points, how much depends on the experience value of the attacked mob.

* PRACTICE SPELLS/SKILLS

When you level, you gain practice points. Use them with care. Read the help on the spell/skill, consider the value of it. Sometimes it's better to safe your points for better skills you know of coming soon.

* EXPLORING

Exploring means taking risks. After you explored, you have expanded yourself enormously. When you explore, beware of Death Traps. These are chamber where you die instantly when you enter. Exploring means taking the risk to die.
Finally, the knowledge of the mud and it's dangers will be a great and well used experience. You will know where the dangers are, where the better equipment can be found and where the fun is.
I personally for example, explored very much (on an other mud) Though i died quite some times, I was finally happy I did it. I was the guy who knew where most of the cool stuff was. I knew where to walk blindly out of my hometown. That's what makes you popular. Further when I died, I knew where to get stuff, not having to wait for others to beg for equip.
Exploring at a low level, is very risky, since the most zones are for quite higher level players. For example, a normal guard or citizen in the area might be a hard fight for you, if not, it might even crush you with a single hit.
Set your wimpy level high.

* DIE

Don't whine when you die. Of course screaming, shouting is allowed. Everybody will die sometime. Only scared, hometown boys will not die. And they will be newbie forever. Don't bother Gods to get your corpse they are not allowed and will be punished themself for doing it. Just rapidly move to your corpse, and get your equipment.

* DEATH TRAPS

Read room/exit descriptions carefully ! If you doubt, don't go in there. Unless you're pretty sure it isn't a death trap. Don't bother going in there again for your equipment.

* ALIASES

Use the alias option, like: " alias dc drink canteen " next time you type dc you will drink from the canteen. No need to type the whole sentence. Also handy in combat: " alias kg kill guard " and " alias dg diagnose guard "

If you do not know a command, try help :)