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--- how_to_play [2026/06/28 04:43] – external edit 127.0.0.1
+++ how_to_play [2026/07/04 14:21] (current) – external edit 127.0.0.1
@@ Line 9: / Line 9: @@
 * You're dropped straight into the world.
-The bar at the bottom is your command line. On the right it shows **connected as //yourname//** — click that to open a menu (Settings, Help, Log out).
+You can also use **telnet** or a mud client like TinTin++:
+* not secure: telnet mossworld.ca 4000 (this is insecure because the password is sent in plain-text)
+* **secure TLS:** openssl s_client -connect mossworld.ca:5443 -quiet
+* **Recommended:** use a mud client like TinTin++ (command line unix) or zMUD (windows). They support TLS and have nice features.
+* Mudlet, Mushclient and Blightmud are all good modern clients. I think Mudlet is cross-platform.
+Anyways, when you get in to Mossworld, the bar (prompt) at the bottom is your command line. On the browser client it shows **connected as //yourname//**; click that to open a menu (Settings, Help, Log out). In the telnet/tls/mud client it shows a prompt like "> ".
+You can change your prompt; try typing "help prompt". In general, you can type "help" for help on game commands.
 == Creating your character
@@ Line 15: / Line 23: @@
 The first time you enter, Mossworld walks you through making a character — one choice at a time. Just type the letter shown and press Enter:
-  * a **profession** — Adventurer, Fighter, Wizard, or Woodsman
+  * a **profession** — Adventurer, Fighter, Wizard, or Woodsman (see [[Classes]])
   * a **race** — Human, Elf, Dwarf, Halfling, or Cat (each starts at a different age)
-  * your **sex** — male, female, other, or leave it blank for now
   * an **alignment** — lawful, neutral, or chaotic
-  * a **birth-sign** — your animal of the Chinese zodiac
+  * a **parting gift** — a camping knife, a torch, a magic key, a handful of coins, a riverstone jewel pendant (+5 hp), or nothing
-  * your **bonus stats** — Adventurers spread three points where they like; Fighters, Wizards and Woodsmen get a boost to their key ability
-  * a **parting gift** — a camping knife, a torch, a magic key, twenty gold coins, a scroll of teleport, or nothing
 Then you step into the world. You can review all of it any time with **stat**.
+Had second thoughts? While you are **level 5 or under** you can re-pick your class or race with **setup class** (or **setup profession**) and **setup race** — you'll be walked back through that one choice. It isn't free: re-picking **drops you to level 1** and **wipes your trained skills and ability scores**; your skill points reset to a fresh level-1 pool to spend again. Prefer a clean slate? **setup restart** (also **setup all**) is a complete do-over — back to **level 1** with skills and abilities wiped, then creation again from scratch (same level-5-or-under rule). Either way, **your gear and coins are always kept** and you **stay right where you are** — no relocation, no fuss. After level 5 your class and race are **locked** for good.
+You can also swap your **parting gift** with **setup gift** (level 5 or under). Because a fresh gift is free starter kit, it isn't given away twice for nothing: you must either **trade in the gift you still carry** or **pay 5 silver** for a new one. If you have neither, you're told so and keep what you have. (Gender and zodiac can be changed any time with **setup gender** and **setup cz**, at no cost.)
 == Moving around
@@ Line 36: / Line 45: @@
 * **look** (or **l**) — the current room: its name, description, exits, and what's here
+* **look //person//** — size someone up: name, level, race & class, and how they describe themselves
 * **exits** (or **ex**) — just the exits
+* **glance //target//** (or **gl**) — a quick read of how badly a creature or person is hurt, without their full description (**glance** alone checks yourself)
 * **who** — who is online right now
 * **zones** — the world's areas
@@ Line 42: / Line 53: @@
 == Things and treasure
-* **get //item//** (or **take**), **drop //item//**, **inventory** (or **inv**)
+Items are the things you find in the world — a coin, a lamp, a sword, a sign. When you
-* **examine //item//** / **look //item//** — look closely at something
+**look**, items on the ground are listed, one inline or several as a list:
-* **wear** / **wield** / **offhand** / **hold** / **light** / **remove** (or **rem**), and **equipment** (or **eq**) — gear you're using
-* **coins** — **get gold**, **take 3 gold**, **drop 5 silver** (gold, silver and copper)
-* **donate //item//** — give something to the donation room for others to claim
-The full rundown is in **[[All about Items]]**.
+{{{
+You see a coin.
+}}}
+{{{
+You see:
+  a coin
+  a sword
+  a brass lantern
+}}}
+**Picking up and dropping.**
+* **get //item//** (or **take //item//**) — pick something up off the ground
+* **drop //item//** — set it down here
+* **get all** — scoop up everything on the ground that isn't fixed in place (this skips **fixed** things; to loot a corpse, name it: **get all corpse**)
+* **inventory** (or **inv**) — what you're carrying (things you've worn or wielded show under **eq**, not here)
+* **coins** — pick up or drop money: **get gold**, **take 3 gold**, **drop 5 silver** (gold, silver, copper)
+* **donate //item//** — give an item to the donation room; it poofs onto the floor there for someone else to claim
+**Looting containers and corpses.** A slain creature leaves a **corpse** you can rifle, and some props (chests, sacks) hold things too. A corpse stays where it lies, so you loot it in place rather than pick it up:
+* **look //container//** -- see what's inside first (**look corpse**)
+* **get //item// //container//** -- take one thing out (**get sword corpse**, **get necklace chest**)
+* **get all //container//** -- empty it, items **and** coins together (**get all corpse**)
+* **get //coin// //container//** -- just the money (**get gold corpse**, **get 3 silver chest**)
+* **put //item// //container//** -- the reverse: tuck something you carry into it (**put sword chest**); **put all //container//** tips your whole loose inventory in
+You may write **from** or **in** if you like (**get ring from corpse**, **put ring in chest**); it reads the same. Plain **get all** with no container named only sweeps loose items off the floor, so a fixed corpse must be named.
+**Referring to things — keywords.** You never have to type a full name. Any **word** of an
+item's name works, and builders can add extra **keywords**. Every word you type must match,
+so adjectives disambiguate:
+* **get coin**, **get penny**, **get copper** — all find a copper coin
+* **get copper coin** — picks the copper coin over a gold one
+* exact matches beat partial ones, so **get coin** won't grab a //coinpurse//
+**Looking closely.**
+* **examine //item//** (or **ex //item//**) — read its description; checks what you carry first, then the room
+* **look //item//** — the same, but the room first (handy when you and the room both have a lamp)
+//(On its own, **ex** — like **exits** — shows the room's exits.)//
+**Wearing, wielding and holding.**
+* **wear //item// [where]** — put on clothing, armour, or a shield. Most items know where they go; you can also say where, e.g. **wear ring neck** to wear a ring on a chain.
+* **wield //item//** — wield a weapon in your **main hand**.
+* **offhand //item//** — wield a weapon in your **off hand**.
+* **hold //item//** — hold a talisman, orb, or trinket. If the item is //only// a light source, **hold** lights it for you instead.
+* **light //item//** — hold a light source aloft. It has its own slot, so a torch you //light// stays lit even when you take up a shield, an off-hand weapon, or a held item.
+* **remove //item//** (or **rem**) — take anything off and put it away.
+//Your **main hand** and your **light** are independent slots. Your off-hand spot holds just **one** of: an off-hand weapon, a held item, or a shield — taking up one frees the others.//
+* **equipment** (or **eq**) — everything you're wearing and wielding, by position:
+{{{
+You are wearing:
+  <used as light>     a brass lantern
+  <worn around neck>  an amulet
+  <worn on finger>    a gold ring
+  <wielded>           a sword
+  <held>              a runestone
+}}}
+**Self-storage — Bill's lockers.** Off Moss Avenue you'll find **Bill's Self Storage**, a room of personal lockers. Anything you stash there is kept safe and stays put — through logout, death, even a server restart — until you come back for it. Bill charges a flat **1 copper** for each access (one item or a whole armful, same price); //reading// your locker list is free.
+* **store //item//** — stash something you're carrying
+* **store all** — stash your whole loose inventory at once (worn gear stays on you)
+* **find //item//** or **find //#//** — take one thing back out, by name or by its list number
+* **find all** — pull everything back out
+* **list** (or **list //page//**) — see what's stored, 10 to a page (free to read)
+Your locker holds up to **20** items for now, and these commands only work while you're standing in the locker room.
+== Fighting
+Mossworld has monsters, and not all of them are friendly. Start a fight with **kill //target//** (or **attack**); a Fighter who knows the skill can open with **hit //target//** instead, for an edge on the first exchange. From there blows are traded automatically, round by round, until one side falls — or you break away with **flee**. Not sure you want the fight at all? **consider //target//** (short **con**) sizes it up first, from "you have the clear advantage" to a flat warning to walk away, based on how the creature measures up to you.
+Whether a blow lands pits the attacker's accuracy against the defender's **armour**: better armour, and out-levelling your foe, make you harder to hit (and them easier to hit). Damage comes from the weapon — bare fists do little, real steel does more — so a wielded weapon is worth carrying. Some fighters also learn to **dodge** — a trained chance to sidestep a blow entirely, so an attack that would have landed simply misses. If you like to watch your foes weaken, turn on **set glance on** and a short read of how hurt everything you're fighting is prints at the end of each round.
+Win and you earn the monster's **experience**, and **score l** remembers which lands you've earned it in. Lose and everything goes dark... you come to back in the Tourist Center with a single hit point, no worse for it but a little wiser. A few rooms are **sanctuaries** where no violence is allowed — good places to catch your breath.
+Tougher foes are easier with friends: form a **party** to fight together, **share the experience**, and **split the loot**. See **[[Parties]]**.
+== Casting spells
+A wizard fights and travels with **spells** rather than steel. Cast one with **cast //spell//**: **cast heal** to mend wounds, **cast affliction //target//** to lay a wasting curse that gnaws a foe each round, **cast energy shield** or **cast magic bubble** to ward yourself, and **cast blink //dir//** or **cast teleport //creature//** to move. Every spell draws on your **mana** and, once cast, leaves a brief beat where you can't act. A wizard has the whole spellbook from level 1 — what matters is how deeply each spell is trained. Even a non-wizard can cast a spell they've learned if they carry something that grants **mana** ([[ec:Wizzy the Wizard|Wizzy]] sells a wand and a hat that do). The full list is in **[[Skills]]**.
+== Resting and recovery
+Your **hit points**, **mana**, and **movement** return on their own over time — **1 point of each every 30 seconds** — but only while you are both **fed** and **watered**. Let your food or water run dry and recovery simply stops (there's no starvation damage) until you eat and drink again, so keep a little of both on hand. There's nothing to do but wait: duck into a **sanctuary** where no fighting is allowed, catch your breath, and you'll be back to full before long. Wizards lean on this most — a spent mana pool refills at that same steady trickle, so a hard fight is often followed by a short rest. See **[[a:food_and_drink|Food and Drink]]**.
 == Your character
-* **stat** (or **st**) — your character sheet: level, abilities, gold, alignment, and more
+* **score** (or **sc**) — your character sheet: level, abilities, gold, alignment, equipment and more
+* **score l** — your level and experience: how much you need to level up, and the lands where you have earned the most
+* **stat** — a quick one-line health check (your hit points and movement)
 * **playtime** — how long you've played
+== Training and skills
+Your character can learn **skills** — profession abilities like a fighter's knack for landing the first blow. Each skill is a **proficiency** from 0 to 100%: at 0% you don't have it, and the higher it climbs the more reliably it works. You raise skills — and your raw abilities — by spending **skill points** at a **trainer**: a guild master who teaches one profession's skills. You earn **1 skill point every level**, and start with a pool of **5** — Adventurers, the generalists, start with **7**.
+Stand with a trainer of your profession and:
+  * **train** — list what this trainer can teach and its cost, plus the skills you already know and their percentages
+  * **train //skill//** — spend a point to raise that skill's proficiency; train it again to push it higher, up to 100%
+  * **train //ability//** — spend a point to raise an ability such as **str** or **con** by one
+For example, a Fighter at the warrior's guild learns **hit** with **train hit**, then trains it again to sharpen it. Trainers keep to their guild halls, and your **score** sheet shows the skills you know and the points you have left.
 == Getting around quickly
@@ Line 60: / Line 174: @@
 * **home** — recall to your home
 * **recall** — teleport to the fountain
+**sethome**, **home** and **recall** are a low-level convenience — all three stop working past **level 10**. After that you travel on your own two feet, or reach for a scroll: **[[ec:Wizzy the Wizard|Wizzy]]** sells a **scroll of home** (1 silver — recall to your set home) and a **scroll of sethome** (10 silver — set your home where you stand), and those work at **any** level.
+A **wizard** has ways of his own. **cast blink //dir//** darts him in a straight line up to ten rooms (handy for skipping a long corridor or the monsters in it), and **cast teleport //creature//** folds space to the nearest creature he names — both only where he could actually walk. And a wizard's **cast recall** never expires. See **[[Skills]]**.
 == Talking to others
 * **say //message//** — speak out loud to everyone in your room
+* **shout //message//** — shout to everyone in your zone (your whole area, not just the room)
 * **tell //player// //message//** — a private message to someone, anywhere in the world
 * **emote //name//** — act something out: **emote wave** shows "//yourname// waves." (short: **me**, **em**)
-* **channels** — your chat channels; **join //name//** one, then talk on it with its number, e.g. **1 hello**
+* **who** — who is online right now
+**Channels** are named chat rooms you opt into. Type **channels** to see what's available, **join //name//** to start listening, and **leave //name//** to drop one. You talk on a channel by its **number** — **1 Hello!** sends to your channel 1 (often //general//). The numbers are //yours//: they count upward over the channels you have joined, in your order, so two players may number the same channel differently. Reorder yours with **ch //#// //#//**.
+**Parties.** Band together with **party invite //player//** to fight as a group, share the experience, and split the loot — up to four of you. Full details, and the built-in **Party** chat channel, are in **[[Parties]]**.
+**Chat mode.** In the browser, press **Tab** or **Esc** to flip between //command mode// and //chat mode//. In command mode you type commands the usual way. In **chat mode**, plain text goes straight to whoever you last spoke to — your last **say**, **tell //who//**, or channel — so you can just talk without prefixes. A line starting with **/** still runs one command (so **/look** looks, and **/1 Hello** chats on channel 1). Flip back any time, or use **/chat** and **/command**.
 == Settings
@@ Line 72: / Line 198: @@
 Set with the **set** command:
+* **set desc //text//** — a short line others see when they look at you
 * **set verbose on** / **off** — show or hide tutorial/assist hints (off by default)
-* **set colors tea** / **pc** — recolour the client: **tea** (Tea Green) or **pc** (grey on black). Remembered in your browser.
+* **set glance on** / **off** — in combat, a one-line condition read on your foes at the end of each round (off by default; recolour it below)
+* **set armor modern** / **traditional** — how armour reads on your score sheet (a plain bonus, or classic descending armour class)
+* (To recolour the game's text, see **Colors** just below.)
+== Colors
+Recolour the game's text with **setcolor**. Colors apply in the browser //and// over
+telnet, and are saved to your character.
+A color can be a **name** (//yellow//, //orchid//, //cyan// — any CSS color name, plus
+//tangoplum// and //medicalplum//), a **hex** code (//#ad7fa8//), or three numbers
+//r,g,b// (//173,127,168//).
+* **setcolor //category// //color//** — colour a category
+* **setcolor //category// off** — back to its default
+* **setcolor** — list every category and its current colour
+* **setcolor list** — print your scheme as **/setcolor** lines to copy, paste, or share
+* **setcolor save //name//** / **setcolor load //name//** — save your scheme under a name and switch back to it later (either with no name lists your saved schemes)
+* **setcolor remove //name//** — delete a saved scheme (your active colours are left alone)
+Every element in the room view has its own slot, so //roomname//, //roomdesc//, and //exits// are independent — recolouring one never touches the others.
+^ Category ^ What it colours ^ Default ^
+| **roomname** | the room's title line | springgreen |
+| **roomdesc** | the room description (and floor coins) | steelblue |
+| **exits** | the exits list (**exits** and the auto-exits line) | cadetblue |
+| **playernames** | other players' names | yellow |
+| **playerhere** | the "is here" after a player's name | lightgreen |
+| **mobs** | creatures, e.g. "A goblin is here." | lightgreen |
+| **items** | objects lying on the ground | lightgray |
+| **system** | most game messages | gray |
+| **combat** | fight messages — hits, misses, experience | lightblue |
+| **glance** | the end-of-round condition read (**set glance**) | lightsteelblue |
+| **chat** | channel chat | gray |
+| **tell** | private tells | gray |
+| **help** | help text | gray |
+For example: **setcolor roomname yellow** then **setcolor roomdesc medicalplum**.
 == Getting help
@@ Line 79: / Line 243: @@
 * **help** — the basic command list
 * **help topics** — extra help topics available to you
-* **quit** (or **q**) — disconnect
+* **quit** / **logout** — disconnect. Both ask you to confirm (**y** / **N**) first, so a stray keypress won't drop you. (There's no **q** shortcut — **q** is **quaff**.)
 == Want to build?