Welcome to Darker Realms! If you have MUDded before, you can skip the rest of this file and see 'help newbie2' for information about Darker Realms. If you are totally new to MUDding, read the rest of this file and then see 'help newbie2'. This is intended to be only a quick overview of what mudding is all about, not a detailed instruction of how to play a mud. MUDs are a type of text-based adventure game. If you have ever played games like 'Zork', many of the commands, etc. will be familiar to you. The main differences between a MUD like DR and a game like Zork are that DR is multi-player -- so you may adventure with friends or strangers from other states or even other countries -- and that the game is developed by players who have become wizards instead of some software company. The MUD is its own world. It is primarily a traditional fantasy type world -- with orcs and elves and dwarfs and swords and shields and such -- but you will occassionally find a futuristic world or something totally different. You as a player will interact with this world in various ways. You use commands like 'look', 'listen', 'smell', and 'search' to find out about your environment (not all of these commands work in all rooms). Use cardinal direction commands like 'north', 'south', 'east', and 'west' (or 'n', 's', 'e', 'w' for short) to move around. Use 'say' and 'tell' and 'ptalk' and 'shout' to communicate with those around you. Use 'give', 'drop', 'put', 'get', 'wear', 'wield', 'remove', 'unwield', and 'equip' to interact with objects in your environment and inventory. 'inventory' (or 'i') and 'score' will tell you some things about your character. There are many more commands, but these will get you started. You can type 'help <commandname>' for more information about how many of these commands work. There are several things to do on the MUD. You can kill monsters (aka 'npcs' or 'non-player characters') to gain experience, money, and equipment. Experience is used to advance your character, equipment is used to help you kill more monsters, and money is used to buy equipment and food and drinks to heal yourself. You can also work on puzzles or 'quests' which are around the game. Quests are things like 'save the princess from the dragon'. Solving quests will give you 'quest points' which are necessary to advance your character. You can also just talk to people, hang out, or play some of the text-based card/board/etc games found on the mud (see 'help games' for a list). If you wish, you may find and join a 'guild'. Guilds are things like 'barbarian' and 'paladin'. Joining a guild will give your player additional abilities and powers. See 'help guilds' for information about locating and joining guilds. The game is run, built, and developed by the wizards. See 'help administration' for information about the different kinds of wizards. If you are interested in becoming a wizard on Darker Realms, see 'help wizzing'. If you need help getting started, ask someone bigger than you. They can give you some money and equipment and help you get some basic experience. They cannot give you answers to quests. Most of DR's players are glad to help newbies if you are polite and willing to take the time to learn the game. People who are rude or don't want to do any work on their own will probably be happier with another MUD. Now see 'help newbie2'. For a summary of the most useful commands; see 'help summary'.