Newbie Primer
NOTE: Remember, if you have any questions on how the game works or how to progress that this page or other guides don't cover, you can use the newbie <text> command in-game to ask about any system you have trouble with!
Far, FAR more detailed information can be found in the New Newbie Guide, which contains command lists, subsections for different systems, and more. Remember to take things slow, MUDs are complicated. It's ok to get lost and ask for help or wiki-crawl for specific information as you need it!
Contents
Adult Theme
This game has an adult theme, both in violence and sexual content. In addition to consensual role play, you will at some point lose to an NPC and trigger a defeat message, which is a typically a lengthy pre-generated paragraph of how the attacker sexually assaulted you. These can result in programmatic pregnancy if you have female parts or impregnation with male parts. There are merits to help avoid this, but eventually you will see this happen to you or a party member. Additionally, some quests have sexual content in their text.
Background (Short Form)
A nanite virus has overrun the world. The result is a wide and wild variety of mutations. There are furries, living robots, monsters, and mythical beings of nearly all shapes and sizes. Most people are driven mad by the virus. Many feel the need to procreate with anyone and everyone, whereas others act on some instinct related to their mutation. You are one of the sane people helping control the less sane people and put the world back together.
You will start off human at character creation, but NPCs infect you in battle. Also, players can exchange infections by vials. Mutations are not completed by a single infection, and players commonly have partial mutations of several types.
Perks/Merits
- See the category for further details.
Accessed via the web-menu here or in-game via the list perks command, Perks (formerly known as Merits) are used to determine everything from the way the infection affects your appearance to affecting combat abilities, the regeneration rate of your Patrol Points, and various other elements used for both flavor and mechanical utility. You get a total of 50 points to spend, 20 of which are free at the start. After those free points, each perk will cost 10x Point Value in EXP. There are also some perks that give in-game advantages, although the advantages are often small.
Determining how big your cock can grow or how many breasts you can have may seem silly... until you're infected by strains like the Ember Matriarch (14 breasts total) or the Happy Hugely Hung Hyper Horse (50 inch long cock). Also consider the side affects of having and not having a perk. Being infection immune or resistant might cut out a large part of the game for you. Having a vagina means the possibility of pregnancy. Lastly, having more than 20 of cock or a breast bigger than the body is useful only for showing off and roleplaying.
At any time, one can see their perks with the +jnote command in-game, with +jnote # allowing you to see the description of whichever perk, quirk, or other character feature shares that number.
NOTE: If you make a mistake, don't panic! You can refund any perk you've mistakenly purchased for free in the first week of character creation with the +mako/perknuke # command using the number in +jnote as above!
Quirks
Accessed through the web-menu here, a number of roleplay perks have been separated from the rest and are now available as Quirks. You start with the ability to select two, unlocking more as you level up until you reach a maximum of ten. Most have selectable origins as Natural, Mutation, Tech, or Magic abilities, though some have specific requirements, such as Prestidigitation's Magic requirement.
Quirks' primary use is in roleplayed or judged scenes, and have no mechanical benefit whatsoever beyond making your character concept sound cooler.
NOTE: Just like perks, quirks can be refunded using their +jnote number and the command +mako/quirknuke for the first week of character creation for free!
Writing a Description
Accessed using the edit command in-game or through the web-interface's settings menu, one can edit their custom description, which appears when someone uses the look command on you, or their short description, visible when someone uses glance on your character (commonly done when entering rooms as the game defaults to glancing on movement).
The game gives you an automatic description that includes your skin, arms, legs, torso, breasts, penis, and vagina. If you took the 'Looks Human' perk, you will get a 'They look surprisingly human' line in place of all body parts. This automatic description should never be contradicted. In your custom description, you should include things like hair, eyes, clothing (some go nude), and distinguishing features. Avoid background details, emotions, and things people couldn't know simply by looking at you.
Perks and Quirks can also have their origins or specific effects for your character described in more detail on the web menu under this section.
Writing a Background
Where were you before?
In the chaos of the outbreak, people came from all over looking to get away from the ones that didn't keep their sanity. Some people don't remember where they came from. Others come from a wide variety of backgrounds. All three factions aren't picky about who they hire as new agents. The only requirement is (some) sanity.
How did you get there?
Currently, there are two cities and three starting factions. You somehow managed to end up as one of the sane people instead of the horny crazy people. How did you manage to do that? Zephyr and RSX help people who survive initial infection through drugs, whereas Prometheans are said to do it through sheer force of will.
Starting Factions
Zephyr
Your typical giant evil mega corp. They employ and exploit equally regardless of furry, metal hide, or plain old humanness, all under the guise of putting the world back together (so says their employee handbook).
RSX
RSX tolerates mutations but prefers humans. In terms of role play and theme, mutated agents will always be low-level workers. They are a government organization in an era where government is falling apart. They are trying to help put the world back together and seek to cure all those crazy, sex-crazed furries, even if they don't want to be cured.
Prometheans
They want people to embrace their mutations, but not in the crazy insane way. They have very liberal views on family and sexual activities and don't want to cure people of their mutations. They do want to help the nutty ones think normally again and embrace their new bodies.
Starting Locations
- Zephyr is located in Fairhaven, California, USA. There are furries in the streets, but there's a wider variety of creatures elsewhere.
- RSX is in located in the northeastern part of Fairhaven. They were previously located in Woodfield, Washington state, USA, but they decided to move their headquarters to Fairhaven to collaborate more closely with the other major factions.
- The Prometheans are located in New Dawn, a large village on the northwest side of Fairhaven.
Theme points
- Your faction probably saved you from the infection in some way. Drugs to keep you sane? Food, clothing, a bed, and guns to fend off the crazies? These are things that you probably got from your faction.
- Mutations of all shapes and sizes are common, but you may or may not consider them normal. Maybe you were human before P-Day, maybe they just disgust you.
- Getting mauled, raped, or even both on the streets is also common. You may or may not be happy about that, but it happens, generally several times a day to the weak.
- There are people looking for a cure. Are you happy about it? Prometheans don't want to be cured. Maybe you like looking like a cosplay convention attendee? Maybe you can't wait to be human again?
- Fucking your way out of a fight is also normal. Taking one for the team often means getting down on all fours and waiting for your attacker to finish, if that's what it takes to save your friends. Getting mutated from it is par for the course. Who knows, maybe you're into that?
- Supplies are the one thing that are in short supply, ironically. You will probably get a lot of quests and missions to help get more supplies. Even the mega corps are shopping at the thrift store, but their version of shopping is sending someone to defeat the Collie Herms - one gun or screw at a time.
- The streets of your city are bad, but other places are far worse. One example is Las Vegas, where the infection went completely wild and reduced the city's population to goo. Stories of horrible nightmare-ish scenarios are probably being passed around wherever your faction members meet.
Proficiencies and Classes
Proficiencies
- See the full list of proficiencies for further details.
Accessed via the web-interface's Training page , proficiencies are solely non-combat related abilities related to roleplay, and come with various levels of training and max-caps further detailed on the Proficiencies page. These are used to add flavor to your character, as well as having an incredibly important impact on roleplayed scenes, especially judged ones.
This is with the exception of crafting proficiencies, which, in tandem with some Perks, are used to craft equipment and craftmods. Check the Crafting Tutorial for more in-depth details!
NOTE:Proficiency selections can be reset for free during the first week of character creation with +mako/ProfReset, this WILL NOT reset your crafting proficiencies.
Classes
Classes give 10 combat skills and 6 unique powers, which the player unlocks as they level up. Classes can be changed anytime out of combat, without any penalties. Roles can also be selected for an additional 16 combat skills but no extra powers. You can even gain the first 4 powers from a second class with a Dual Soul Pendant item.
Combat
Combat is one of the primary ways one mechanically improves their skills in-game, though this can be altered with Perks that make progression more peaceful if not entirely done through roleplay. A full guide on combat mechanics, builds, roles, and some crafting advice can be found in the Combat Guide.
Fights are initiated almost solely through the use of the search command, and take Patrol Points to participate in, with each search taking one point, one can also use the frenzy or mega modifiers to increase patrol point cost (up to 2 and 10 respectively), battle difficulty, and rewards drastically, for instance, using the command search mega frenzy will combine modifiers to use 20 patrol points on an intensely difficult fight for over 20 times the freecred, vial, and xp rewards.
Certain edges and perks adjust the rate of patrol point regeneration, as well as the amount of patrol one can store, and the rewards for more challenging combat encounters.
Roleplaying
Roleplay is an incredibly important part of the game's downtime, a good means of generating xp, freecred, reward tokens, and sometimes even boss vials while you're out of patrol, as well as just being fun all around! So long as you follow the basics of the setting, others will generally help to mentor you in-character and show you the ropes of the current world.
Being new in a game with so much history can be intimidating, and those who've been around for a little while might be hesitant to roleplay with fresh faces, but don't be deterred! Strike up a conversation in OOC, use the command pick #on to see the pickup RP channels and see scene requests or places people might be hosting drop-in RP, and don't be afraid to start a set of poses yourself! You'll only ever receive rewards when you're roleplaying with more than just you!
Some basic commands are as follows
- pose - appends your character's name to a set of text, I.e. 'Steve yourTextHere'
- say - appends your character's name and sayverb to text, I.e. 'Steve growls, "YourTextHere"
- spoof- appends nothing to your text at all, I.e. 'YourTextHere'
- The tags %R and %T are linebreaks and tabs respectively, I.e. 'text %R %R text' would appear as a set of two paragraphs!
- pot - checks the last 10 messages of post history, with pot # showing the last up to 1000 depending on the number input!
- ooc - The room's out of character channel, which can also hold poses with ooc pose, or be checked with pot ooc #!
Information on etiquette and basic advice can be found in the Roleplay guide, with setting information in any of the pages under the Theme category. Explore, communicate, and enjoy yourself!
Pregnancy
If you have female parts, there's a good chance you will eventually get pregnant. Some merits prevent pregnancy or female parts. If you get pregnant, you will have a charge debuff until the child is born. Once is it is born, you get a child object that you can summon to aid you in battle. Some merits and combat skills assist with summoning children.
With male parts, it's likely you'll eventually get someone else pregnant, just like their female counterparts, some perks will prevent impregnation or drastically limit/increase your chance of impregnation through victory messages or other mechanical means.
The progress of both can be observed with the +pregtime command in the case of your own pregnancy or the impregnation of a feral.
Vials
After each victory, you have a small chance of collecting Builder Nanites. You can equip a Nanite Collector to improve this chance. These are used to craft upgrades to your equipment and via the "nanite" command.
With more powerful collectors, such as the one buyable with mako, you can also collect Infection Vials. These can be used to mutate you if they're not too strong for your body (too high level).
Eventually (starting at level 30), boss vials will be necessary to progress, incredibly difficult monsters called Primes drop vials capable of completely infecting the user with a form, as well as being used to advance a player's level or the potency of their mutations. More information on Prime fights can be found here.
