MUSHing 101

Hello there and welcome to MUSHing 101! I'm Professor Fluttershy, here to help you understand how this whole business works. If you've never MU*ed before, never fear! We veterans will be happy to help you!

What is a MUSH?

A MUSH is a text-based roleplaying game. A MUSH is commonly termed a "Multi-User Shared Hallucination." As you've probably guessed, it's not actually a hallucination, but a telnet-based multi-user text game. MUSHes, as opposed to MUDs, tend to be far more roleplay-based, and usually involve textual roleplay interaction between players.

A MUSH is defined by its code base. We're using TinyMUSH, and the differences between code bases (TinyMUSH, TinyMUX, PennMUSH, RhostMUSH, etc etc) mostly has to do with how the backend is dealt with.

Long story short, all you have to know is:

  1. It's a telnet-based application.
  2. You make words and they go over the screen!
  3. Other people can see it!
  4. MAKE STORY TIEM NAO

How do I connect?

First, grab yourself a MUD/MUSH/MU* client. You could connect over raw telnet, but seriously, it's a pain in the rear to deal with. Recommended are Atlantis for Mac users, and MUSHclient or SimpleMU for PC. If you're on Ubuntu (or other Debian-flavored Linux) you can follow this guide to install TinTin. If you can't download programs, use MudConnector to connect in your browser. (Requires Flash.)

Next, you need yourself an address. Our address is game.ponymush.com and our port number is 3080. Input these as necessary to your MU* client. And then connect!

Once you connect, you can type 'connect guest' to connect as a guest-character. (Don't include the apostrophes!) You'll be in the OOC Lounge, where hopefully, people are hanging out! Guest characters can talk on certain channels, but they can't go on the grid or create objects.

When you have a character concept in mind, you can create that character on the Login screen using the 'create' command: create name password. If your character's name has multiple words in it, and thus would require a space, we request you use a hyphen to represent it. Thus: Rainbow-Dash. Then, when you want to log in, you'll type: 'connect name password'.

How do I communicate?

You can use 'say' or " to speak.

say Hello everyone!
(or)
"Hello everyone!
Fluttershy says "Hello everyone!"

You can use pose or : to 'pose' an action.

pose snuggles a bunny.
(or)
:snuggles a bunny.
Fluttershy snuggles a bunny.

Generally, if you're quoting something or offering a link, we prefer you use a pipe (|) and a pose.

pose | http://www.lmgtfy.com
(or)
:| http://www.lmgtfy.com
Fluttershy | http://www.lmgtfy.com

You can use 'ooc' or ' to speak out of character if you're on-grid. You can even use (( )) if you'd like!

ooc Haha, that's awesome.
(or)
'Haha, that's awesome.
(or)
((Haha, that's awesome.))
[OOC] Fluttershy says "Haha, that's awesome."

You can use +g to speak on the Guest channel, +pub to speak on the public channel, and so on and so forth.

+g Hey, I'm new.
[Guests] Guest-of-Fluttershy says "Hey, I'm new."

To say something without your name attached at the beginning, use '@emit' or \. This is not permitted in any OOC areas (and we do have ways of knowing who done it). This is usually used when posing in scenes.

@emit Down by the lake, Fluttershy pleasantly sniffs at flowers.
(or)
\Down by the lake, Fluttershy pleasantly sniffs at flowers.
Down by the lake, Fluttershy pleasantly sniffs at flowers.

To send a private message to another player, use 'page' or p.

page Fluttershy=Stop smelling those flowers!
(or)
p Fluttershy=Stop smelling those flowers!
You page Fluttershy with 'Stop smelling those flowers!'

You can also page-pose in this way.

p Rainbow Dash=:thbbts.
Long distance to Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy thbbts.

Why won't my %'s or \'s work?

%'s and \'s are used in MU*code for a various number of things, so if you just put one, the program will parse it as code instead of displaying it. You'll have to "escape" it. Basically to get your % to work, you can either put two of them (%%) or use the escape character \ (\%) to signal that the program shouldn't parse it as code.

Oddly enough, the channels don't parse code, so you don't need two of either there.

Still confused? Don't worry about it. Just put two %'s or \'s when you're not talking on a channel. That's all you need to know.

What are these commands?

MUSHes are code-heavy games. They're built on code, and they subsist on code. You don't need to know a whole lot of code to get by, though. Read the +help files to see what the staff has coded in.

It should be noted that any commands prefaced with + are going to be created by the staff, and anything with @ is going to have come with the MUSH software that was installed on the server. If you need help with staff-coded commands, type '+help' to see what topics are available. If you need help with hardcoded commands, use 'help' instead (no plus).

In general though, useful commands are:

+where — tells you who is logged in, and where they are.
@mail — allows you to check your mail. For more information, type 'help @mail'.
+bbscan — scans the bulletin boards for any unread messages. Type '+help bboard' for more information.
+finger — Allows you to check another character's information. Yes, the command is '+finger <player>'. It's a traditional convention. I didn't make it up!
+glance — Allows you to see at a glance what sort of characters are in the room with you.
+census — Shows you how many of each kind of race has been made.
+weather — Tells you what the weather is like today.
look (or l) — lets you look at someone or something's description.

So how do I 'roleplay'?

Grab a person (or two, or five) and jump on-grid! Pick a place! Tada, you've picked Carrot Corner.

One person will set the scene. Pick, or volunteer, or draw straws. Whatever! Whoever sets the scene has the power to create an interesting situation for everyone to roleplay in.

So, Fluttershy (that's me!) goes first.

\The sound of rain pattering outside means it's no surprise that everypony is starting to flock to Carrot Corner. Rather than get caught in the mud, one particular little yellow pony plods into the cafe and flicks her pink mane out of her face with a sigh. Fluttershy approaches the line, shyly regarding the other ponies for a moment before she takes a spot at the end, peeking over the menu from afar. "Blustery day outside, huh?" she comments in a small voice, to the pony in front of her.

There! The scene is set. It's raining outside, there are other ponies in the cafe. This opens up the floor for your partners to either be, a) the pony Fluttershy is talking to, b) a pony elsewhere in line/in the shop, or c) a pony also coming in from the rain. Or something else! Maybe they're running in from the kitchen in a panic because they set something on fire (again).

\Whether or not that pony even heard Fluttershy is debatable; regardless, they'll never find out, because at that moment there's an enormous CRASH from the kitchen, followed by a litany of creative cursing. The door behind the counter slams open as Rainbow Dash scrambles out, wings all a-flutter and covered in flour. "Sorry!" she calls behind her, as she leaps over the counter and lands beside the line.%r%rIt's then that she spies Fluttershy, and the cocky blue pony grins. "Hey! Fluttershy! What're you doing all wet?" she asks with a laugh.

Rainbow Dash has replied! And the scene will continue apace. Conventionally, with three or fewer people, you will go in pose-order. So for this scene, Fluttershy will pose, and then Rainbow Dash, and then Fluttershy, then Rainbow Dash… and so on, ad infinitum.

Once you go above three people, you are welcome to use the Rule of Three, which means, so long as three people have gone since you last posed, you can pose. Doesn't matter which three. This is very helpful when scenes get up to, say, ten people!

NB: Those %r's are carriage returns. They're how you start a new line in what you write. You can also use %t if you want to start a paragraph with a tabbed indent. You can put as many as you want in. Remember how I said earlier though that you can use \ to "escape" characters, particularly %'s? If you start a pose with \%t, it's not going to work. It's just going to look like it starts with "%t". So if you want to emit with a tabbed indent, use @emit %t.

How do I disconnect?

Type QUIT to disconnect. Alternately, LOGOUT if you wish to switch characters without disconnecting from the MUSH.