FAQ

Basics
REDEMPTION MUD is based on Rom 2.4 beta 3, copyright (c) 1993-96 by Russ Taylor. The Original DikuMUD game idea, concept, and design was developed by Katja Nyboe, Tom Madsen, Hans Henrik Staerfeldt, Michael Seifert, and Sebastian Hammer. REDEMPTION has been further modified by Delstar, Maclav, Shemabuku, Gothic, Litazia, Starcrossed, Tsongas, Mierauch, Acehilm, and Cauthon.

The hostname is mud.redemptionmud.com on port 4000 (shell.reach.net port 4000) and is open 24 hours a day. There is no cost to play REDEMPTION and no limit to the number of characters one can own.

The game assumes that you have at least a basic knowledge of MUDing. If you require further information about MUDs (multi-user dungeons), visit the Usenet newsgroup rec.games.mud.diku and obtain the FAQ reproduced there on a bi-weekly basis. We also recommend that you browse rec.games.mud.announce and acquire the FAQ that appears there from time to time.

If you encounter a problem during your visits to REDEMPTION, please consult this document first. It is more than likely that someone else has encountered the same problem before and that it has been addressed directly in the FAQ, or you will find general procedures that will lead to a speedy and cheerful solution to your problem. Beyond this document, the in-game help files are a helpful resource to answer more specific questions.

Role-playing on REDEMPTION is loosely based on our MUD’s theme. This theme describes the beginning of the clan system and non-clanners position in our world. To read the story link to The REDEMPTION Story, or type "help story" when on-line.

Each race has certain bonuses (plus and minus) on the character’s basic stats (i.e. strength, intelligence, etc.). What those bonuses are and their effects is left to the player to discover. Typing "help (race_name)" will give you many clues that will allow you to determine how stats are affected by race.

REDEMPTION currently offers the following races:

Humans are the most common race in this world, and make up the majority of the heroes. Although they have no special talents like the other races, they are more versatile then any other race, and are well-suited for all classes. They are the easiest race to level, and make excellent starting characters.

Elves are slightly taller then humans, but their body is much lighter, making them more nimble and thus harder to hit. Their lack of strength and stamina are made up for by ability to 'sneak' and their glowing red eyes. Elves have a strong hold over the power of magic and mind, due to their magical nature. Because of their excellent agility, they are difficult to bash.

Trolls are a medium-sized, stocky race thought to have been dwarves corrupted by the taint of chaos when the great magic first spread throughout the land. They possess a surprising strength for their average-shaped bodies, although they lack the strategic and long-range planning abilities of the other races. As part of their transformation, they have acquired an improved immune system, thus making them able to heal faster with regeneration, along with a resistance to foul disease. As a trade-off, however, fire disrupts their healing abilities. Trolls live in tribes, and while the tribes have differences in the way of beliefs and customs, all tribes favor the axe as their totem weapon.

Dwarves are short, stocky demi-humans. Known for their foul temper, glowing  red eyes and great resistance to spells, they make an interesting character to play. Dwarves have a high strength and constitution. Their poor dexterity is well made up by their other resistances, such as disease and poison.

Giants are the one of the largest races, ranging from 8-11 feet in height. They are one of the best suited races for warriors, although any class may be a giant. Giants aren't too bright, and their huge size makes them rather clumsy at times. Giants are resistant to cold and fire and are vulnerable to lightning.

Gargoyles are a race of xenophobic, protective beings that hide away in the mountains on Dominia. They are ferocious fighters, relying more on their powers and size than sneaking up on their prey. These large, clumsy but wise beings have a severe reliance on magic, giving them a weaker immune system than would be expected for one of their kind. A gargoyle's favored tactic is to dive from above on land-dwelling beings, slashing at them with long polearm-like weapons that they so heavily favor.

Kirre are a race of six-legged felines, roughly 6-8 feet in length, and ranging in colour from white to sable. Long tufted ears, six legs with razor sharp claws and a prehensile tail give them a fearsome appearance. It is reputed that they strike quickly and without mercy.

Although there are many warriors among them, Kirre are also adept in the magical arts. However, Kirre prefer the more subtle forms of magic, and many show a natural aptitude for rune magic. Traditional magic is beyond their ken. Kirre of all classes prefer using whip-like weapons because of the similarity to their own tails. Kirre strike quickly, and all practice disarming from a young age.

Marid are highly magical creatures, attuned the elements that form the world, and make powerful magic users. Despite their frail appearance, their nature makes them largely resistant to damage and they tend to have high hit points for their class. All marids are especially skilled in elemental magic and their magical essence causes any elemental magic to have additional effects. As creatures of water, Marid enjoy a resistance to both fire and water damage, however, they can be easily stricken down by electricity. They can travel over both land and water with ease and are the only race that can breath both water and air.

Hatchlings are small dragons without the ability to fly, and which are vulnerable to certain weapon types. At level 10 a hatchling will turn into a random color dragon. When this happens, the player will receive more skills and spells which are only available to dragons of their color.

Dragons are the largest of all the races, ranging from 9 to 12 feet in height. They are the most powerful of all the races, and are very durable. The ability to make them fly at any given moment as well as special spells make them rather hard to play, but are worth it in the long run. They receive many skills and spell which make their starting creation points (cps) seem rather minor. They take a serious player with a large amount of time and effort.

Warning: With each color dragon there is a resistance spell and a vulnerable spell. A red dragon is vulnerable to frost, and is resistant to fire. The rest of the colors you must find out for yourself.

Slivers are an insect like breed which likes to hunt in packs. Slivers are approximately the same physical size as humans, but their mandibles extend to form long jagged arms that they flail at their opponents in hand to hand combat.

Slivers come with hand to hand naturally, and when reaching level 10, mature into an adult sliver form. These forms give the sliver a specific ability to be shared with its fellow slivers when grouped. The sliver doesn't acquire its own ability, but acquires the ability of every other mature sliver in its group. A mature sliver can randomly 'trade' his ability for a different one at a trainer.

If this is your first time playing a MUD, we suggest that you choose a Human character. Choosing a character from a different race will give you higher average stats, but a plus bonus in one area usually results in a minus in another. A non-human character is generally more difficult to play.

If you don’t like the character you create during your first visit to REDEMPTION, you can delete at any time and begin anew-- type "help delete" for further information. This is a common practice for those who first visit the world of REDEMPTION or any MUD.

REDEMPTION offers the following classes:

Mages are magic beings. Power flows through them, and hits others as easily as breathing. They have the greatest diversity of spells.

Invokers are similar to mages, but have the ability to form the very essence of magic into whatever they want. Their power lies in the combat-oriented magics.

Conjurers are nasty people to tick off. They are able to summon unknown creatures to this world that will obey every command that their masters give.

Enchanters are not a combat-oriented profession, but rather, they have the ability to imbue items with special abilities.

Warriors are just brut(al) force. They are mostly pure muscle, and while they stand mostly for justice, though warriors can fall victim to the power of evil and cause chaos in the world.

Paladins are similar to warriors, but without a few skills that only a warrior can master. They make up for it, however, with their spell-casting ability, generally in the area of healing.

Rangers are a combination of a warrior and a druid in one, but also make excellent archers. However, they do have a few of their own skills that no other class may possess.

Thieves are greedy and will trick you into many things. They hit hard for most of a fight, but near the end their ability to finish someone off leaves a little to be desired. They will steal and pillage anything they can get their hands on.

Clerics are the priests of the land. Their blessings and overall magic abilities make them useful. They are powerful healers.

Druids are at one with nature, and their skills and spells reflect this. They will fight for the right for others to live, and when they are pissed off... well, just beware the power of Mother Nature herself.

Runists learned their strange type of magic from Kirre travellers, and specialize in using magical symbols to cause a variety of effects, including powering their equipment, protecting their bodies, and guarding rooms. They also get some of the stealth of thieves, and some wizardly magic, although they are not as well versed in normal magic as true spellcasters are.

Monks is both a new and old discipline in this world. With the discovery of more and more ancient relics and crafted items being unleashed, the gap between those who have and those who have not has grown apart in stature and strength. Enter the monk. Using ancient disciplines developed long ago, the monk is able to use his or her own body in ways that rival most modern weaponry. Monks are specialists at fighting against the martial classes, but have no special affinity for magic, making it an ideal tool to use against them.

The biggest strength of the monk lies in the flexibility of their fighting styles. With great ease they can switch roles from defensive turtles to high powered damage dealers and anywhere in between. They require no weapons and function best without any, although they retain proficiency with exotic weapons of all kinds.

As with race, each class has certain inherent abilities, bonuses, skills, and spells. Typing "help (class_name)" during the character creation process, or in the game itself, will help you to determine what and how stats, spells, and skills are affected by your class.

REDEMPTION offers many of the standard Diku skills and spells, as well as some that are unique. Certain skills or spell groups are specific to race or class, and many of the skill and spell effects have been modified.

In order to see a full list of basic skills and spells available on REDEMPTION, use the "command" and "help" features. By typing "command" or "help" at your prompt, you will receive a list of REDEMPTION commands or help files. Browsing these lists, you will notice many skills commands and skill/spell help files. Typing "help (skill)" or "help (spell)" will explain them to you.

To see your character-specific skills, type "skills". To see your spells, type "spells". This will show you the level you need to obtain to use the skills or spells, as well as the mana cost (for spells). To see which spell groups you have, type "info". To see how good you are at any spell or skill, type "practice".

Here’s a list of cool spells that can be found on Redemption:

Call-to-Arms: This spell will summon all of your charmies to you.

Charge: Cavaliers zealously and sometimes blindly rush into battle if their honour or beliefs are being questioned. The cavalier may attack any victim from one room away, immediately rushing into battle and striking the first blow.

Demand: This spell will allow you to tell someone to do an action, forcing them to do as you decree.

Essence: Marid are an elemental species and share a powerful connection with the elements that make up the world. By focusing their essence, Marid are able to invoke elemental magical effects with additional benefits. For example, any fire spells cast by Marid can cause fire blind and destroy potions.

Lure: The Nereid are well-known for their favorite trick... luring sailors and other coastal dwellers to a watery grave with their sweet voices. The lure spell allows the nereid to force any victim within the current area to approach his position against their will. The victim who succumbs to the song must constantly struggle against its effect unless he can travel far enough away to block out the sound of the song.

Nigphpares: This spell enables the heretic to bring down visions of the damned on his victims. Anyone affected by this spell will be horribly tormented anytime they try and sleep, badly enough to cause death in some cases.

Offer: All quested and crafted items are bonded with the one who first obtains them by completing the crafted item, or raising the necessary quest points. This information is plainly visible to anyone who closely examines these items. The gods will reward those who have earned these items by allowing them to stay on the owner, even beyond death.

OOC: This means any item that you have ownership of will not be left in your corpse when you die.

The 'offer' command allows you to transfer full ownership of your items to someone else, at a cost. The person receiving ownership of the items will have to sacrifice gold (for crafted items) or qp (for quest items) to gain the favours of the gods and complete the transfer of ownership. The fee varies, but is higher for transferance between clanners and non-clanners.

Paint power: These are the highest level tattoos for runists. In addition to granting bonuses on attributes like all tattoos, these tattoos also give an additional bonus that cannot be acquired in any other way, such as being granted new spells, increasing regeneration rates, or occasionally casting spells for free. Each power tattoo has exactly one of these bonuses.

Razor claws: With a small effort, remort Kirre are able to extend or retract their razor sharp claws. While extended, the Kirre cannot use any weapons; however, their hand to hand strikes will land terrible wounds which will continue to bleed for several moments.

Retreat: Onyx dragons, when engaged in a fight, can use the skill retreat to fool any enemy into thinking they have fled the scene, while they actually remain in the room. This also halts the fight.

Retribution: Retribution is a powerful skill. When applied, the user automatically attacks any KILLERs and THIEFs s/he detects in the room with him.

Shapeshift: Dopplegangers can change their appearance to that of a mob in the room with them. They cannot retain this form when attacked, nor for too long a time. While shifted, they get an extra +hit/+dam for the first round of attack.

Summon lord: Summon lord is an extremely powerful spell, allowing the caster to call forth a demon lord from the netherworld. The downside, however, is that it's EXTREMELY hard to control the summoned lord; worse yet, the lord has a possibility to break the pentagram that holds him.

REDEMPTION employs a limited Pkilling and Pstealing system. This is implemented through a system of clans. If you wish to participate in this system you must decide at creation. You will then be automatically lonered when you reach level 10. If at any time before level 25 you decide that pkilling is not for you, then you may leave the clan system by typing "retire (password)". However, if you choose this option, your skill and spell percentages will be cut in half.

Clans and the details of pkilling/pstealing are addressed in Part IV of this FAQ. At this point, all you need to know is that if you do not wish to participate in pkilling, you can avoid it. If you like it, the option to join a clan exists.

IMPORTANT: You cannot join the pkill system if you didn't decide to at creation.

When logging in to REDEMPTION with a new character name, you will be prompted for the class, race, and sex. After this, you will be given the option to "customize" your character. (If you choose a name that is currently in use, the system will kick you out-- simply log-in again and try a new name until successful.)

If you are just visiting REDEMPTION to look around, pick a race and class, and then choose NOT to customize your character. You will be assigned a set of default skills appropriate to your character and will enter the game quickly. This will allow you to familiarize yourself with the commands, help files, skills, spells, etc., and you can later create a character that possesses the specific abilities you decide you want.

The character creation process itself is explained in more detail in Part II.

Good question, as everyone is expected to know and abide by the rules of REDEMPTION.

Typing "help rules" will provide you the current "primary" rules of REDEMPTION. Among them, you should especially note the following:

1. No multiple logins, multiple playing, or helping your own characters with other characters you own -- by any arrangement.

2. Helping another player multi-play is illegal. This means helping pass equipment between two characters owned by the same player.

3. Pkill scouting is illegal. This includes immediately logging a higher or lower level character with the purpose of entering a pkill after determining the whereabouts of the victim with another character. If you plan to engage in pkilling or pstealing you MUST wait offline for at least 3 minutes when switching characters.

4. You are not allowed to play a character that another player has created or leveled. Any shared or transferred characters will be frozen.

5. Running a script or using a client that keeps you connected while not at your computer is not allowed. Lagging, freezing and denying are all valid punishments for idling.

6. Spamming over channels is illegal. Refusing to stop practicing skills or spells in a manner that spams the IMMs is illegal.

7. Harassment based on race, gender, religion, or sexual orientation will NOT be tolerated. Any reported OOC abuse can result in the deletion of the offending character and a possible site ban.

8. Repeated use of vulgar language over open channels, in titles, or in notes is grounds for being no_channeled or frozen. Do not expect a warning.

9. You may not announce or speculate over open channels or through notes the characters of specific players (including your own alts). This is called “revealing alts”, and is a punishable offense.

10. It is a punishable offense to accuse someone of cheating over open channels or through notes to 'all'. If you think someone is cheating report it immediately to the immortals. If no immortals are available, please type “Board 6” and the “note write” and address your note to “IMM”. More information can be found by typing “help note” while you are in the game.

11. It is illegal to attack and kill someone over three times in an hour. This includes through use of charmies, in groups with other players, or by summoning someone to a mob. If you were online when your clan members killed a player three times, you too must refrain from attacking the character for an hour.

12. Clanner and nonclanner interference is prohibited. This includes, but is not limited to, summoning to aggressive mobs, spelling up the mob the clanner/nonclanner is fighting, stealing the mob a clanner/nonclanner is fighting, nonclanners holding banknotes or giving large (over 5K) sums of money to clanners, nonclanners holding stolen or looted equipment for clanners, causing damage or death to clanner/nonclanner, and nonclanners healing or summoning a clanner from a pfight.

13. Cheating will not be tolerated. This includes accepting favors from gods and exploiting bugs. If you find a bug, report it, then do not use it.

14. Your presence here is a privilege, not a right. Obey any orders from gods, and you will be fine. Deletion does not require a reason. Appeals are to be sent to the implementors. These are Cauthon and StarCrossed.

15. Changes to these rules are at the discretion of the immortals. Any changes will be posted on the announcement board.

NOTE: especially that multi-playing includes using one character to help another-- whether or not the log-ins occur simultaneously. This includes using one character to scout a kill and bringing another to do it, hiding items for your other character until you can log back in and get them, etc. It also includes playing a second character even if the first is link-dead. ANY form of multi-playing will be dealt with harshly.

You are also expected to read, at each log-in, your notes, news, and changes. Typing "help note" will provide instructions on using all three. Lesser rules, clarifications of rules, and new rules will appear here regularly-- and if it is posted, there is no excuse for not knowing it.

If you have a simple rules question, contact an Immortal (IMM). Note that the responsibilities of IMMs of various levels are noted below-- you will find it helpful to learn this.

And remember-- REDEMPTION is a privilege, not a right. In playing, you agree to abide by the rules. Failure to do so can result in your being denied access to REDEMPTION.

'Immortal' (often known as 'imms') refers to players who have reached the highest attainable levels in the game. Here, anyone of level 55 or higher is an 'immortal.' Immortals are capable of exceeding the usual game rules, in more drastic and pervasive ways as levels increase; examples range from teleportation and invisibility to mortal sight to creation of objects, removal of a player's privileges (channels, ability to move, or even ability to log in), and ability to promote players to immortality.

Since immortals can wreak havoc with game balance, they are (ideally) a carefully-chosen and policed group. Redemption periodically asks for player applications to fill new IMM spots. To be seriously considered, the applicant will be a level 51 character with superior game knowledge, no history of cheating, and time to dedicate to improving the game. A player who has another character that is either a clan recruiter or leader will *NOT* be considered for an IMM position. All new IMMs will enter as level 55.

Builders are level 54. Her/His job is to build an original area on Redemption. They are not IMMs and do not have immortal powers. They cannot leave the area that they are building, nor can they help you in any way.

Angels are level 55. These characters are expected to run tournaments and quests for the enjoyment of the MUD. They cannot take money, do upgrades, etc.

Level 56 IMMs will have the most direct player contact and are expected to encourage characters to role-play. The duty of a level 56 is either to build areas (see above) or run elaborate quests preferably based on the mud's theme. Level 56 Imms will deal with simple mortal interactions, such as running tournaments are redeeming vouchers.

Level 57+ IMMs might be assigned more complex tasks. For example, creating an FAQ, OLCing clan modifications, or maintaining an updated item list.

Typing "wizlist" will get you the last updated list of IMMs. Promotions happen regularly, so the actual levels noted there may be out of date at times. Wizlist will help you to know *who* to look for. You can identify IMMs, if they are revealing themselves, via the "who" list. IMMs are identified by their level designation and are easy to spot.

NOTE: we said "if" they are revealed. IMMs have the ability to cloak their presence form mortal players. They often do not reveal themselves unless needed. Higher-levels IMMs also have the ability to directly monitor player activity, and the IMPs can monitor every player event. If the IMMs suspect that you are violating the rules, they have more than enough ways to verify it. Keep this in mind at all times...

Of course there are. IMMs can do the following for you:

1. Provide you information on how to get started and answer your basic newbie questions.

2. Provide reimbursements for loss of equipment due to crashes (ONLY under special circumstances and at the personal, and sole, discretion of the IMM).

3. Deal with a player if s/he is harassing you.

4. Officiate at role-playing ceremonies.

5. Take $ for clan or house upgrades (ONLY in the form of bank notes).

IMMs cannot, except in the case of a verified problem, and should not even be asked to, do the following:

1. Give you specific instructions on finding (or fighting) mobs or items.

2. Give you items, or money, or otherwise assist you in acquiring them (unless they are running a quest).

3. Help you kill a mob, escape a mob, or retrieve your corpse for you.

4. Help you kill a player, or escape from a player who is trying to kill you, if you opt to participate in the clan system.

5. Any other activity which would give you an advantage that other mortals do not have.

Always check your help files, the FAQ and other materials first, prior to contacting an IMM for help. A lot of work has been devoted to making it possible for you to solve problems and find answers yourself.

The IMMs at REDEMPTION are helpful and pleasant, and are almost always available to assist you-- that’s their job. If you can’t get one’s attention right away, remember that they could be *working* on the MUD or not answering for some other reason. This is especially true of higher-level IMMs. You may also be several requests down their list, and it may take a few minutes to get to you. Finally, they *do* sometimes have bad days as well (just like you). Don’t take it personally if your question isn’t answered immediately-- they balance the various competing priorities as best they can.