--- date: 2023-02-18T16:04:43+11:00 draft: false menu: after: weight: 5 title: Learn to play --- # Information about how to play Blastmud ## Gameplay style Blastmud has no fixed goal - you can't win or lose at Blastmud, which means you get to set your own objectives ("sandbox play")! You can be an explorer, a crafter, a fighter, a fucker (*not available on Android), a medic, a scientist, the CEO of your own large corp, or some combination - and when you add in roleplay options, the possibilities to make the game your own are nearly endless. ## Stats and Skills When you first create your character, Blastmud will make you choose your stats. The stats you pick will in turn impact your character's initial skills, which will impact what your character is good at in the world. There is an art and a science to planning out your character's build (your choice of stats, and what you work on enhancing early in your game) so that they will be the type of player you want them to be. Your choice of stats will impact things like what weapons are best for fighting, how easily you can craft, and so on - so choose wisely! ## Movement In Blastmud, you move around by sending commands representing the compass direction you want to move in. You can use the full direction name or just the first letter - e.g. N (north), S (south), E (east), W (west). In some cases, you can move NE (northeast), NW (northwest), SE (southeast) and SW (southwest). Moving is not instant - just like in real life, it takes time to move around. You can queue up future moves while the game is making you wait for your previous move to complete - the game will queue up your moves or other actions (up to 20 actions) and do them one after the other. Once your move is complete, the game will give you a small ASII-art map of your new position, as well as the name and description of the room (place) you have arrived at. ## Combat In Blastmud, certain NPCs (and if you consent, other players) can attack you, and you can attack them with the `attack` command (aliases: `kill`, `k`). If you get attacked, you automatically fight back (unless you are already in another fight). You can try to run away like a coward (just by attempting a movement) - this might fail, depending on your `dodge` skill. It is usually a good idea to run away rather than fight a battle that you are going to lose anyway. In battle, you use your weapon to try to hit the other player - this happens automatically. You can change weapons with the `wield` command (it must be in your inventory). If you hit, they lose health points. If they hit you, you lose health points. If you don't have a weapon, you use your fists. But if you don't have good fists skill, it won't be a fantastic weapon. You can buy a better one by going into a shop and using the `list` and then `buy` commands. If your health points go to zero, you die. Luckily, however, the futuristic world of Blastmud has a system where you are given a new clone that your memories are transferred across to in a clone vat. However, dying is not great. Your physical body stays where it died, with all the possessions on it, and so you risk losing them. You also lose experience points (which impact your maximum health) and some of your hard-earned credits for the privilege of getting a new body. If you lose health, you or someone with good enough medic skill can use a trauma kit (bought from a shop, and packed with healing medical devices) to heal you back to full health. If you are getting low on health, it is a good idea to run away to somewhere safe if you can! ## Skills In Blastmud, you have raw skills, which are determined primarily by how much practice you have at the skill (and start off at 0, and can go up to 15), but you get a bit extra added to it to form your total skill (total = raw + extra). Every skill has one or two stats that boost it if you have them - e.g. Craft is boosted by brains, so you get 8 extra if your brains stat is 8, but 15 extra if your brains stat is 15. In Blastmud, your chance at doing nearly everything you try to do comes down to chance and skill. The more skilled you are, the less you depend on chance (the higher the chances of you succeeding at a task). Different tasks require different skills and skill levels - some are harder - with the same level of skill, you are less likely to succeed at a harder task that uses the same skill. Using skills helps you to improve your raw (experience level) in that skill. You can only improve in a skill again if it has been a minute since your last improvement in that skill - and it comes down to chance. You have the most chance of improving if you do a task which is closely matched to your skill level - if it is too easy or too hard for you, the chance of learning is decreased. ## Armour In Blastmud, you can wear clothing. Different clothing covers different parts of your body, and many types offer protection to the body parts that it covers (making it armour). Every item of clothing has a thickness, and the total thickness of clothing worn on any part of the body can't exceed 12 - or you won't be able to put any more on. There is a dark side to wearing too much though - clothing slows down how much you move, which is reflected in a dodge penalty - an amount subtracted from your dodge skill, hence making it harder to escape your enemy's attacks. Put on clothing with the *wear* command, and take it off with *remove*. Try the *gear* command to see what you are wearing, how much protection it offers, and how much impact it has on your ability to dodge. ## Consent In Blastmud, you can interact with other players, but many actions are placed behind "consent checks". The in character reason for this is because everyone wears a wristpad, a relic of the fallen society, which stops people from doing things to each other without consent. Certain aggressive NPCs are not subject to the wristpad system, and can freely attack and be attacked - and consent commands only work for players, not NPCs. Two commands in the game are your gateway to controlling consent: `allow` and `disallow`. The general form of an allow command is: `allow from `. You don't actually type the `<` and `>`, they signify sections of the command you need to replace. `` is replaced with one of `fight`, `medicine`, `gifts`, `visit`, or `sex` ( not available on Android). `` is replaced with the username of the person you are consenting. `` can be left blank, or you can string together one of the following options, separated by spaces: * `for `, where duration is a number followed by `minutes`, `hours`, `days`, or `weeks` - sets an expiry for your consent. * `until death` - your consent ends when you next die. * `allow private` - your consent also applies in private places (this is the default anyway except for `fight`). * `disallow private` - your consent doesn't apply in private places (this is the default for `fight`). * `allow pick` - `fight` only - allows someone to pick any lock you own to come and get you. * `allow revoke` - `fight` only - allows your consent to be freely revoked at any time (non-fight consent can alway be freely revoked). * `in` - limits your consent to the specified place - try `in here` to refer to your current location. For all consent types except `fight`, consent is unilateral (you consent to someone else doing something to you, but you can't do it back unless they also consent) and freely revokable (you can do `disallow from ` any time and the consent ceases to apply). For `fight` consent, it doesn't take effect until the other user also agrees to the same terms back at you - so consenting to fight is sort of like declaring war. They are given a message with the right command to create a matching consent so they can fight you. You can retract consent to fight up until they accept it. Once they accept it, if you didn't say `allow revoke` in the options, then you can't unilaterally withdraw consent. If you try to `disallow fight from ` in such a case, you will get a message saying you want to cancel the consent, with the command to use. The consent is in force until they also run the `disallow fight from ` command - which they might not - or until it expires under the terms. Note that unless you specify a shorter duration with a `for` option, `fight` consents last for one week. You can amend the terms of a `fight` consent any time, but it will only take effect when the other player mirrors your amended version. ## The corp system In Blastmud, you can join up to 5 corps - businesses / organisations. Corps form your network in the game - they are the players who have your back. Corps are an important part of the game, so joining one early might be a good idea. To learn more about being in a corp, or running your own, read the [main article](corps) about the corp system. ## Logging off It might be tempting just to leave your character wherever you are and log off, but it is probably a bad idea. When you log off, NPCs and players who can attack you when you are logged on can still attack you while logged off. You will fight back, but never flee or heal yourself - so logging off in the wrong place could leave you dead and waiting to re-clone (with less XP) when you log back in. Instead, pick a safe place to log off. If you are broke, you could try the Homeless Shelter (HS) in Melbs Central. Fog machines mean no one can fight there - but you also can't keep any stuff you can't carry there, so it is more a home of last resort. For nicer digs, try heading a bit further south along King Street to Condos on King (CK). There, you can rent a studio apartment (`rent studio`) for a daily fee, and ask the robot to guide you to your apartment any time you want to visit with `in yourusername`. You have your own personal doorstep, but keep in mind that the doorstep itself is accessible to anyone who wants to go there. Head further east to go into your private apartment itself. It comes with a door, but it is up to you to buy a lock if you want security (without a lock, anyone you have allowed to visit, or are at war with, can come in, and help themselves to your stuff - and attack you if you are at war). Keep in mind that if you are at war and have allowed pick, locks can be picked though! To buy a lock, head to Locked & Loaded (LL) on Collins St. Once you have the lock, go in to the room you want to lock (you have to install it from the inside, not from the doorstep), and install it with a command like `install scanlock on door to west`. You can uninstall it if you want to change to a different lock later: `uninstall scalock from door to west`. The door will open for you if you try to go through it, but no one else will be able to open it without picking it first (and if you haven't issued an `allow combat` command including `allow pick`, you are completely safe while the door is closed and it's just you in there. Keep in mind that if you open the door, others can get through too until you close it. So if you come out of your apartment, remember to `close east` before moving on! Congratulations on taking the first step on your property journey - enjoy your new home! Feel free to invite others in with `allow visit from ` - set a limit like `until 5 minutes`, or `disallow visit from ` after if you don't want them coming back. Be careful about inviting dishonest visitors though in case they try to clean you out! ## Starting again ### Resetting your stats If you don't like the stats you picked, you can pick again with the *delete stats* command. It will prompt you to enter a code to confirm. Note if you do this: * Your character dies instantly. * You lose all your XP, except XP obtained through completing journals. You don't lose your credits, nor do you lose any apartments you are renting (or corps you belong to), and you come back with the same username. You can change your starting stats and your sex. ### Destroying your character entirely If you want to give up on a character entirely, you can [log in to the game](https://www.blastmud.org/game.html) with your username and password, and enter the command *delete character forever*. It will prompt you to enter a code to confirm. Note if you do this: * You get disconnected from the game immediately. * A one week countdown period starts. * If you log in again as that user within the week, the deletion is cancelled. * If you don't log in for a week, the deletion process is started. * Your user (including our records of your email and so on) are deleted from the database. We keep backups going back about 9 days, but we only use backups to roll back in the event of a major problem affecting multiple users - so as far as your character is concerned, it is gone and never coming back after the week. * Your character and anything in its possession is completely deleted. * Any apartments the character is renting are evicted - sending any other players there on to the street, and destroying any possessions left there. * All XP, credits, journals and so on are lost forever. * Another user can register as the same username if they want to. * After the user is deleted, it doesn't count towards your limit of 5 characters (but note: it does count during the one week wait period).