What is this guide?
This guide is designed to provide a basic introduction to MU* in general, and Liberation in particular. It is intended to make the transition from playing in other forms of games easier, since MU*s have their own command sets and ways of doing things. It should allow you to bring a friend from tabletop gaming into the setting without much difficulty.
Will this apply to all MU*s?
Some of the material here will apply to any MU* you choose to play. Much of it won’t, because every MU* has its own set of coded commands. Some MU*s choose to leave many things up to staff, or just text, while others like to code much more in the way of commands and options. Even so, the basics learned here will help you in navigating other MU*s as well.
Is it really that complex?
Not really, no! It’s much simpler than it seems at first glance. Remember that MU*s date back to the days of Telnet and wholly text-based computing, so everything is done via a text command. Once you know the handful of commands that are ubiquitous to the experience, the others will be easily accessible through the MU*’s +help files.
Terms You’ll Encounter
Every hobby has its own lingo. Here’s some of the terms you’ll encounter when you play on a MUSH. These are general terms; you will encounter some different/additional ones on Liberation.
- Alt: an ‘alternate character,’ meaning, your other characters if you have more than one.
- Bit: a character object; can also be used to describe an admin login (‘admin bit’) or a wizard login (‘wizbit’).
- +bb: the bulletin board system for the MU*, holding rules, discussions, and announcements for players to read. Access it with +bbread.
- Builder: someone who constructs the text-based virtual rooms and places on a MU*.
- Coder: Someone who maintains hardcode, or writes softcode, for the MU*.
- Director: On Liberation, Directors are staffers who are storytellers first and foremost.
- FTB: Fade to black, to end a scene without explicit violent or sexual RP, or simply bring it to a neat close. Can be used for just about any reason.
- +finger: A small summary of a character and its player. Access it with +finger Name.
- Grid: the IC areas of the MU*, consisting of locations for people to play set onto a map of streets and neighborhoods. Often laid out in a grid form, hence the name.
- House rules: Minor changes made to the rulebook for MU* roleplay, as some rules don’t work well on a multiuser game as well as they do in a tabletop game.
- IC: In character.
- IC Areas: Areas of the MU* made for being In-Character and roleplaying. See also Grid.
- ICA = ICC: In-character action equals in-character consequences. In other words, the things you do ICly can and will have IC consequences.
- Login: When used as a noun, can describe your main bit on the MU*.
- Main: Your primary character.
- @mail: The internal MU* mailing system, accessed by typing ‘@mail’ in your client window.
- Mav: A longstanding piece of MU* terminology, a mav refers to when you send a page to the wrong person by accident. Named for veteran MU*er Maverick.
- MU*: This is shorthand for all of the text-based games of this form: MUD, MUSH, MUX, etc. The MU stands for ‘multi-user,’ and D is for ‘Dungeon,’ SH is for ‘Shared Hallucination,’ and X is for ‘eXperience.’
- Nightzone: On a World of Darkness MUSH, this is a place where it is permanently nighttime. This allows characters who are allergic to daylight to always have a safe place to play regardless of the MUSH time of day.
- OOC: Out of character.
- Page: A private message sent to a person or group of people.
- Played-By: The picture model you use for your character. This is almost universally used, but not required.
- Policy: This is the set of rules that govern how the MU* operates. Policy will tell you our behavioral rules, what systems we use, what character types are available, and other basic information that you need to know to play here.
- Pose: A pose is a bit of text RP you send through the MU* to play your character. Example: John unlocked his car and climbed inside, surprised to find Mary in the passenger seat. “What are you doing here?,” he asked.
- Producer: On Liberation, a Producer is a staff member who is tasked with administrative or bureaucratic needs.
- PRP: A PRP is a Player-Run Plot, a story made by players for players.
- ST: ST stands for Storyteller, which is another word for GM or DM on a World of Darkness MU* like Liberation.
- Staff aka Admin: a member of the MU*’s staff.
- Theme: The Theme information on our MUSH tells you about the version of the World of Darkness we use: local history, any changes to canon world information, and the overall feel of the game are part of the Theme.
- Tiny-: A prefix added to a series of words as a throwback to the very popular TinyMUSH and TinyMUX MU* interfaces.
- TP: TinyPlot. A staff-run plot on an MU*.
- TS: TinySex. MU*-based sex RP.
- Wiz (Wizzen): A Wizard, or high-ranking member of the MU* staff. Usually in charge of a department, or if called a ‘Head Wiz,’ they are in charge of the MU* overall. Wizzen is plural.
MUSH Clients: choosing and using
One thing you will definitely need when MU*ing is a MUSH client – a program that allows you to access MU*s easily, with a set of additional features specific for roleplayers. My personal recommendation is for BeipMU, because it is currently still being developed and supported and boasts a broad feature set. It is not as simple as some other clients, but it’s fairly easy to use once it’s set up. You can download BeipMU here.
Once you have downloaded the client, you’ll need to set it up. Your first connection with the client will be different from subsequent connections. On the first connection, you will be setting up your first bit (or character) and then entering the data into the client to allow you to automatically connect when you open the program.
To connect to a MU*, you must first set up a site profile. In BeipMU, you do this by clicking on the globe icon in the upper left corner.
Click on New Server in the window that pops up, and try entering the information for Liberation MU*. The Name is Liberation MUSH and the Host is game.liberationmush.site:2020 as you can see below.
Now you need to create a login. Enter the name of the site into the NAME field, and the address into the HOST field. In the INFO field, you will enter create Yourname Yourpassword. (Obviously, put your actual chosen character name and your password in the place of those placeholder words.) Then click on the CONNECT button.
FOR TEXT ENCODING – SELECT UTF8 – UNICODE
It will automatically create your new bit, and now you open the window again, and change ‘create‘ to ‘connect.’ Now your account is set up for that bit.
Settings and options
Some of this section will contain more detail than the average MU*player will need, but it’s here for completeness’ sake, and for future reference. Since BeipMU can do all of these things, it seemed prudent to include them. There’s still a lot more that the client can do that is beyond the scope of this document; check out the BeipMU documentation under Help to get the full array of features.
The display font on an MU* should always be a monospaced font, because otherwise it looks ugly. MU*s are formatted to an 80-space line as a general rule. This means a monospaced font will always allow you to see the screen as intended, with all the ASCII art intact. Some monospaced fonts are present in Windows already: Courier New and any font with the word ‘Mono’ in the name will be monospaced. One font that comes highly recommended for readability is DejaVu Sans Mono, which is a sans-serif monospaced font. It’s available at https://www.fontsquirrel.com/fonts/dejavu-sans-mono. If you download and install it, it will appear on your list of fonts available in BeipMU.
To set the font, right-click in the window, and then click on Settings. At the top of the popup window, you will see a button marked Font. Click on it.
You can then scroll down to see your list of options. Select one and then click on OK.
You will be returned to the Settings window, where you can set more options. The ones shown on the previous page are the recommended defaults, but you can change them at your own risk.
Function-key shortcuts
Spawns are commands set into your MU* client that send matching-patterned text to another window, or recolor it, or omit it from logs. It allows you to, for example, separate your pages (private messages) from your RP poses so that you don’t miss something. It also allows you to separate chat channels into their own window, again for ease.
Liberation MUSH has a page on the player wiki that walks you through using spawns for channels and pages. It’s very informative and well-detailed, so it doesn’t need to be reproduced here.
Logging your roleplay
If you want to log your roleplay, every client will have some means of doing so. In BeipMU, you can set it up to do so automatically as soon as you login a bit. Let’s go back to the character bit screen, where you can see a bunch of options below the character name and password.
Look at where it says Log file in this window. This is where you will put the basic name for each log you want to create. The client program can log it all to one big file, but that can be unwieldy when you want to review those logs, so you can select Append Current Date to Log File Name and BeipMU will start a new log file every time the date changes.
The Character Generation room
You’ve already created your character login – so now let’s make the character!
When you login, you will be placed in the OOC room, which is space that is purely for out-of-character talk. You won’t be able to enter the In-Character (IC) areas until you have an approved character bit. How do you get that? Well, you go through character generation (CG) and fill out your character’s details, and then submit the character for approval by staff. To start, just enter the Character Generation area by typing CG and hitting Enter. You’ll see a screen like this:
CG and HR links to get you started
The table below provides links to the various spheres and their character gen and house rules pages. You will definitely want to read these before applying, as there are some substantial changes to the rules in some spheres.
+selfsplat
Now, you need to choose what type of character you’ll be making. Type +help +Selfsplat and then choose your character type (Mortal, Vampire, Changeling, Mage, Shifter, Wraith).
The rules are different for each type, so you will want to consult the Character Types wiki page and look over the options. If you’re already familiar with World of Darkness character generation, you can save yourself some time by pre-creating the character on paper or in a text file and using that as a reference to enter all of your stats – but make sure you read the wiki pages that relate to your character type first, since some rules are changed for the Liberation setting.
You will have a points template to work with – check to make sure you’re working with the correct one before you start to enter data. As mentioned earlier, Liberation rules differ from standard book rules in a number of places, and you’ll want to be sure you’re setting yourself up correctly.
+selfstat – Faction and type
Type +help +selfstat to get started adding your faction(s) and type(s) of character within your splat. To find a list of options for faction, type +selfstat/faction. For options for type, type +selfstat/type.
Note: Sometimes there are multiple levels of type or faction, so type them again once you’ve filled each in to be sure there aren’t any more. Example below:
+selfstat/faction
+selfstat/faction 1=Camarilla
Since there is no second level to faction here, you’re done with this part. Now you can type
+selfstat/type
It will now show you three levels of types. Choose first the basic type, then the specific tribe/clan/etc, and then anything needed for additional type modifiers. Do these in order and save yourself a headache.
+selfstat/type 1=Vampire
+selfstat/type 2=Brujah
Since this type of vampire has no further customizations, you can now move on to setting up your stats.
Note that once you set yourself as a type of character, you will be added to the general chat channel for that type of character, in this case, the [Vampire] channel. This will allow you to ask questions and talk to players in the sphere.
+selfstat – attributes, abilities, and more
Type +help selfstat2 for more on this. You will need to enter every stat your character has manually. It is quicker than you might think!
Hint: After you have entered a few things, check your sheet by typing +sheet. You should see all of the things you’ve entered there. After that, all you need to do is enter all the rest of the data and ensure it’s represented properly on your +sheet once it’s done. You will always be able to pull up your current sheet by typing +sheet. Use the Function Key Shortcuts section in the previous chapter of this document to set an F-key to give you +sheet in your client.
Note: Double-check the MU* wiki and the News files for your character type to make sure you didn’t miss any House Rules that affect you!
Writing a background
Now let’s move on to the background. Your character should have a history (also called a background or BG) to explain who they are, how they became the way they are, and how they gained their most noteworthy attributes and abilities. While a background doesn’t have to be exceptionally long, it should cover some basic questions:
- What was your character’s upbringing like? Was it happy or filled with strife? Do they have a large or small family? Was their family distant or close-knit?
- What does your character believe? Do they have a faith, a philosophy, or a guiding set of principles? You don’t have to come up with something wholly unique – it’s perfectly acceptable to say that your character hasn’t really analyzed this, but was brought up in a given faith, or with a given culture.
- What kind of education does your character have? Do they have a college degree or a trade certification? Did they even finish high school? Was your character a good student or a marginal one?
- Who are your character’s friends and confidantes? Do they have allies or contacts to discuss? Are they still close to certain members of their family?
- What is your character’s job? Do you have a vocation? Do they have a job they love, or one they hate?
- What is their home situation? Do they have a place of their own, or a home that they own, or do they live with family? Are they living with roommates or find themselves in a situation they hate?
- Is your character involved in a serious relationship? Do they have past relationships that ended well, or badly?
- What is your character looking to do in the short term? This can be as simple as ‘find a good job,’ or ‘join a pack,’ or ‘learn more about magic.’ This can help you determine the path of your RP.
- What is your character hoping for in the long term? Do they have large, hard-to-attain goals, or are they more of a ‘take it as it comes’ sort?
- What aspects of your character might help or hinder them? This is a good place to explain Merits and Flaws, as well as appropriate Backgrounds that might come into play as well, but it can also include small details that aren’t on the +sheet, such as your character being detail-oriented and focused on doing things in an orderly way, or your character being somewhat lazy and skating by on a high Attribute combined with minimal work. Add whatever touches will make your character feel more alive to you.
Not every application will touch on everything on this list, but it’s a good place to start if you want to put together a quick history that touches on everything needed.
Finishing your application
Not so fast! We’re not quite done yet! There are additional things you need to set on your character before you are ready to put in your application. Your notes, description, and other character-object attributes are still needed.
The +finger
Let’s set up the +finger first. The +finger is a small block of information about you and your bit. The command +finger Name will tell you a little bit about the character, and sometimes also about the player. Type +help +finger-setup to see all of your options, and set, at the minimum, an alias, your email, and your shortdesc.
You will notice that there are two ways to set an email. The one that shows your email only to staff, is &semail me=youremail@yourprovider.com. You will not be approved without an email provided for staff, and all of your alts must be registered with the same semail attribute.
The other way, &email me=youremail@yourprovider.com, will show your email to anyone who looks at your +finger. You can choose to put different email addresses in those two slots, but the one in &semail must always be the same across all your characters.
Next, let’s add an @alias. What an @alias does is allow you to have a shorter version of your @name that is shorter and easier for people to use in pages.
Your &shortdesc me= attribute is a shorter, at-a-glance summary of your appearance in 50 characters or less. You should set this so that commands that grab the small descriptions of the entire room’s population will show you as more than a blank line. It can be as simple as ‘Tall blond man with a tan in neat clothing,’ or ‘Average height, weight, build, mid-40s.’
The Description
One of the most important things in preparing your character for play is setting a description, or @desc. MU*s are text-based, so words need to suffice for seeing what a character looks like.
The most prevalent form of the @desc is three paragraphs long, and touches on the basic description with hair, skin, and eye color, height and build, apparent age, and any noteworthy basic details such as using a cane or wearing eyeglasses. The second paragraph usually describes what you’re wearing at the moment, in as much detail as you like. The third paragraph usually describes mood, facial expression, and any other noteworthy things.
How do you break paragraphs? Simple. You type %r between them, or if you want a skipped line, %r%r. If you want an indent on the new paragraph, use %t. So if you want a skipped line and an indent, use %r%r%t. These commands also work when you’re posing (and we’ll get to that later!).
multidescers
If you want to be able to change your @desc on the fly to suit current mood and attire, or to add temporary changes like bandages or bruises without losing your ‘baseline’ @desc, you can use a multidescer to help you with that.
A Multidescer can allow you to set multiple versions of each part of your character description and change them as needed. For example, if you want to make a ‘professional’ clothing desc for when you’re at your job, and a ‘casual’ clothing desc for when you’re at home chilling out, you can save both onto your character bit and switch them with a command.
- Details on the use of Liberation’s multidescer are available at +help +mdesc.
- The basic setup for mdescer commands is shown on this wiki page.
But I don’t want to write all those descs!
To be clear, you only need a single @desc to be approved for the grid. If you choose to do more, you can – and you can always change them as you go! If something about you changes over time, you can change your @desc to match.
The Devil’s in the details
If there are additional details that you think warrant more space but don’t really fit into your @desc, you can use +views on your character bit as well. You can also use this to share unchanging things about your character such as noteworthy stats that are visible or Merits and Flaws that can be detected on first meeting like Enchanting Voice. Set them as follows:
&view-Detail me=This is a detail about my character that I want to share with people who are curious.
When you type +view Mycharacter after setting +views, you will see something like this:
The following views are set on that item:
Detail
To see a view from the list above, type +view me/Detail.
Other attributes
Some other attributes you should always set on your character bit are as follows:
| Attribute | What it does |
| &age me=(fill in apparent age) | Tell people how old you appear to be. |
| @sex me=Male or Female (or NB for nonbinary/intersex) | Tell people what your apparent gender is. |
| @lock me=me | Locks your character object against code |
| @lock/use me=me | Locks your character object against code |
| @set me=ansi | Allows you to see ANSI color |
| @set me=color256 | Allows you to see extended ANSI colors |
Posebreak
A useful one that is purely visible for you is the posebreak. It places a line of text around poses to separate them visually, which many people find to be easier to read. Note that this doesn’t send this text to the MU*; it just shows it locally on your screen, and will log it with those characters as well. The one shown below puts both a top line with a name identifier and a bottom line without around each pose. You need to enter this as two commands; each line beginning with & is its own command.
&SPEECH_PREFIX me=[printf(%ch%cy—%cn$-77:%ch%cy-%cn:s,@k)]%cn
&SPEECH_SUFFIX me=%ch%cy[repeat(-,80)]%cn
On Liberation, there is a reference page with helpful code and tips that you can use which has another version of the posebreak as well.
Submitting your application
We have now come to the point where you are ready to apply! Now let’s check and make sure everything is finished. Scroll back a few pages in this guide to each section and make sure that each section is properly completed.
- Look at your character and make sure the desc is in place
- Look at the room description and make sure your &shortdesc is in place
- Type +sheet and examine it to make sure it matches what you originally created.
- Type +finger and make sure it has all the information you want there.
- Check all the additional items listed in the character gen room and make sure they are set.
Ready? Here we go! Type +apply and you’re in the queue!
Corrections and modifications
Sometimes applications (apps) need a change or two to make them fit with the MUSH house rules. This is why the guide suggests double-checking the rules before submission.
At this stage, any changes that need to be made can easily be made in the CG room. Once you are approved, you can no longer make these changes to your sheet. Staff will let you know if you have miscalculated points, or if you have taken a trait your character shouldn’t be able to have (code quirks do happen!), or if something doesn’t work in your character application.
Sometimes an app takes a couple of rounds to get finished properly; this isn’t unusual. Staff doesn’t ask for changes arbitrarily, so if they do tell you something needs to be changed, there’s a reason for it.
Once you’re through all of the application changes and refinements, you’ll be ready to hit the grid!
Note: You might also want to check the Wiki section to set up your character’s Wiki page.
In-Character Space, aka ‘The Grid’
Congratulations! You made it through CG and are now ready to play!
When you first hit the grid (the IC space for play), you will discover that it looks a little bit like an old-style text-based adventure game. This is deliberate – MU*s were designed to look like games, because they are games. Navigation is pretty simple. You will see a description of the place where you are, and a series of Exits and Places where you can go.
To move around the grid, just type one of the letters in angle brackets next to a name, and you’ll go there.
Finding people and places
If you don’t want to wander and try to find people by random luck, there are commands that will help you with finding people and getting to them!
The +who command shows you who is logged on by name and alias, but offers little else in the way of information.
The +where command shows you who is where, divided by section of the city, and color-coded for people who are on your +watch list (type +help watch for more details about that) or who are coded as Looking For RP (+help lfrp).
The +hangouts command will give you a list of hangouts you can use for RP. It will tell you how many people are there and give you a brief summary of what it’s like. The number at the front of the entry will tell you what the teleport location for the room is, so that you can use +hangouts/jump # by just filling in the number in that command and typing Enter.
The +roster command will show you a list of other players in your sphere, with a few details about each.
Interacting
When you RP, your contribution to the scene is called a pose. Poses can be written in several ways:
| What you type | What it looks like |
|---|---|
| “The thing you want to say. | If you want to begin with a line of dialog, use a double-quote. Note that this command automatically puts a closed-quote at the end of your pose, as well. What it looks like to others: Yourname says, “The thing you want to say.” |
| :whispers, “The thing you want to say.” | If you want to begin with your name and an action, use a : (colon) and type from there. Note that this does not automatically add a closed-quote at the end. What it looks like to others: Yourname whispers, “The thing that you want to say.” |
| ;‘s feet shuffle as he considers his answer. | If you want to begin with an apostrophe, you can show a possessive or use a contraction (like ‘Yourname’s’). Note that this does not automatically add a closed-quote at the end. What it looks like to others: Yourname’s feet shuffle as he considers his answer. |
| @emit Unlike others, Yourname is going to type it all out for himself. | If you want to start your pose with something other than your name, use @emit and then follow it with whatever you want to say. You can also choose to use @emit by default and write whatever you like. What it looks like to others: Unlike others, Yourname is going to type it all out for himself. |
OOC chat
You’re not limited to only speaking IC, though! You can chat with people out-of-character too by simply using the same rules above, but putting OOC before it. The OOC marker replaces the open quote, so you don’t need to use it. You can also use @emit like so:
@emit OOC: Unlike others, Yourname is going to type it all out for himself.
And it will display:
OOC: Unlike others, Yourname is going to type it all out for himself.
Paging
If you want to speak to another player privately, you can use the page (or whisper) command. Both are used for private communication; Whisper is considered IC, while page is considered OOC.
Syntax:
Page Otherplayer=Hi! I’m finally here!
Page Otherplayer=:is finally here.
Page Otherplayer=;’s finally here.
If you want to page more than one person at the same time, use all of the names in a line with a space between them. It follows the same syntax above.
Page Otherplayer Anotherplayer Someoneelse=Hey guys!
Channels
You will also find there are a number of comsys channels; by default, people are added to [Public] and [Newbie], with prefixes of pub and new respectively. To talk on these channels:
pub Good evening, everyone!
new What a great day!
To see your list of available channels, type @clist. To add more channels from this list that you can access, use this command:
Addcom abb=Channelname
where abb stands for a short abbreviation used to access the channel and Channelname is the full name of the channel. For example: addcom vam=Vampire would add the Vampire channel, and allow you to type on it my using
vam This is my channel message.
Comtitle and commask
You can also add fun titles in front of your name on chat channels, and create an alias on channels where your name doesn’t appear for OOC Masq purposes. Use these commands:
comtitle abb=Yourtitle
Where abb is the abbreviation for the channel, and Yourtitle is whatever you want to set as your title. Please keep in mind that it’s polite to keep titles short!
commask abb=Yourmask
Where abb is the abbreviation for the channel, and Yourmask is the phrase or word you choose to use in place of your name. It’s advised to never use your actual character name on masked channels.
Using +commands
@mail is the internal communication system for people to use when they can’t reach someone while online. It’s built into every MU*, often in modified forms, but your basic mail format is:
@mail Name=Subject
Hit enter, and then type
-Your content, including whatever you wanted to say to the other person.
You can continue this until you’re done; once you’re ready to send, type 2 dashes (—) on a line by themselves to send. More details on the @mail system are available at +help mail.
+bbpost
The bulletin board, or BB, is mostly used by staff to let players know about news and changes in rules, though a few of the bulletin boards can also be used to introduce new characters. (Hint: You get XP for posting an introduction, so do it!)
You can find the extensive help files by typing +help bb.
+myjobs / +request
Using +myjobs is how you get in touch with staff. This command sends your request into a queue to be handled. You will use this for any staff requests, including spending XP. To see the whole menu of options for this command, type +request/help and you’ll get it all.
All the commands!
Want to see all of the specialized commands on Liberation? Check out +help for a list of what’s on offer.
More tips and tricks
There’s a page on the Liberation MUSH wiki that gives some tips and tricks for playing on Lib. Check it out, because the information there is very useful.
The Liberation Wiki!
The Wiki is maintained by both staff and players. Players maintain their own character pages, but rules, policy, and other official MU* pages are maintained by staff.
While it is not required to fill out a Wiki page for your character, having them allows you to share more detail about your character, offer a photo of your Played-By or even a gallery of photos, add a playlist of songs that fit them, or just about anything you like.
You can make your page however you like, but there are templates you can use, recolor, and modify to your liking that you can copy and paste into your own page.
Gain access to the Wiki
On Liberation, you will receive a login and password once you are approved for play. Just use that to login to https://liberationmush.site/liberationwiki/ and voila, you’re there!
Make your character page
Search for your character’s name on the wiki. You should be brought to a blank page. Click on the link to create a new page, and there you are, you’re on your way!
Wiki templates you can use
You can copy the layout of other characters’ pages and just paste them into your own page, and then edit them to put in your own information. You can also ask for help from a friendly player named Mint, who has made a LOT of players’ pages for them. +finger Mint to find out if he’s on and available, and you can talk to him via pages.
References for making Wiki pages
- Cheat sheet reference for the 256 ANSI colors available
- Zamzar.com, an image type converter
The official Played-By page is the place where all of the currently-in-use Played By models are listed. When you choose a model for your character, you should add it to this page.