Q: What is the purpose of this game? Why do I play it?

A: The main purpose is to have fun, and fun it is. There might be many definitions of what 'fun' is but as long as you feel that you are having fun while you are here, you live up to the purpose of this game. If you don't know why you play here, I'm sure you will find a good reason to continue once you get started.

However, do remember that you are not alone in the game and some thought should be given to the fact that other 'real live people' are here to interact with you. Some manners apply both in a game such as this as in real life. If you haven't done so already, I suggest that you type 'gameinfo' at the login prompt instead of your player name. That will give you more info about the purpose of the game.

Q: What is Genesis?

A: Genesis is the origin of life in the LPmud universe. It is a medieval world set in a fantasy environment. It first opened early spring 1990. Since then the world has grown and changed alot. The climate varies from arctic to tropical depending on your latitude. Since the sun is in a fixed position in the sky, there are no seasons and no nights. At the equator, the sun is exactly overhead while travelling far enough to the north or south, the sun will eventually 'set' below the horizon. Again it is advised that you read the 'gameinfo' text at the login prompt.

Q: Where in the world am I?

A: Well, you never know, do you? :) When you start the game you are probably in one of the many starting locations. Each race has one such location. E.g. the humans. They all start in a village called Sparkle. Where that is in the world is not common knowledge. You have to talk to people you meet, map the area where you are and explore the land yourself.

Q: What commands can I use?

A: There are many different commands for different situations. To get a list of topics that you can get help on, do 'help topics'. A few commands are also explained in the 'gameinfo' text at the login prompt.

Q: Where are the other players?

A: Probably on a quest slaying a dragon... Who knows, they're out there somewhere but there is no real good way to know where. You can always try to look in guilds, harbours and churches.

Q: How do I tell a player from a monster?

A: Well, some monsters act rather intelligent but then, some players do too. First we assume that your opponent doesn't attack you. If he does you have to flee or defend yourself anyway. You can always examine the opponent. Does it have a title or description that reveals anything? You can introduce yourself (type 'introduce myself') and see what response you get. Try talking to the opponent and asking questions. You can't expect all other players to talk to you. There are those who are too busy with their own business to pay any atention to others. Just ignore those. If they don't wish to talk to you it's their loss. If you bump into a wizard, he might be idle while coding or taking care of similar wizard business. Expect wizards to be out of sight or idle while working their magic.

Q: How can I get help from others?

A: If you meet some other adventurers you might decide to team up. It is much easier to get around if you do it together. The one who invites you to join the team will be the leader. The leader goes at the front of your team and most often it is he/she who takes a beating. For more info, type: 'help teams'

Q: Why does it take so long to get anywhere?

A: Since the empires and kingdoms of the world are scattered all over Genesis people are forced to travel between them. This can be done in many ways. You can most often walk anywhere on the same continent. Needless to say that takes great effort and is quite tiresome. It also takes very long time. If you are near a port you can buy a ticket and go by ship. This option is faster and you can reach more places. It costs a few coins though. There might be other options but since the places where you might wish to go often are far from each other, travel will take some time.

Q: Sometimes another player "is cast into the void". What does that mean?

A: When a player goes 'link dead' or loses his/her connection to the game, the player is 'cast into the void'. That is a place where he/she is safe until he/she regains his/her connection. He will then appear at the same location.

Q: What if something goes wrong? How do I get hold of a wizard?

A: Are you sure there is something wrong? Bugging a wizard for nothing is a good way to get on someone's bad side. They are often quite busy. Now if there IS a problem, the responsible wizard will be most pleased to hear about it. No wiz wishes to have faults in his/her area. If the fault is a bug, type 'bug ' where is what you wish to tell the wiz responsible of your current location. If it is a typo, do the same thing using the 'typo' command. If you have an idea or wish to praise the local wizard, use the 'idea' and 'praise' commands to send your idea or praise. If the problem isn't related to the specific area in which you are, you might wish to report the fault to the Keepers of Genesis. In that case, use the 'sysbug ' command. For more information, read the help text on the bug, typo, idea, praise and sysbug commands. This way to report a fault etc. is the most common way and should be used if possible. The message will be read by the wizards every now and then. Faults are corrected when possible. If your needs are critical and it is a matter of great importance, there is another option. You can try to 'commune' one or all wizards. This should not be used casually. Type 'commune all ' or 'commune ' to send a prayer to a wizard. Trying to commune all wizards, with a trivial message, is a more than sure way to bring down the wrath of the immortals. Be warned.

Q: What is a shutdown?

A: When the world is comming to a temporary end, Armageddon appears bringing destruction to all and everything. Your character will be saved but most equipment is lost. After a few minutes you will be able to connect to Genesis again.

Q: What do I do when Armageddon comes?

A: If possible he will give you a 5 minute warning. You can go to a shop and sell all your stuff before quitting yourself, or you can commune armageddon with a message like "Please take me home!" and he will do just that. 'Tell armageddon home' also works.

Q: What happens when I quit playing?

A: When you quit playing, either due to a shutdown or by your own choice, all equipment on your person is dropped where you are. The only thing saved is whatever money you have, plus special items. The status and health of your character is of course stored away as well. Money and status are restored when you start playing again.

Q: Can I store my equipment somewhere between playing sessions?

A: Unfortunately not. If we were to have many objects stored away when people don't play, the game would need much more memory to support this.

Q: What does the world look like?

A: It's big! Few mortals know much about its size or layout. Not even all wizards know what the world looks like. The best way to find out is to travel as much as possible and visit far away places.

Q: Where should I go and how do I get there?

A: Talk to people and gather information on where they have been and what it was like. In many places, rumors can be overheard. Some rumors might be useful. Map the place where you are. Try to find means of transportation to places you haven't been to. Try to discover maps etc to tell you more about the world. Travel and explore. There is no way to say where you should go or not. You decide. But when you do, you have to find a way to go there.

Q: Do I always enter the world at the same place?

A: In the beginning, yes. Each race has their own staring location. Later on you can choose to start elsewhere. Maybe in another starting location or perhaps in a guild.

Q: What about these starting locations... What are they?

A: A starting location can be many things. Originally they were places in the different races home areas. They were places where an adventurer would start his explorations when entering the world. Later there were guilds providing the same service. Now there might be many different places where you can start your playing session. If you have travelled far during one session, you should seek out a new starting location and type 'start here'. Thus you won't have traveled in vain if the game shuts down suddenly.

Q: I have no equipment. Where do I get it?

A: Again, try exploring the area. If you set out to map the place, you are bound to find some stuff here and there. Some players might be kind enough to give or loan you some equipment to start with. If you have money you can always buy things in the shops. Killing monsters to get new items is a common way to do it.

Q: I'm totally broke. How do I get any money?

A: The easiest way to get money is to sell things in the shops. This is also the safest. Monsters often have money and equipment but they seldom give things away without a fight.

Q: How does the monetary system work and what coin types are there?

A: In general, you have four different coin types. Copper, silver, gold and platinum. Copper coins are the base type and most common used. 12 copper coins (cc) makes one silver coin (sc). 12 silver coins make one gold coin (gc) and 12 gold coins make one platinum coin (pc).

Q: What good is money for anyway?

A: The most obvious use is of course to buy things in the shops, but you can also use money to pay for training in the various guilds. This training will allow you to learn different skills that are useful (if not vital) in the game.

Q: What about magic? Where is it? When can I cast fireballs?

A: There are many legends involving powerfull magic. Common of all stories is that magic is not a tool used by the common traveller. Even though it may be evident in everyday life, actual usage where the adventurer himself controls the forces, is uncommon. Users of magic are with few exceptions people who have achieved a fair position in life. A wizard may choose to allow you to use magic of his choice but it will be a while before he will allow you to create and control it.

Q: But when I am mighty enough, who will teach me how to create magic?

A: You start at the bottom, working your way up. You might pick up a few simple magic tricks here and there but the more advanced stuff will be gained if or when you join a guild. Some guilds are devoted to magic only, others might include a fraction of magic in their basic training.

Q: What is a guild?

A: A guild is like a union of people with a common profession. They can be devoted to the same cause or just sharing a common interest. In any event they tend to help each other in many ways. The guild often provide certain services for its members and allows for them to train their skills in different areas. This is rarely done for free though. The guild often taxes its members, demanding a percentage of all experience the member earns. Some guilds are general, others are devoted to a single and narrow discipline. Some guilds are only accepting members of a common race while others will exclude adventurers who are of the wrong alignment, have an opposing profession or for some other reason don't match the guilds recruiting criteria.

Q: Where are they? Which and how many guilds can I join?

A: Where the guilds are is not common knowledge. Some guilds may choose not to be found unless you are looking for them. Whether you can join or not is entirely up to the master of the guild. Why should he/she want you as a member? Maybe you are a member of an opposing guild. Who knows? :) Assuming that the different guilds tolerate each other's professions, a player can be a member of 4 guilds at the most: an occupational, a layman, a racial and a craft.

These are examples of 3 guilds that would provide some kind of service to the player. Please note: one race guild, one occupational guild, and one layman guild. For instance:

• The Dwarven Gem Society, is a race guild open only for dwarves. It may perhaps provide the dwarves with mining and gem cutting skills.

• The Guild of Thieves, is an occupational guild open for those who do not oppose the thieves. Thus no other occupations are allowed.

• The South Shore Swimming Club, is a layman guild providing swimming and diving skills to people with water activities as a major hobby. They are not professional swimmers but expect their members to invest their spare time in the club. Thus they don't accept other layman guilds.

• The Drunken Swab, a craft guild teaching the skill of navigation and large craft handling on the vast seas of the torus. A nifty skill to have, but perhaps not one offering a great tactical advantage.

In addition to these three categories, you can of course be a supportive member of as many small clubs as you like. You will never gain any skills from these extra 'small guilds', but maybe receive emotes perhaps.

Q: What stats do I have and how do I raise them?

Some basics of the stats used in Genesis are described below:

Strength: How much you can carry
Dexterity: How much damage you give and receive in combat
Constitution: How much damage you can take before you die (hitpoints)
Intelligence: How much mana (spellpoints) you have
Wisdom: Your ability with casting spells
Discipline: Whether you dare to attack things tougher than yourself

Q: Which stat is most important for a young adventurer?

A: You need to be strong to be able to carry much. You also need to be strong to fight well. High dex is good but not vital. High con is important if you don't wish to go down with the first blow you take. Thus I'd say that STR and CON are important stats. For a fighter anyway. DEX, INT and WIS would be important for a magician who tries to stay out of physical combat.

Q: How do I advance in the game?

A: You kill monsters to get combat experience. You solve quests to get quest experience. When you do this, the experience gained is devided amongst your stats. (Str, Dex, Int etc...) When you get enough exp awarded to a stat, the stat will increase. This is the way to advance.

Q: How do I see my score?

A: You have no 'score'. The closest thing would be your stats. To see how far you have advanced in your stats, type 'stats'. You will be told how much progress you have made during the time you have been playing this session.

Q: What is a quest?

A: A quest is a task bestowed upon you. You have to preform a service, solve a mystery, retrieve something that was lost, gain certain information etc. to solve the quest. When this is done you will be rewarded some experience equivalent to the effort of solving the quest.

Q: How do I find the quest?

A: Many guilds will send you on quests. People here and there might have problems that they would like to get some help with. You just have to look around and talk to the people in the pubs, guilds etc.

Q: How many quests do I need to solve?

A: There is not a specific number of quests to solve. You never know how many quests there are in the world. However, it is our hope that some day you should be able to make wizard just by solving quests. Quests do give you alot of experience.

Q: What skills are important?

A: You need to have at least one good weapon skill. "Knife", "sword" or "axe" is a good start. Then you might wish to train other fighting skills as much as possible. They will help you to stay alive. "Defence" is a good skill for fighters/non fighters alike. It is always useful to be able to dodge a blow or a strike. "Appraise enemy" is good if you wishes to compare your stats with a monster.

Q: How do I know what monsters to fight? Which monsters are at my level?

A: Well, you never know do you? :) A good thing is to look at the monster and maybe to do 'compare' your stats with the monster. Example: "compare str with orc" Se also the help text on compare. Then, use good judgement. >:-)

Q: How much damage can I take?

A: That depends on your constitution. To get an idea of your health status, type 'vitals' or 'v'. You should also read the help text on 'wimpy'.

Q: How about killing other players? Is that Ok?

A: Sure, why not. Just make sure you have a good reason. We don't look kindly upon experienced adventurers killing newbies but killing a player is allowed if it can be motivated.

Q: What happens when I die?

A: When Death calls you listen. When he summons you, you go. Don't expect him to like you very much. It is the likes of you that eventually will try to rob him of his most prized possession. Your living soul. Do expect him to make things hard for you. In fact he is liable to drain one third of all your combat experience. So you can believe this, it is not healthy to die.

Q: What about immortality?

A: To become immortal you have to master your body as well as your mind. You have to push your stats to the level of an immortal and you have to stand up to Death, and win. When you are powerful enough to conquer Death, you will become immortal.

Q: When I become wizard, immortal that is, what can I do?

A: As an immortal you have the world at your feet. Compared to a mortal, you can do anything. But don't be too hasty. Even amongst immortals there are rules and rank. You will have to prove yourself before gaining any "real" power. Until then, we'll keep an eye on you.

Q: Do I really have to play around, killing monsters etc to become wizard?

A: Yes, life is a struggle and to become immortal is not an easy task. It is required that you do a fair bit of adventuring before becoming a wizard so that you are familiar with the way the world works, and a bit of the history and flavour that makes up this world. :-)