Fly with us to the place where dragons dwell
Fly with us to the place where dragons dwell
OK. You wanted to use Red Claw, so here's some instruction to get you started. Firstly (and obviously) you need to log on.
The address is: redclaw.org.uk 2000 or: 212.56.68.33 2000 or you can try our Java Client
Next you need to go through the login process and screens, chosing a (suitable) name, gender, whether you want to use colour etc. when you have gone through this, you will end up in the main room, where there may or may not be other people there.
The next step (this is optional, but good if you are going to come back) is to gain 'residency' - i.e. get your character saved to disk. Why? many reasons: a) with residency you set a password, so your character is safe from other users b) all your customisable details will be saved c) your login time will be saved and accumulate (giving you more 'money' - more about that later) d) you wont need to go through the startup screens again e) your settings and preferences will be saved. f) you get your own 'room' which is entirely customisable ok, you need to know some basic commands.
First up, there is an extensive help system. so, you can use this by typing 'help' for general help or 'help <command>' for help on a specific command.
OK. Some basic communication commands, that can be seen by everyone in the room
Says something.
example: 'say hello' - everyone will see: <your name> says 'hello'.
Emote something.
example 'emote waves' - everyone will see: <your name> waves.
pemote something
example: 'pemote foot hurts' - everyone sees: <your name>'s foot hurts.
echo something
example: 'echo boo!' - those that can see who echos what will see: + [<your name>] boo!
those that cannot see who echos will simply see: + boo!
shouts something
example 'shout yay' - everyone sees: <your name> shouts 'yay' NOTE: this goes to everyone on the program, not just those in the same room as you.
sing something
example 'sing blah' - everyone sees: <your name> sings ~o blah ~o
think something
example: 'think meep' - everyone sees: <your name> thinks . o O ( meep )
As well as saying things to the general ppl in a room, you can also say/do things to specific people.
tell someone something
example: 'tell dragonlord hello' - dragonlord will see: <your name> tells you 'hello'.
same as emote, but to a person
format: 'remote <person> <message>' e.g. 'remote dragonlord slaps you'
same as pemote, but to a person.
format: 'premote <person> <message>'
same as echo, but to a person.
format: 'recho <person> <message>'
whisper something to someone.
format 'whisper <person> <message>
example: 'whisper dragonlord splurge'
dragonlord will see: <your name> whispers 'splurge' to you.
additonally, everyone in the room would see:
<your name> whispers something to dragonlord
same as sing, but to a person.
format: 'rsing <person> <song words>'
same as think, but to a person.
format: 'rthink <person> <thought>'
Getting a little more adventurous, in addition to using the commands to communicate to an individual, you can also use those commands to send to a list of people.
Imagine there are 5 people on. You want to tell something to 2 of them, dragonlord and bahamut. You could use the same command twice (once for each person), or you can be clever and use a list.
To create a list (also called a multi), just separate names with a comma.
e.g. 'tell dragonlord,bahamut hiya'
this will say 'hiya' to the 2 people you are interested in.
If someone uses a multi on you, then there are 2 commands to use to communicate on a multi:
same as say, but to a multi.
format 'reply cool'
will send 'cool' to the multi
same as emote, but to a multi.
format: 'ereply meeps'
right, now you can communicate with otherss. There are some other basic commands that are useful:
shows the room description, and lists who is in the room with you.
lists who is on the talker
list who is on the talker, where they are, and how idle they are
quits out of the talker completely
lists the 'superusers' logged on. Superusers are normal users with additional privs, such as being able to grant residency to new characters, and warn characters. There are many levels of superusers. See 'help staff' for all the info.
examines a player's information (logged on players only)
format: 'x <name>'
This returns all sorts of cool info about that person.
similar to 'x', but can also be used for names of people who aren't logged on.
lists your inventory - what objects you own, and how much money you have. More on these things later.
this is a command that lets you specify that communications that are not to a room, but to you, or a multi you are on appear highlighted. This makes it easier to pick out conversation to you from general chat in a room.
format: 'hitells <termtype>'
e.g. 'hitells ansi' or 'hitells xterm'
'hitells ansi' should work in most cases.
You can also move around...
shows what exits there are from your current position.
move through a given exit.
format 'go <exitname>'
takes you to your 'home' - this is your own private room which is customisable, lockable and lots more. You only get a room if you become a resident. More on rooms later.
takes you from your home room (or someone elses home room) back to a main room
allows you to visit the room of another character, if you have the right to do so.
format: 'visit <name>'
bounces you into a random, accessible room.
You can identify people on the talker as being your 'friend'. Friending someone, means you can reference all your friends in communication on a predefined multi. e.g. 'tell friends hiya'.
Also, by friending someone, you can then give them the key to your room, and a lot of other stuff.
all the commands that you would use on other multi's, or to individuals will work with the 'friends' multi.
You can modify your character too. What I mean is, you can alter your title, your description, and things like that. You can also advertise your email address and/or URL, your age, your birthday and set other personal info.
this allows you to set your 'title' (your title is the first section of information seen on an 'x'). Your character's name is automatically added to the start of your title.
format: 'title <text>'
example: 'title is a nice person' will set your title to: <your name> is a nice person.
this allows you to set the description for your character. It is the second block of text on the 'x' information, and is completely free form.
example: 'description 6'6" tall with dark hair'
this lets you alter your registered email address, and can be used to toggle whether everyone can see it on your 'x' information.
format: 'email <email address>' OR 'email [public|private]'
This lets you set your URL.
format: 'url <url>'
lets you set your birthday information, so everyone knows when your birthday is.
format: 'birthday <your birthday (dd/mm/yy)>'
this lets you set your age.
format: 'age <age>'
There are lots of other things you can alter about your character, but the above form the basics.
Red Claw has internal mail and news systems. However, there are lots of subcommands for this, so it is better if you type 'help mail' and 'help news' from within the talker to learn how to use them. (Read that as I am too lazy to regurgitate all of it)
It may seem strange for a chat program, but we also have a systems whereby items can be created and bought. It is therefore indicative that also on Red Claw is a monetry system. The money of Red Claw is the 'gem'. You get a small amount of gems when you become a resident, and you get gems for login time. You can also be given gems (or indeed give gems), or you can win them (e.g. on Red Claw's slot machine)
this lists your inventory and your current financial situation
this lists all the objects that are available to purchase, along with their cost, and their flags (see 'help flags')
this lest you buy an object.
format: 'buy <object name>' OR 'buy <object number>'
lets you wear an object that has the 'wearable' flag set
format: 'wear <object name/number>'
lets you wield an object that has the wieldable flag set, ready for hitting (bopping) someone with
format: 'wield <object name/number>'
hit someone with your wielded object
format: 'bop <person>'
lets you play with an object that has the toy flag set
format: 'play <object name/number>'
lets you eat an object with the 'food' flag set
format: 'eat <object name/number>'
lets you drink an object with the 'drink' flag set
format: 'drink <object name/number>'
lets you give someone an item, or money.
format: 'give money <person> <amount>' OR 'give <person> <object name/number>'
There are many 'social' commands on Red Claw too. See 'commands social' for a list.
there are some games on Red Claw, such as the slots machine. please see 'help games' for info
'commands' on its own will list the areas that you can list commands for. 'commands <area>' will list all the commands available to you in that area. 'commands all' will list ALL the commands currently available to you
And thats is for the basic stuff. There are many many more things to do, and many many more commands on Red Claw, but you'll find their uses with experience.
REMEMBER: If in doubt, use the help system, or ask a superuser.
Red Claw is a deep and complex place, but is a doddle to use with a bit of practice.
Have Fun!