Characters on Blood of Dragons are handled somewhat differently than they are on many other MUSHes. Most characters on the game are drawn from the family trees pre-created by the Admin of the game, and all characters (even those created by players) are part of the character database or CDB (see +HELP CDB). This ensures continuity even if the player of a particular character disappears, since the actual character always remains in the character database.
Because of how Blood of Dragons is setup, the game does not have a fully open character creation. The process of obtaining a character may seem a little confusing to new players, so please read this step-by-step description of the process carefully.
From the login screen prospective players can choose to either connect to a guest account or to create a visitor account to log into. Which you choose is up to you, just keep in mind that a visitor account is not an IC character; you still need to request a character from the database to be able to enter the game fully.
If you are new to MU*ing or if you prefer to try out a game before investing a lot of effort into setting up a character, you can get a taste of the game with our Cameo characters. These are fully CGed characters intended to be played only for a brief period of time. They do not require any sort of application; simply search one out (+cdb/cameos will list all currently available Cameo characters) and request the character (+CDB/REQUEST DBNUM=YOUR EMAIL, see +HELP CDB REQUEST for more information). If you request from a guest account, you will have the login information sent to you. If you request from a visitor account, your account will be setup as the Cameo, so you will get a new name but keep the same password.
The first step in the process of obtaining a character should be to decide whether you want to play a character drawn from the family trees we have created (see the list of Houses and +HELP CDB) or one entirely of your own creation. Please note that the latter will be allowed only rarely and only for players who have read all the books and have a fair amount of MU*ing experience. If you are interested in an original character, please speak to the Admin (see +HELP +ADMIN). In most cases, however, your decision will likely be to select a character from the family trees.
Your next step would then be to find a character that you like. You can do this by looking through the family trees on the website or by searching through the CDB on the game. The search function is fairly complex, and allows you to specify a number of different requirements. For example, +cdb/search gender/male|region/stormlands|type/open|state/npc will find all male characters from the Stormlands who are Open (meaning they require only the basic application, no logs or anything extra) and NPCs (meaning they’re not currently in play). To learn more about searches, look at +HELP CDB SEARCH and +HELP CDB FIELDS. You can also use +cdb/wanted to see a list of the top ten most wanted characters as voted on by the players.
When you find a character you are interested in, you can use +CDB <name> on the game to find out whether the character is available. To be available, the character should be listed as an NPC and it should not be listed as Closed, Extra, Feature or Elite. The easiest characters to get are those with their type listed as Open, whereas applications for characters listed as Restricted or Limited have more requirements (such as logs). Furthermore, characters where the tier is anything other than V or IV are only available if there are slots open. You can see if such slots are available using +CDB/QUOTA.
It is very important to note that some characters, even though they are listed as Open, may not always be suitable for play. In particular, they may not be suitable for play in either or both of the open areas, King’s Landing and Sunspear in Dorne. In general, Dornish characters are unavailable for play outside of Dorne, and characters from other areas can only rarely be played in Dorne. Characters from the Iron Isles are also hard to fit into King’s Landing, and to a lesser extent this is also true for characters from the North. The position of a character can also stop them from being outside of their home region. For example, a Captain of Guards for a lord who is not in play would have no reason to be in either of the open areas on his own. If a character has a LOCATION in +cdb <name> that is set to something other than King’s Landing or Dorne, they are definitely unavailable, but if it is not clear, just ask.
For characters that are listed as owned by a particular player, you need to speak to that player before requesting such a character, as the player has final say in whether the character gets played or not. Finally, you should also use +CDB/RESERVED to make sure that no one else is currently in the process of applying for that character.
Once you have found an available character that you like, you should review the existing information about this character. How much information exists depends on if the character already has been CGed or not. If the character has been CGed, it will already be fully fleshed out. If the character has not been CGed, it will be more or less a blank slate, but it may have some facts established due to closely related characters having been CGed.
The public information for a character that you should look at includes the character’s family tree, history (+cdb/view <name>/history), persona (+cdb/view <name>/persona), rumors (+cdb/view <name>/rumors), hints (+cdb/view <name>/hints) and public events (+cdb/elist <name>), notes (+cdb/nlist <name>) and relations (+cdb/rlist <name>). A quick, but potentially very spammy way of seeing all information is to use +cdb/all <name>.
It is also important that you find out which, if any, close relations of this character that already are in play. If a character is listed as a PC, then it is in play. When you apply for someone’s close relation (by close we primarily mean spouses, betrotheds or lovers, but also anyone else defined as very closely connected to the character in the relations), you will be asked to speak to the player of the other character before you are approved and ideally you should get touch with them at the application stage.
This approach is meant to reduce the risk of various conflicts (such as scheduling conflicts or conflicts of interest) between players of characters that are likely to interact a lot with each other. Current players do not have the right to outright stop new players from selecting relations of their characters to play, but if two players end up not getting along, the Admin may ask the newer player to switch to another character.
Once your decision regarding which character you’d like to play is made, you should see +HELP CDB REQUEST for how to request your character. Your request will be placed in the +jobs queue, see +HELP JOBS, and the Admin will review it. Unless there is a problem with your selection, the Admin will soon thereafter send the appropriate application information to the email you entered. If there is a problem with your selection, they will also contact you via the email you entered.
The Admin will also pass on to you any private information pre-established about this character, such as sheet (+cdb/view <name>/sheet), background (+cdb/view <name>/background), justify (+cdb/view <name>/justify) and private events (+cdb/elist <name>), notes (+cdb/nlist <name>) and relations (+cdb/rlist <name>).
Once your request has been approved, and you have all the information that exists about your character, you should go ahead and fill out the application you were directed towards. When you have completed it, you send it in to the Admin via email. They will review it as soon as possible and send you a response via email. If it is approved, the response will include the full information about the character, including login information if the request was made from a guest account rather than a visitor account. A visitor account will be renamed with the characters name but retain the same password. If it is disapproved, the response will include information about what you can do next.
Once you are able to login to your character, you will find yourself in The Godswood, our ‘birthplace’ room, and from there you can only proceed by first reading through INFO USER AGREEMENT and then typing I HAVE READ AND ACCEPT THE USER AGREEMENT. Once you have done that, you will pass through a room that ensures you have setup a password of your own choosing. After that, you will find yourself in another room where you are asked (if this is your first character on the game) to register (see +HELP +REGISTER) your email.
With that done, you will have the choice of taking our Newbie Trail, or continuing on to the OOC Nexus. If you take the Newbie Trail, as we suggest that players new to MUSHing do to get a feel for the basic commands, you will be returned to the registration room at the end of the trail, and from there you can head out into the OOC Nexus. You will be dropped in the Player Lounge, and from there you can reach the CharGen by typing ‘OUT’ and then ‘CG’.
NOTE: Before entering the CharGen, prepare yourself by first reading the SYSTEM CHARGEN information, as many people find the CharGen to be a fairly complex process if they attempt it unprepared.
When you enter the CharGen you will either be sent to the first room (if your character has not been CGed) or to the last room (if your character has been CGed). In the first case, you will need to go through each room to setup your character. In the second case, you will only have a few basic things to set. Once you are done, you exit through the ‘FINISH’ exit, and your character is then placed in the +jobs queue, awaiting final approval. Until you have received this, you will not be able to enter the IC world, but once you have been approved you will be given access to the IC grid and you will be able to start roleplaying your character.