Help Files!

[Octavius]

Playing with the guest lounge? Reading the help files?

If there is a help file that is needed, and you know what it should contain, post it here. We'll go through and put in ones that work. This is a large help, because writing (or re-writing) is a major effort that takes us away from important things (like opening Alpha).

p.s. Please don't crap this thread up with a bunch of jokes.

[MrDvAnt]

I did notice that my guest lounger incarnation had a skill at "talented" but it's not listed as a skill rank in help skills.

[Throttle]

From ARPI/PRPI, both 'help sole-wield' and 'help dual-wield' should lead to:

Skills: Sole-Wield/Dual-Wield

Dual-Wield and Sole-Wield are both "style" skills used passive and actively
in melee combat. The "style" skill you use is determined by the current
equipment your character is holding.

If your character is holding a shield and a weapon OR they have a single weapon
wielded in both hands, then Dual-Wield is used. Sole-wield is holding a single
weapon with both hands or in one hand and nothing else.

The level of your style skill contributes to both your offensive and defensive
score, but this bonus can be negated by your opponent's skill level if they are
using the same style. For example, if you are using the Dual-Wield skill, but
your opponent is far better at that style than you are, then they will be able
to use the style against you!

Additionally, greater knowledge of styles allow access to special commands that
can be used in and out of combat to give your character an edge. At the
moment, there is only one ability per style. See the additional helpfiles
listed below to learn more about the style-abilities.


It is not compulsory to have a style skill before engaging in combat, but you
may find yourself at a disadvantage if you engage in a combat without a style
skill when facing a talented or professional combat opponent. Melee combat
conducted without weapons, such as brawling or animal attacks, do not use
styles.

See Also: Ward, Feint, Bash, Skills

[Throttle]

<#****** / ^^^^^^ / ||||||> help long-blade

Skills: Long-blade

Long-blade measures a player's skills with long, bladed weapons such as
swords and axes. This includes knowledge about long bladed weapons and how
they're best utilized. Be advised though, weapons come in many shapes and
forms. Make sure to #6EXAMINE#0 a weapon to see what type it is.

Quite a few long-bladed weapons are two-handed weapons only, if you want to use
those, you should consider picking the two-handed style skill with this weapon
skill.

See Also: Small-blade, Bludgeoning, Polearm, Styles

[Throttle]

Skills: Small-blade

Small-blade measures a player's skills with smaller bladed weapons such as
knives, daggers or even a shard of glass. This includes knowledge about small
bladed weapons and how they're best utilized. Be advised though, weapons come
in many shapes and forms. Make sure to #6EXAMINE#0 a weapon to see what type
it is.

See Also: Long-blade, Bludgeoning, Polearm, Styles

[Throttle]

<#****** / ^^^^^^ / ||||||> help bludgeon

Skills: Bludgeoning

Bludgeon measures a player's skills with smaller blunt weapons such a
club, a piece of metal pipe or even a brick. This includes knowledge
about blunt weapons and how they're best utilized. Be advised though,
weapons come in many shapes and forms. Make sure to #6EXAMINE#0 a
weapon to see what type it is.

See Also: Small-blade, Long-blade, Polearm, Styles

Probably needs a quick edit as it doesn't mention axes, and the stuff about pipes and bricks does't really fit the Middle-Earth setting as it was wrote for post-apoc survival.

[Throttle]

<#****** / ^^^^^^ / ||||||> help polearm

Skills: Polearm

Polearm measures a player's skill when it comes to long weapons such
as spears. This includes basic maintenance as well as how to best
utilize the weapon. Be advised though, weapons come in many shapes
and forms. Make sure to #6EXAMINE#0 a weapon to see what type it is.

See Also: Small-blade, Long-blade, Bludgeoning, Styles

[Throttle]

From the full skill list, the bolded ones seem no longer applicable, and underlined ones need their name and/or helpfile changed (usually because they're no longer actual skills but their function still exists, or the skill is now called something else)

<****** / ^^^^^^ / ||||||> help skill asdfasdf


Your query matched the following helpfiles:

Adunaic Alchemy Angerthas-Daeron
Angerthas-Erebor Angerthas-Moria Apothecary
Arnorian-Tengwar Atliduk Aura-Sight
Baking Barter Beleriand-Tengwar
Black-Speech(?) Black-Wise Block
Brawling Brewing Certhas-Daeron
Chandlery Clairvoyance Climb
Cookery Crossbow Danger-Sense
Disarm Distilling Dodge
Dual-Wield Dunael Dyecraft
Empathy Farming Forage
Gambling Gardening Gemcraft
Glasswork Gondorian-Tengwar Grey-Wise
Haradaic Healing Heavy-Blunt
Heavy-Edge Heavy-Pierce Herbalism
Hex Hide Hideworking
Hunt Khuzdul Labba
Light-Blunt Light-Edge Light-Pierce
Listen Literacy Longbow

*** Press return to continue - 'q' to quit ***
Medium-Blunt Medium-Edge Medium-Pierce
Metalcraft Milling Mining
Norliduk Northern-Tengwar Numenian-Tengwar
Offense Orkish Parry
Perfumery Picklock Poisoning
Pottery Prescience Psychic-Bolt
Pukael Quenya Quenyan-Tengwar
Ride Ritual Sarati
Scan Search Shortbow
Silvan Sindarin Skin
Sling Sneak Staff
Stonecraft Subdue Swim
Tame Telepathy Tengwar
Textilecraft Throwing Tracking
Westron White-Wise Woodcraft

Also, most of the skill helpfiles have their corresponding stats included, which I'm guessing might no longer be accurate in some places.

Most of the sub-skill craftsets from here need a helpfile written.

[cfelch]

Are axes going into long-blade or bludgeoning?

And why is bludgeoning named after the damage type when other weapon skills are names after the weapon type?

I don't like inconsistencies.

[Throttle]

It does seem that axes are going into the bludgeon skill. This was something Atonement did, presumably in an attempt to group weapon skills by how the weapons were physically swung rather than how they looked. The idea was that if you knew how to swing a mace, you would probably also know how to swing an axe as it is a similar movement.

I also think I prefer the original light/medium/heavy-edge/blunt/pierce system, but it's probably something that would take a good deal of boring codework to do, and if they've already started making the weapon objects, I'm sure changing the skills now is out of the question.

[Throttle]

From ARPI/PRPI:

<#****** / ^^^^^^ / ||||||> help decorate


Manipulation: Decorate

Syntax: decorate <object> [short] [small|large|tiny|entire]
text of your decoration here

The decorate skill allows someone with the Artistry skill, and
the right tools, to decorate items, changing their short and full
descriptions. The level of skill you can employ, as well as the
type of things you can decorate, depend on your skill of arts and
the tolls you employ.

Warning: #9The decoration you submit must be consistent with
the tool used and your Artistry skill level. Entering
masterpiece level decorations when you have a novice level
Artistry skill, or similar shenanigans, will result in the admins
removing the item from the game permanently.#0

Here's an example of the command at work:

decorate sword short entire Covered in an intricate decoration
depicting a scene of battle between two medieval armies, both
sides dressed head-to-toe in archaic armour

Given your skill, tools, and settings specified, the full
description of your decorated object will appear as follows:


This weapon is sturdily-crafted, the blade being
straight-edged and thick, designed to give extra weight to the
cuts and slashes. It is well-balanced, with has a guard that is
a simple black circle, wide enough to keep blows from sliding
down the blade to hit one's hand. The hilt is evenly
brown-colored, and made of standard grade original polyprop
plastic. Measuring about three and a half feet in length from
pommel to tip, it has been fashioned from alion-alloy metal.
With #6flawlessly executed skill#0 and #6finely etched with
acids#0, this item has a #6all-encompassing#0 and #6pristine#0
decoration of: Covered in an intricate decoration depicting a
scene of battle between two medieval armies, both sides dressed
head-to-toe in archaic armour

The short description will also be as follows: #2an etched
sphere-hilted sword with a thick blade#0

[Throttle]

<#****** / ^^^^^^ / ||||||> help manipulation forage

Manipulation: Forage

Usage: forage <survey | vc, c, uc, r, vr> <#number>

The forage command will allow your character to search in the
appropriate areas for materials that may, or may not, be of some
use to them. Different areas will produce different materials,
and not all areas will produce materials that can be found, or
are useful. Simply typing the forage command will have your
character search randomly for items. The better their forage
skill, the more likely they are to find something.

"forage survey" will reveal the type of items your character
could specifically look for in the area. The higher your
character's skill, the more uncommon and rare items they are able
to individually search for.

Your character can search for a specific item detailed by the
"forage survey" command by entering the initial of the rarity
following by the number on which that item appears on the forage
survey list. For example, "forage vc 1" would have your

*** Press return to continue - 'q' to quit ***
character specifically search for the first very-common item.
The rarer an item, the less likely your character is to find it
as determined by your forage skill.

Rooms can be foraged a limited amount of times over a period -
typically, once a room has been temporarily extinguished it will
take approximately a real life hour for things to be foraged
there. In the future, there will be limits to how much your
character can forage in an hour, and wider-ramifications for
over-foraging areas in a short time-frame, but for now, abuse to
your heart's content!

[Throttle]

<#****** / ^^^^^^ / ||||||> help mend


Manipulation: Mend

Usage: mend <item> <damage string>

The mend command allows your character to repair damage that
their objects have received. To repair an item, your character
must be both holding the item and an appropriate repair kit - by
examining a repair kit you can discover what types of items the
kit can repair and what skills are required for your character to
use the kit.

If a kit requires a skill to be used, then the level of damage
you can repair will be dependent on your skill.

To repair minor damage that an object has taken, use the syntax:
mend <item> all.

To repair particular pieces of damage, enter the full string of
the damage: mend shirt large rip, mend leggings moderate burn

In general, larger damages will require exponentionally more of

*** Press return to continue - 'q' to quit ***
yourt repair kit to fix.

Especially large damages done to objects will be unable to ever
be fully repaired: the object has suffered too much. Your
character may be able to patch up some of the worst damage, but
significant stress to the object will always remain.

[Octavius]

You are my hero. Keep up the good work!

[Throttle]

Combat: Ward

Usage:
ward

If you are holding a weapon in both hands, you can try and use
that weapon as an additional defense measure. However, this requires
you to be proficient enough in the Sole-Wield fighting style.
You also need to be engaged in combat to use the ward command.

Warding will throw you off-balance, just like throwing or changing
your fighting style.

See Also: Sole-Wield, Feint, Bash, Skills

[Throttle]

Combat: Feint

Usage:
feint

If you are holding a weapon in each hand, you can try and feint a
strike with one hand whilst really aiming to hit with your other
weapon. However, this requires a certain measure of skill in the
dual-wielding figthing style to even attempt. You also need to be
engaged in combat to use the feint command.

Just like throwing or changing your combat style, feinting will throw
you off-balance for a while.

See Also: Dual-Wield, Ward, Bash, Skills

[Throttle]

Combat: Bash

Usage:
bash

Bash is one of the additional commands associated with one of the
fighting styles, in this case Dual-Wield. You can try and bash your
opponent with your shield in an attempt to push them over while
engaged in combat if your Dual-Wield skill is high enough.

Bashing someone will throw you off-balance, just like related
commands, throwing in combat or changing your fighting style.

See Also: Dual-Wield, Feint, Ward, Skills

[Throttle]

Information: Overwatch

The Overwatch command allows you to designate targets
that your PC will automatically aim at if they spot them.
It's purpose is to help lessen the OOC divide between how
easily your character could see and aim at someone in the
distance, and the delay at which it takes you to type that.

Overwatch makes a great combination with #6set autofire#0,
but it's also a great combination for panicky individuals
to engage in friendly fire. See #6HELP AUTOFIRE#0 for more
details.

When your character sees via a scan, watch, or a few other
methods, something that is on their OVerwatch list, they will
automatically aim at that target provided they have a weapon
in hand, are not already aiming at something, and are not
otherwise engaged in melee combat.

There are quite a few features of the Overwatch command, all
the better to customise exactly when and how your character
will take automatic aim at targets. To see your character's
current Overwatch status, and anyone currently on your
OVerwatch, type #6overwatch list#0.

Overwatch defaults to manual addition and easy targets with
each reboot and quit, to prevent accidental targeting and
other fun mishaps. A target will remain on your OVerwatch
list for approximately a Real Life hour, unless they do something
that re-adds them.

To see the syntax, type #6overwatch#0. The rest of the helpfile
contains more details. You cannot add an Overwatch on people in
your group.

overwatch target: this determines how people are added on to
your overwatch list. Higher numbers incorporate
all the numbers below it:

1. manual addition only
2. allow group leaders to add targets
3. automatic addition of anyone who shot, or who
shoots at you
4. automatic addition of anyone who shoots at
your group

overwatch threshold: this determines the minimum ease of making a
shot you'll need before you start aiming:

1. only standing, still targets not in cover
2. moving, crouching, prone targets not in cover
3. all targets

See Also: Autofire

[Throttle]

Information: Autofire

Setting autofire means that instead of seeing this:


To the west, you see #5a shambling, large-footed eldery woman#0 leave
southward.
You lose sight of your quarry as they move southward.

You'll see this:


To the west, you see #5a shambling, large-footed eldery woman#0 leave
southward.
Your quarry moves southward, but before you lose sight. . .
You fire #2a slab-sided, burnished .25 pocket pistol#0, #2a small bullet#0
shooting westward towards #5a shambling, large-footed eldery woman#0.

The bullet thuds against #2the scenary#0.

End result: you get a free shot on your weapon before the target you are currently
aiming at would leave the room.

See Also: Overwatch

(I guess just swap words around so it says bows and arrows instead of guns and bullets)

[Throttle]

General: Upgrade

The upgrade command allows you to shift the distribution of your character's
attributes: upgrading one attribute at the expense of downgrading a second.
You can only shift one pair of attributes at a time, and each time you make a
shift you will have to wait for 90 Real-Life days to pass before you can do it
again.

Once you use the upgrade command, this upgrade and downgrade will not taken
effect until 6 more Real-Life hours of playtime has passed: you can't use this
command to instantly make your character stronger before walking in to a tough
battle. You also cannot raise or lower a statistic higher than "peak" or lower
than "poor" - the command will warn you if you are attempting this.

You must roleplay whatever change you take - your character could be spending
more time at the gym and less time playing Flashball with the local gutter kids
(upgrade strength, downgrade agility), or they could be spending a lot of time
in seedy inns gambling and drinking (upgrade willpower, downgrade constitution).
It is assumed that it will take around 30 Real-Life days of changed behaviour for your
character's attributes to change - hence the delay.

The six attributes that can be modified are:
+ str - Strength, how much weight your character can carry and how hard they hit
+ dex - Dexterity, how skilled your character can become at tasks requiring hand-eye co-ordination
+ con - Constitution, how much damage your character can take
+ wil - Willpower, how good your character is at ignoring damage and shock,
+ int - Intelligence, how quickly and how much your character can learn,
+ agi - Agility, how fast and flexible your character is.

[Throttle]

General: Wmote

Usage: wmote <item> <string>

This command allows you to change the description of the wear locationg of an
object you are currently wearing. For example, if you are wearing a holster,
and a coat over it, you could #6wmote holster worn under coat#0, and when
someone looked at you, they would see <worn under coat> #2a holster#0.

This command can also be used in coordination with #6conceal#0 to illustrate
how you are obscuring an object from view.

Players should be careful when using this command, and abuse of it will likely
draw sanction from Administrators. If you see someone misusing this command,
please report it at once either by petition or e-mailing staff@parallelrpi.com

Finally, #6wmote <item> normal#0 can be used to return an object's wear string
to its default.

[Throttle]

<#****** / ^^^^^^ / ||||||> help helpline


Communication: Helpline

Helpline is an Out-Of-Game chat channel design to help new
players ask questions from Guides and Admins. If you're a new
player, it's the perfect venue to ask for help with any problems
you may be having. It shouldn't be used for idle chit-chat, or
discussion of In-game information. Only the name of your account
is disclosed over Helpline: your character's name is not
revealed.

All new players (those with the new player tag) have access to
helpline: you can toggle whether you receive it or not by typing
#6SET HELPLINE#0.

Typing #6helpline#0 on its own will show who is currently logged
on, and whether they are a guide, an admin, or a new player.

Typing #6helpline#0 followed by a message will send that message
to everyone logged on to Helpline. For instance: - helpline How
do I change the channel on my radio?

If you find the helpline commands annoying or an interruption,
you can log yourself out of the system by typing #6SET
HELPLINE#0.

[Throttle]

<#****** / ^^^^^^ / ||||||> help focus


Skills: Focus

Usage:
focus <skill name>

Your character has a cap of the total amount of combined points they
can have in all skills combined, determined primarily by their
intelligence. If you reach this cap at some point during the lifespan
of your character, you will be informed of this every time you use
the "skills" command.

Once your character hits this cap, any additional skill gains made
will come at the expense of an existing skill. You can control which
skills are eligible to be deducted by using the focus command. Any
skills that you "focus" on will not have points deducted when you
advance in another skill, instead, a skill that you are not focusing
on will be lowered.

Skills you are focusing on will be shown in #6blue#0 and in brackets #6()#0.

To toggle this off and stop focusing on a skill, simply type 'focus <skillname>' again.

A closely related command is "ignore", see #6HELP IGNORE#0 for
information about this command.

See Also: Skills, Ignore

[Throttle]

<#****** / ^^^^^^ / ||||||> help ignore


Skills: Ignore

Usage:
ignore <skill name>

Your character has a cap of the total amount of combined points they
can have in all skills combined, determined primarily by their
intelligence. If you reach this cap at some point during the lifespan
of your character, you will be informed of this every time you use
the "skills" command.

Once your character hits this cap, any additional skill gains made
will come at the expense of an existing skill. Using the ignore
command, you can stop any advancement in the skill you're ignoring,
but also stop any other skills from being lowered at the expense of
the ignored skill. Don't use 'ignore' on skills you're trying to
raise!

An ignored skill will be shown in #5purple#0 brackets #5[]#0 in your skills
list.

To toggle this off and stop ignoring advancement in a certain skill,
just type 'ignore <skillname>' again.

A closely related command is "focus", see #6HELP FOCUS#0 for
information about this command.

See Also: Skills, Focus

[Throttle]

<#****** / ^^^^^^ / ||||||> help skills

Information: Skills

Lists all skills known to the character, and their degree of proficiency.

Parallel RPI is a skills-based MUD, without classes or character levels. A
player, in theory, may learn any skill, and all skills only increase through
actual use. As you get better at a skill, you may need to find more difficult
challenges to test the skill and increase it.

In particular, advanced combat skills will be acquired at a much higher rate
if you plunge your character in to real, and increasingly difficult, combat
situations. You will learn a lot more fighting whilst wounded against three
foes than you will using against a sole training partner wielding padded
weapons.

The rate that skills advance also depends upon your character's attributes.
All skills have a cap which, not surprisingly, is also determined by your
character's statistics. If you have reached this cap for a particular skill,
this skill will show in #3yellow#0 in your skills list.

In general, the cap of skills that involve using your hands is determined
primarily by dexterity, while the cap for skills that involve using your mind
is determined by intelligence.

Your character also has a cap of the total amount of combined points they
can have in all skill. Once you reach this cap, the skill command will inform
you of such. Determined primarily by your intelligence, once your character
has reached this cap any additional skill gains made will come at the expense
of an existing skill. You can control which skills are eligible to be deducted
by using the #6focus#0 and #6ignore#0 commands.

The level of skill proficiency is designated in nine levels: Beginner,
Novice, Amateur, Familiar, Talented, Adroit, Master, Heroic and Legend. Skills
that you have at a particularly low level, typically ones you gain from
learning by doing, will not appear on your skill list until they each a certain
threshold, and will also not count towards your skill cap total.

Skills can be learned either at character generation, from someone teaching
you via the #6teach#0 command, or by engaging in an action linked to the skill.
When a skill is taught, it opens at a value that depends upon your character
attributes as well as the person who teaches you. When a skill is learned by
doing, it opens at the lowest level.