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How to Play TriadCity
The TriadCity Players' Guide
Rooms
Rooms are the basic places inside TriadCity's imaginary
game world. Whenever you move your character from one location
to another, you've left one Room and entered a new one.
This'll be more understandable if you don't think of Rooms as the
insides of houses, with four walls, a ceiling, etc. Instead think
of them as any arbitrary space: outdoors, indoors, a city street,
an empty field, the pantry inside a kitchen, a coal bin inside an
electricity generating station. A Room is a physical location
somewhere within three-dimensional space.
Rooms in TC can have up to six
Exits corresponding to the six possible
directions of movement: Down, East, North, South, Up, and West.
There's no guarantee that any or all of these Exits will exist;
and if they do, there's no guarantee you'll be able to see them.
Rooms will typically have a more or less elaborated description,
which will be shown to you automatically when you enter. In
TriadCity, the description you're shown will depend on your
character's many attributes; and it might also vary by other
criteria which the author has chosen to apply. One common example
is time of day: you'll often see a somewhat different Room description
at sunset than in the middle of the night.
You can also look in each of the six cardinal directions: there may
be more information there about the Room, its contents, or the
neighboring Rooms. Type 'look up', 'look east', etc.
Rooms may or may not contain any number of arbitrary
Items.
You may or may not be able to see these Items, depending on all sorts
of things. The ones that are visible to you are listed when you enter
the Room.
Rooms also may or may not contain any number of arbitrary
Characters.
You may or may not be able to see these Characters, too.
The ones that are visible to you are also listed when you enter
the Room.
Here's an extended example. We'll take the Room titled
"The Origin Stone at Sanctuary Island", which is the Room you
enter the very
first time you visit TriadCity, and we'll show you much of what it
usually contains.
When you enter, the description you see will usually look something
like this:
The Origin Stone at Sanctuary Island
Sanctuary Island is the exact center of TriadCity. Surrounding this
point, three rivers circle and sworl, separating the City into Thirds
that are widely distinct in character, culture, and reputation.
Sunset casts lengthening shadows over ancient cobblestones.
The Origin Stone is here, magnificent and mysterious.
A white-robed monk stands with bowed head.
[Exits: north east south west]
Perhaps the first thing you might notice is that the word "sworl" is
odd. It's not a typo for "swirl", and it doesn't actually exist. Kindof
like TriadCity as a whole, really.
Let's look at the Monk, for another surprise. Typing 'look monk', here's the
response we receive:
She stands so still it's impossible to know if she breathes or not.
The monk wields a wooden staff.
The monk wears a cotton robe over all.
The monk is in excellent condition.
So: turns out she's a she. Wouldn't you usually expect her to be called
a "nun"? But she ain't. Another mystery.
Let's look in a couple of directions and get our bearings. Typing
'look north' causes this response:
To the north is a simple building of plain gray brick, which seems to hold
some attraction for the many young adventurers who can often be found there.
That's intriguing. So we make a mental note to go there to investigate. Meanwhile
we'll 'look west':
An archway of stones supported by oaken beams leads inside an elaborate domed
building of ornate glass and wood. People in robes sometimes wander in and
out. Above the arch an inscription is shadowed by deepening dusklight.
Hmmm. What about that inscription? 'look inscription':
"Nowhere is everywhere, but most of all it is the country we happen to
be in at the moment."
We hope this leaves you with some idea of the potential richness of TC's
imaginary spaces. If you were really exploring, you'd want to look in all six
cardinal directions; look at the stone; and perhaps interact with the
characters that have probably been wandering in and out this whole time.
We'll close by pointing out that you have more senses
than merely sight. Type 'smell':
Birds, bodies, water in all directions.
Happy exploring!
Players' Guide TOC
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