Alter Aeon FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions)

This FAQ is intended to help players understand the world of
Alter Aeon.  If you'd like to search the help system try the
Alter Aeon Help Page Search instead.

For more general MUD related questions, you may wish to
see our Muds and Mudding FAQ or the Mud Terms Glossary
in our Gaming Articles and Guides section.

Tip - Click on the section to see everything in that section.


Section 1  - What is Alter Aeon?
 1.1  - What is Alter Aeon?
 1.2  - All text? No pictures at all?
 1.3  - Is Alter Aeon multiplayer?
 1.4  - What kind of game is Alter Aeon?
 1.5  - How do I connect? I want to play!
 1.6  - Do I have to pay anything at all?
 1.7  - You accept donations though, right?
 1.8  - How big is Alter Aeon?
 1.9  - I've played MUDs before, is Alter Aeon based on one of them?
 1.10 - Is Alter Aeon heavily administrated?

Section 2  - Donations and services
 2.1  - Master Price List and Index
 2.2  - Why donate to the game?
 2.3  - How can I send a donation?
 2.4  - So what can I get for my donation?
 2.5  - What can't I buy?
 2.6  - In-game Credits
 2.7  - Creating new clans
 2.8  - Clan related donations
 2.9  - Custom Object Strings
 2.10 - Custom Player Strings
 2.11 - Player renames and name swapping
 2.12 - Weightless containers
 2.13 - Character Conveniences
 2.14 - Storage lockers
 2.15 - Miscellaneous items
 2.16 - Equipment Transfers
 2.17 - Character Sales and Transfers
 2.18 - Account Transfers
 2.19 - Refund policy

Section 3  - Channels and talking to other players
 3.1  - Why don't I see anyone talking?
 3.2  - How can I create a channel?

Section 4  - Improving your character
 4.1  - How do I level, and how should I level?
 4.2  - Where do I level?
 4.3  - Why don't I automatically gain levels?
 4.4  - How do I get experience?
 4.5  - Where is the best place for me to get experience?
 4.6  - What is a practice?
 4.7  - What are stats?
 4.8  - Is there a maximum amount I can train my stats?
 4.9  - What stats are most important to train first?
 4.10 - How and where can I learn spells and skills?
 4.11 - Is there a maximum amount I can learn spells and skills?
 4.12 - What spells/skills do I want or need first?
 4.13 - What skills and spells are important for all players?
 4.14 - How do I increase my mana regen?
 4.15 - How do I increase my cast or skill level?
 4.16 - What god is best to follow?

Section 5  - Combat and fighting
 5.1  - Where can I go to kill things?
 5.2  - What happens when I flee?
 5.3  - What happens when I die?
 5.4  - What does "You feel sick" mean?
 5.5  - What is a kaoken?
 5.6  - How does AC and armor work?
 5.7  - How do I regen my hit points faster?
 5.8  - What do I do when it says "You are too exhausted"?

Section 6  - Equipment, items, and inventory
 6.1  - Where can I get EQ to wear?
 6.2  - Are there shops? How do I get to the shops?
 6.3  - What do I do when it says "You can't carry that much weight"?
 6.4  - Is there a way to get rid of things I don't need?
 6.5  - Where do I get gold?
 6.6  - Is there somewhere I can store my gold?
 6.7  - What does it mean when it says an item is bound to you?
 6.8  - What are resistances? do I want them to be + or -?
 6.9  - Can I buy/sell equipment and characters from/to other players?

Section 7  - Grouping with other players
 7.1  - What are the advantages to grouping?
 7.2  - How should I behave while in a group?
 7.3  - How can I set filters to make it easier to tell what's going on?
 7.4  - What is a tank?
 7.5  - What are the advantages of being a group leader?
 7.6  - What commands are there to help me run the group smoothly?
 7.7  - What else should I know to be an effective group leader?

Section 8  - Player run clans
 8.1  - What's a clan?
 8.2  - How do I know which one is best to join?

Section 9  - Generic questions
 9.1  - How do you set your title on the 'who' list?
 9.2  - What's a ground string?
 9.3  - How do you get a ground string?
 9.4  - What does "You're hungry" mean?
 9.5  - What does "You feel yourself getting older" mean?
 9.6  - What are quests, and how do I start them?
 9.7  - What's a reboot, and what is it for?
 9.8  - How do I get through this door, it says it's not pickable?
 9.9  - My prompt turned into a ']' and now I cant do anything!  Help!
 9.10 - I forgot my password, how do I get it back?

Section 10 - [advanced] Spell system questions
10.1  - Why isnt there a 'protection from good' spell?
10.2  - Why isn't there a 'gate' spell?
10.3  - Why isn't fly the way I think it should be?
10.4  - Why can't I maintain <your favorite spell name here>?

Section 11 - [advanced] Fame
11.1  - Misconceptions
11.2  - How do I get fame?
11.3  - Do minions steal fame?
11.4  - How can I see what creatures are fame?
11.5  - I killed mob X and it still shows up on 'where fame'!
11.6  - How long does it take for fame to kick in?
11.7  - I killed mob X and I never got fame for it!
11.8  - I logged in and got a bunch of fame out of nowhere, what happened?
11.9  - I logged in and lost a bunch of fame, what happened?

Section 12 - [advanced] How do I write descriptions and use the editor?
12.1  - What's a description? What's the editor?
12.2  - How do I exit the editor if I get stuck?
12.3  - What are some ways I can use the editor without messing something up?
12.4  - How do I use the first part of the editor? (enter mode)
12.5  - How do I use the second part of the editor? (edit mode)
12.6  - How do I delete a description?
12.7  - How do I delete a board post I made?
12.8  - How do I modify a description without re-doing it entirely?
12.9  - How do I modify a board post?
12.10 - Is there a limit to how big my description can be?

Section 13 - [advanced] Starting your own mud
13.1  - What does it take to start and run a mud?
13.2  - How do I start my own mud?
13.3  - Can anyone here help me with my own mud?
13.4  - Can I get a copy of Alter Aeon to make my own mud?

Section 14 - [advanced] Becoming a builder or immortal
14.1  - What are the different types of gods or builders?
14.2  - I want to be an RP only god, what should I do?
14.3  - I want to be an administrator, what should I do?
14.4  - I want to be a builder, what should I do?
14.5  - How do builder promotions work?
14.6  - My friend is a builder but I'm not, why won't you make me a builder?

Section 15 - [advanced] Building a new area on Alter Aeon
15.1  - Introduction
15.2  - How can I become another builder's helper?
15.3  - How can I find an area that needs to be built?
15.4  - How do I know if an area is needed?
15.5  - How do I find a place for my area?
15.6  - What kind of creatures can I build?
15.7  - What kind of equipment can I build?
15.8  - Can I build equipment for my own characters?
15.9  - Can I build unkillable monsters?
15.10 - Can I build room mazes?
15.11 - Can I build catrub puzzles?
15.12 - Can I explore other areas with my builder?
15.13 - Can I have other players look around and playtest my area?
15.14 - What should I keep in mind for my first areas?
15.15 - What order should I build things in my area?

Section 16 - [imm] God behaviour
16.1  - Informational - why does this section exist?
16.2  - Is it ok for me to tell mortals things I find out with my builder?
16.3  - Well, how about seeing if equipment has any hidden effects?
16.4  - So is there anything I can tell mortals as a builder?
16.5  - But what's the fun of that?

Section 19 - [policy] Game mechanic policy decisions
19.1  - Informational - what is this?
19.2  - Waypoints are not supposed to cross planes
19.3  - If a room has a fire in it, it should be an object
19.4  - Barrier exit flags and GAME_AUTOMATION room flags
19.5  - MEAT vs. CORPSE composition

Section 20 - [builder] Generic building information
20.1  - What is a vnum?
20.2  - So what vnums do I own?
20.3  - I know my vnums, what should I try to build first?
20.4  - How do I know I'm not doing anything wrong?
20.5  - I built a bunch of stuff while experimenting, how do I delete it?
20.6  - Why should I not delete the header room vnum?

Section 21 - [builder] Strings and naming standards
21.1  - How and why should I format a long description?
21.2  - What are the conventions for room strings?
21.3  - What are the conventions for mob strings?
21.4  - So what is an example of a mob with 'good' strings?
21.5  - A second example of a mob with 'good' strings
21.6  - What are the conventions for object strings?
21.7  - What is an example of an object with 'good' strings?
21.8  - Another example of an object with 'good' strings
21.9  - Addendum - why are 'a', 'an' and 'of' bad in name/insult strings?
21.10 - Addendum - why are mob and object inventory strings treated differently?
21.11 - Addendum - why don't we just autocapitalize mobs in the code?

Section 22 - [builder] Room building
22.1  - How do I build rooms?
22.2  - What is a "plane change" on rack check? How do I avoid them?

Section 23 - [builder] Mob building
23.1  - Important - overall mob building procedure
23.2  - How do I create a new mob?
23.3  - How do I see what mobs I have created?
23.4  - Why won't my mob follow my orders?  I just created it!
23.5  - My mob won't do anything when I force it.  How do I tell what's happening?
23.6  - How do I check the stats on a mob?
23.7  - Now that I can see my mobs stats, how do I change them?
23.8  - Why can't I set experience or gold on my mobs?
23.9  - How do I keep my mob from wandering all over the place?
23.10 - All this typing sucks, how can I set mob stats faster?

Section 24 - [builder] Mob building - special procedures
24.1  - How can I get my mob to cast fireballs and spells in battle?
24.2  - How can I get my mob to talk and interact with players?
24.3  - My mob's interactive/special procedures don't seem to be working.  Help!

Section 25 - [builder] Mob building - obscure questions
25.1  - What is the dancer estimate I keep seeing on my mobs?
25.2  - Why does the dancer estimate go down when I raise the level of my mob?