chapter 1 "Introduction"

    If you are unfamiliar with LPC based muds in general or Dead Souls
mudlib in particular, you will find this handbook valuable in 
orienting you around what you can do and how you can do it.

    Keep in mind that this handbook describes the features of a mud
running an unmodifed version of the lib. The mud you are on may
differ somewhat, though probably not extremely so.

    To advance a page in a chapter, just hit "return".

   Let's start with just navigating this book. Once you are done
reading this chapter, you can read the next chapter by typing:

%^GREEN%^read chapter 2 in handbook%^RESET%^

    Make sure you wait until you are done reading this chapter,
though. The reason you should wait is that you are now in "reading
mode", which means that anything you type and send to the mud
is actually a command to the editing system that is displaying this
text.

    To leave reading mode (or more accurately, pager, or ed mode)
you can hit "return" a bunch of times to complete the chapter, thus
automatically exiting the pager. Another way is to enter the
letter "q" (without the quotes) and then "return". That will also
make you stop reading.

    When you are not in reading mode, you can find out the chapter
titles by typing:

%^GREEN%^read index in handbook%^RESET%^

   You really should read the whole thing, but in case you don't, the
chapter titles will help as a reference to find the information you
need. 

    Something to watch out for is that if you or your environment 
contain another handbook, the mud may not know which one you are
trying to read. If you get a message like "Which of the two handbooks
would you like to read?", you can try one or more of the following:

%^GREEN%^read index in first handbook%^RESET%^

%^GREEN%^read index in my handbook%^RESET%^

%^GREEN%^read index in my first player handbook%^RESET%^


\n
chapter 2 "Command Syntax: Doing Stuff"


Section 1: Manipulating Objects 
----------

    You've already noticed that Dead Souls, like most modern LP muds,
uses natural-like command syntax, like:

%^GREEN%^read first handbook%^RESET%^

rather than:

%^GREEN%^read handbook 1%^RESET%^

    This is because Dead Souls uses a natural language parser. It isn't
perfect, of course. If you try to "put all apples from box in my bag after
opening them" you won't see much success, but this will work:

%^GREEN%^open box%^RESET%^

%^GREEN%^open bag%^RESET%^

%^GREEN%^get apples from box%^RESET%^

%^GREEN%^put apples in bag%^RESET%^

    The parser will understand "the first box" or "my second bag",
assuming those objects exist in your inventory or in your environment.

    If you want to know what is in the box, the command is:

%^GREEN%^look in box%^RESET%^

    The command "look at box" or "examine box" will usually *not* show
you the contents of that box. This is because normally, boxes are
opaque, and in the real world, just looking at a box is rarely enough
to see what it contains as well.
    An exception to this rule are transparent containers (a glass
trophy case, perhaps) whose interior is always visible from the
outside.

    Sometimes looking at an object reveals its contents because of
the nature of the object. A table, for example, can have things on it,
and typing:

%^GREEN%^look at table %^RESET%^

    ...will usually let you know what is on it. It is also possible to
see what other players are carrying by just looking at them, 
unless what they have is inside a container.
    You'll want to remember that while you can "put apple in bag",
if you want to put that apple on a surface like a table, you'll
need to:

%^GREEN%^put apple on table%^RESET%^

    You can give things to people, and they will automatically
accept them. However, you may not "take" or "get" things from living
beings. It's theirs, and it's up to them if they want to share.
    You can try to "steal sword from fighter" if you dare, but unless
you have trained a lot, this is unlikely to succeed. We'll talk
more about training and skills in a later chapter.
    Naturally you may also drop things you no longer need, though
it's nicer to your fellow mudders (and the mud's memory) to put
them in recycling bins so the bits can be reused.
   Some other common object manipulation commands are:

   close, donate, attack, eat, drink, listen, smell, search,
   shoot, touch, turn.

   There are many others you may find useful, but these will be
the ones you use most often to handle simple objects.

* A note about articles:

   Dead Souls understands both definite and indefinite articles.
This means that you can refer to a specific apple, like so:

%^GREEN%^get the apple%^RESET%^

   But you can also be unspecific. If there are a dozen
apples in a crate and you don't care which one you pick up:

%^GREEN%^get an apple from the crate%^RESET%^


Section 2: Navigation
---------

    Moving around here is probably much like any other mud. You
can expect to move mostly in cardinal directions (like north and
northwest), but you may sometimes need to go up, down, or out.
    Strictly speaking, the way to do this is:

%^GREEN%^go south%^RESET%^

%^GREEN%^go out%^RESET%^

    ...and so on, but this can get tedious after a while. Instead
of having to type in "go" plus the entire direction, the mud allows
you to enter shortcuts like "sw" for "go southwest" or "u" for
"go up".

    When you enter a room, very often you will see letters in
brackets above the room description, like this: [n, u, out]
    These are the "obvious exits" of that room, and help you
quickly find your way around without having to go through each
description. But remember! Just because a room has obvious exits
doesn't mean those are the only exits. Sometimes a room must
be searched to discover an exit, or there may be an exit available
that just doesn't happen to be very obvious.
    If a room is dark, obvious exits may not be visible at all.

    Aside from those ordinary means of travel, there are situations
that require more specific locomotion than just "go". These are
examples of the use of some other commands to get around:

%^GREEN%^jump onto road%^RESET%^

%^GREEN%^enter window%^RESET%^

%^GREEN%^climb ladder%^RESET%^

%^GREEN%^crawl east%^RESET%^   (if you are lying down and can't get up)

%^GREEN%^fly up%^RESET%^

%^GREEN%^follow thief%^RESET%^

%^GREEN%^evade hunter%^RESET%^


Section 3: Armor
-------

    Now that you can manipulate objects and move around, you'll want
to be able to defend yourself, should the need arise. The special
object categories of "weapons" and "armor" should help.

    Armor is an item that can be worn. That means that a pair of
blue jeans is considered armor, and a suit of chainmail is considered
armor as well. Basically, if you can wear it, it's "armor", because
whether it's a lot or a little, it protects you.
    Assuming you are humanoid, you have the following limbs:

    head, neck, torso, right arm, right hand, left arm,
    left hand, right leg, right foot, left leg, left foot.

    Properly coded armor must be worn on the corect limbs. Usually
a command like:

%^GREEN%^wear chainmail%^RESET%^

or

%^GREEN%^wear all%^RESET%^

    ...will cause you to automatically wear armor where it makes 
most sense. However, it is possible to find armor that,
for example, can be worn either on your neck or your torso, like
an amulet. If this is so, you'll need to specify where you want it.
    There are various types of armor, like cloak, pants, glove,
etc. Many of them overlap. You can wear a shirt on your torso as
well as a cloak and combat armor, but you may not wear two of
the same type. If you have a robe and a cape that are both cloaks,
you'll have to decide which one is going on.
    You will find that shoes and gloves are often for one of your
hands but not the other. Sometimes you will find shoes, or gloves
that don't care which appendage they occupy, but usually these
are simply incorrectly coded.

    If you are of some exotic or non-humanoid race, you may have
additional limbs to consider, and humanoid armor may not work for you.


Section 4: Weapons
---------

   You may be surprised to learn that almost any manipulable object
can be wielded as a weapon, or thrown as a missile. You can wield
a can of Spam and try to kill an orc with it...and you may even succeed,
if you are strong and tough enough. Don't count on it, though,
and instead go for items that are made specifically with personal
security in mind.

    There are four main types of weapons:

    knife: knives, daggers
    blade: like swords, and spears
    blunt: like clubs, staves, and shillelaghs
    projectile: things designed to be thrown, like darts or grenades

    Unless it is a special device or magical item, weapons
must be wielded in order to be of use in combat. Some weapons,
like staves or pikes, may require the use of both hands. If this
is the case, wearing a shield may not be possible at the same time.
    Like armor, weapons differ in quality and effectiveness. A
"well-crafted sword" is probably a better choice than a "small
rusty knife", but then again, you never know. Maybe rusty knives
are exactly what some monster is most vulnerable to.

    Note also that, like armor, weapons wear down with use.
Examples of commands that involve weapons or fighting:

%^GREEN%^wield sword%^RESET%^

%^GREEN%^wield hammer in left hand%^RESET%^

%^GREEN%^wield staff in left hand and right hand%^RESET%^

%^GREEN%^unwield dagger%^RESET%^

%^GREEN%^shoot gun at otik%^RESET%^

%^GREEN%^throw dart at beggar%^RESET%^

%^GREEN%^kill all%^RESET%^  (this makes an enemy of everyone in the room)

%^GREEN%^ignore first orc%^RESET%^ (lets you concentrate on the other orcs)

%^GREEN%^ignore all%^RESET%^ (don't fight anyone in the room, even if they are attacking you)

%^GREEN%^target boss orc%^RESET%^ (this makes you ignore attacks from anyone else)

%^GREEN%^wimpy 30%^RESET%^ (this makes you run away if your health points drop below 30%)


Section 5: Miscellaneous Things to to with Things
---------

%^GREEN%^turn on flashlight%^RESET%^

%^GREEN%^turn off flashlight%^RESET%^

%^GREEN%^strike match%^RESET%^

%^GREEN%^light torch with match%^RESET%^

%^GREEN%^extinguish match%^RESET%^

%^GREEN%^dig hole with shovel%^RESET%^

%^GREEN%^move bed%^RESET%^

%^GREEN%^search %^RESET%^ (by default searches the room)

%^GREEN%^search rocks%^RESET%^

%^GREEN%^unlock east door with silver key%^RESET%^

%^GREEN%^bait pole with worm%^RESET%^

%^GREEN%^fish with pole%^RESET%^

%^GREEN%^stop fishing%^RESET%^

%^GREEN%^drop all%^RESET%^

%^GREEN%^donate 2 silver%^RESET%^

%^GREEN%^get all%^RESET%^

%^GREEN%^get all from corpse%^RESET%^

%^GREEN%^sell first right glove to otik%^RESET%^

%^GREEN%^sell all to otik%^RESET%^

%^GREEN%^buy sword from otik%^RESET%^

%^GREEN%^buy 8 from otik%^RESET%^ (get Otik to sell you item number 8)

chapter 3 "Your Health and Abilities"

    In the previous chapter you learned the basics of getting 
around and taking care of yourself. It's important also to care
*for* yourself, and this chapter describes the various aspects of
your body's state and what abilities you may have.


    The command that tells you almost everything you need to
know is "stat". This diplays a whole lot of stuff, perhaps some of
it completely unfamiliar. Let's start at the top, using my output
as an example.

First line:
----------
%^CYAN%^Cratylus aka Cratylus the unaccomplished, level 10 male human Explorer%^RESET%^

    Here you see my short name, my name with title, my level, my
gender, my race, and my class. Let's go over each.

* short name: What a person would use to address you. "look at cratylus",
for example.

* name with title: This displays my title. Creators can have whatever title
they want. Players can only have the titles they earn. As a player, a
title is usually earned when you are promoted a level or complete a
quest, though it is not always so on every mud.

* level: This is a measure of your overall experience, expertise, and
all-around game status. Being promoted a level means your skills,
health, and vital statistics increase. This often means you can handle
tougher monsters, for example, or tackle more challenging quests, learn
new spells, and so on.

* gender: This has no effect on your status. It is a cosmetic feature
of your body that is only useful to you in the social context of your
fellow mud players.

* race: In Dead Souls, race has nothing to do with your local genetic
makeup on planet Earth. In the mud, "race" refers to what one typically
would call "species" in real-life. An example of a race other than human
might be "orc" or "feline". Not all races are available for players. Once
you have chosen a race to play, it is in theory possible to change it, but
there is a nonzero chance you'll hose up your player file and lose your
character forever. Besides, it's up to your local admins whether race
changing is permitted on your mud. Different races have different
abilities. Elves see better in darkness, for example. Orcs are stronger
than some other humanoids, but dumber, too (which does affect gameplay).

* class: This can be considered an occupational specialty. In the real
world you have plumbers, doctors, soldiers, etc. In the mud world, 
we can have explorers, fighters, mages, and the like. Each class brings
its own unique advantages and disadvantages to your gameplay. A fighter
can really kick more butt in melee combat than a mage, but a mage 
gets to cast powerful spells. Explorers are a middle of the road class
that gives you a bit of everything without specializing in anything.



Next line:
----------

%^CYAN%^Alive / Awake%^RESET%^

    It is indeed possible for your virtual body to cease life functions.
When this happens your spirit speeds off to the land of the dead,
where you drift until you decide to "regenerate" and regain your
physical form. Except for some special magical items, anything you
were carrying when you died is with that dead body, so it's a good
idea to rush your new body back to the scene of the fatality and get
your stuff back before someone else grabs it. Death is not only
inconvenient, it also incurs major penalties on your statistics, so it
should be avoided.
    It is also possible to sleep. If you are drunk and asleep, your 
injuries will heal more quickly. It's magic, don't worry about the
logic behind it.
    If you are attacked while sleeping, you will wake up. You can
force yourself awake, too, but it's a bit tedious.


Next line:
---------

%^CYAN%^Health: 350/350   Magic: 560/560   Stamina: 400/400   Carry: 1184/1300%^RESET%^

    In each case, the number on the left of the slash indicates the
current level, and the number on the right indicates what the maximum is.

health: When I am 100% healthy, I have a total of 350 hp. If my hp ever
reach 0 or less (!), I die. Poison and illness can cause hp's to
gradually decrease, and although with time my hp's will normally
return to 350 as I heal, poison and illness can slow down that healing
or even cause me to die. Injury in combat is the most common source
of hp loss, though spells, falls, and other adverse events can cause
you injury or death.

magic: I cast magic missile! Spell casting takes a toll on your magical
abilities, and mp measure how much magic you've got left in you at
any given point. Like hp, mp gradually grow back to your max if you
avoid spellcasting for a while.

stamina: Fighting is tough work, and swinging around swords while
getting bashed with hammers really takes a lot out of a guy. Therefore
keep an eye on this stat while you're fighting, because if it gets too
low you will collapse and be unable to do anything for a while.

carry: Objects have mass, and your body is of limited size and strength.
My carry capacity is 0 when I carry nothing, and 1300 when I can 
carry no more. Creators are allowed to exceed their bodies' carry
capacity, but players cannot.


Next line:
---------

%^CYAN%^Food: 0    Drink: 0    Alcohol: 0    Caffeine: 0    Poison: 0 %^RESET%^

    These are pretty self-explanatory. Alcohol is good for healing,
bad for fighting. Food and drink also help speed healing. Poison
has the opposite effect. Caffeine can speed up your combat slightly,
but tends to prevent full rest. 
    You will not die from lack of food or lack of drink, but you
will do better with a body not starved for nutrients. 
    Your maximum load for any of these is not fixed, and varies
depending on many factors, such as level, endurance, etc. 


Next line:
---------

%^CYAN%^Training Points: 0    Quest Points: 0    Experience Points: 50 %^RESET%^

    Training points can be cashed in with special NPC's called
trainers, who can help you improve some skills. A trainer that
specializes in fighting might be able to raise your "blade attack"
skill, for example. you earn training points when you are
promoted a level.

    Quest points are awarded when you complete a quest. In
the default version of Dead Souls, you cannot advance past a
certain player level unless you earn some qp's. Read the sign
in the adventurers guild for more details on this.

    Experience points can be awarded for various reasons: completing
a quest, solving a puzzle, winning a contest. Most often you
will receive xp after killing an NPC. The amount of xp awarded
will depend on the level of the NPC. Like qp, xp are needed to
qualify for level advancement.



Limb section:
------------

    Remember how wearing armor requires the right body parts?
Well here they are, and this is their health. You can issue the
"body" command for a quicker self-check.
    Let's look at what the numbers mean with an example:

%^CYAN%^left leg        (2) 160/160%^RESET%^

   Obviously the first item identifies the limb in question.

   The (2) is a kind of "importance score", indicating how critical
a body part is. If this number is (1), like the head, it means that
losing that limb causes immediate death.

   The number on the right side of the slash indicates the hit point
damage you may receive on that limb before it is severed. The number
on the left is how many of those hits you have left.
   It doesn't mean my leg has 160 of my hitpoints. If that were true,
my hit points would add up to a heck of a lot more than 350.
    This means that if I've lost, say, 200hp fighting a troll, and
159hp of those hits were on my left leg, getting hit there again means I
lose my left leg.
    I would then collapse and have to crawl away to seek medical attention.
Wearing armor on your limbs is a great way to minimize the danger of
this happening.


Skills section:
--------------

    Let's review skills by examining one of mine:

%^CYAN%^blade attack  (1) 00% - 20/24%^RESET%^

    This measures how likely I am to hit an opponent when I
use a blade, and how good a hit it was. The number (1) means
that this is a skill critical to my class. If an explorer can't 
swing a sword, he oughta think about another line
of work. 
    The 00% means I have thus far earned no blade  attack
experience toward achieving the next level of this skill.
    The 20 is my current proficiency level.
    The 24 is the maximum level I can reach at my current
player level and with my current stats.

    What's all this mean? Well, if I practice a lot of blade
attacking, that 00% will gradually climb up to 99, and one more
point causes me to go from a level 20 slicer of things to a
level 21 slicer of things. This increases my likelihood of
hitting my target in the future.

    Meaning, in short, practice a skill, and you'll get
better at it.

    Of course, if my blade attack level reaches 24, I can advance
my blade attack skills no further until my player level rises.


Stats section:
-------------

    Remember these from Dungeons & Dragons? No? Well these vital
statistics measure your general giftedness in that feature of your
body. Let's look at one of mine:

%^CYAN%^coordination (2) 42/42%^RESET%^

    Coordination is one of those important stats for fighting and
such. The more coordinated you are, the more likely you are to hit your 
target. The (2) indicates that this stat is important to my class,
but not critical. This influences its effect on my skills.
    42/42 means that my coordination is not currently impaired. If
someone cast a "stumble" spell on me, for example, this might look more
like 30/42, and if I were drunk, it would look very shabby indeed.

Last section:
------------

"Cratylus has amassed a net worth of 11 gold." means that when you
add up the money in my bank accounts and the money I'm carrying,
converted to gold, I have 11 gold to my name. It looks bad, but gold
is actually quite valuable in the default Dead Souls economy.

"Money on hand: 79 dollars, 34 silver" means that this is the amount of
money I'm carrying. Don't forget that the amount of money you are carrying
affects your overall carry capacity. Gold is an especially heavy
currency.


Final notes:
-----------

    "stat" is a great command to get thorough information about
yourself. It is, however, quite a screenful. Briefer reports can be
viewed with the following commands:

%^GREEN%^body%^RESET%^
%^GREEN%^skills%^RESET%^
%^GREEN%^stats%^RESET%^
%^GREEN%^score%^RESET%^
%^GREEN%^status%^RESET%^

chapter 4 "Quests"

    Some muds don't have quests, and the fun people have is
through role-playing and social activities with other players.

    Other muds prefer to concentrate on killing lots and lots
of monsters, a lot, over and over.

    Quests give you a chance to problems-solve by performing some
series of actions that satisfies a pre-determined requirement.

    For example, Dead Souls' sample town contains a quest called
Orcslayer. Leo the archwizard lives in the basement of the old 
abandoned church, and he has lost a powerful magic sword called
"Orcslayer". If you return it to him, he will reward you with
experience points, quest points, and a new title you can use. To
complete the quest, you need to defeat the warrior orcs, penetrate
deep into their lair, defeat the orc shaman, and take Orcslayer from
his corpse, then go to the church basement and give the sword to Leo.

    In this case, if you're a level 1 newbie, the orcs will massacre you
before you get anywhere near the shaman. So either team up with
friends to tackle the orcs together, or raise your level to the
point where you're tough enough to take them on.

    To raise your level, wander around in the newbie mansion, which
is south of the village church.

    There's lots of loot there you can sell at Otik's shop, and with the 
cash you can then get some proper weaponry and armor.

    Silver is heavy, so don't try to carry all your money around
all the time. Request an account from Zoe the banker and keep your
money there until you really need it.

    There is a quest in the newbie mansion, and solving it by
finding the secret room will give you experience and quest points too.
(hint, there might be more than one secret room)

    Once you have enough experience and/or points, go to
Dirk in the adventurers hall and "%^GREEN%^ask dirk to advance%^RESET%^".

    Make sure you learn some spells from Herkimer, because if you
go up against a bunch of orcs in their lair, you'll want spells to
shield you from attacks, and spells to recover your strength after
combat. As a non-mage, your spell abilities will be limited at
lower levels, but as you gain levels you'll get better. Also, spells
will rarely work after you first learn them. Keep casting them, 
even if you screw them up, so that your magic skills increase.

    Also, save your money. Drinking and sleeping help you heal,
but not fast enough. By the time those natural processes finish
and you're ready for combat again, the orcs may have gotten reinforcements.
So if you can afford it, buy healing slips and use them at Clepius' 
healer's guild. His treatment is expensive, but you will heal much
more quickly.

   In the tragic event of the loss of a limb, Clepius can also magically 
regenerate a new limb...but obviously at some great cost.

    There. I've just spoiled the Orcslayer quest for you. Normally,
all you'd know about a quest is a cryptic clue, like the one in the
scroll in the adventurers guild. Instead I've just spoiled the quest
for you by telling you all about it. They're more fun when you have to
figure them out on your own, like puzzles.

    Normally, spoiling quests like this is a bannable offense on 
a mud, so if you solve a quest, keep it to yourself unless you know
the admins on your mud don't mind.
chapter 5 "Communication"

    There are many ways to communicate with other players. If
you're in the same room as your intended listener, you can just 
use the "say" command, like this:

%^GREEN%^say hi, crat%^RESET%^

    If the message is secret, you can "whisper":

%^GREEN%^whisper to cratylus are you idle?%^RESET%^

    If you want to say something that everyone in the mud can
hear, use the "shout" command (at the cost of a lot of stamina):

%^GREEN%^shout hey crat, wheredya go?%^RESET%^

    Or, if it's an important secret and the target is not in the 
same room as you, you can use the magical "tell" command:

%^GREEN%^tell cratylus are you mad at me or something?%^RESET%^


    There are also special communication lines on the mud that are
class or role-specific. For example, if you type:

%^GREEN%^newbie does anyone know what's up with cratylus?%^RESET%^

    All people who are tuned into the newbie line will get
your message. To see what lines are available to you, type:

%^GREEN%^lines%^RESET%^

To see who is listening to the newbie channel:

%^GREEN%^list newbie%^RESET%^

To see who is listening to some other channel on some other mud:

%^GREEN%^list otherchannel@othermud%^RESET%^


    To enable or disable a line, just type the name of it with no message.

    To see a brief history of the past few messages on a line (in
this case, the newbie line), type:

%^GREEN%^hist newbie%^RESET%^


    Spamming lines is rude and probably dangerous to your character, so 
be sure you comply with your mud's rules on lines. 


    Your mud may be on the intermud network. To find out, type the
command:

%^GREEN%^mudlist%^RESET%^

    If a list of muds comes up, you know your mud is probably
on the intermud3 communication network. Dead Souls by default restricts
players from access to intermud channels, but you can "tell" to
players on other muds, if you want. If you think your friend Xyzzy
is online on a mud on intermud3, you can issue this command:

%^GREEN%^locate xyzzy%^RESET%^

    If he's logged into a mud on i3, you will get something like:

Xyzzy was just located on Frontiers. (idle 00:03:17) [status: inactive]

    You can then tell to him:

%^GREEN%^tell xyzzy@frontiers dude, what's the deal with crat lately?%^RESET%^


    Sometimes a player or NPC does not understand your character's
native tongue. For example, if you are en elf, your native tongue is
not English, it is Edhellen. If someone talks to you in English, you
might see something like this:

Xyzzy says in English, "leka mifahmam, potong-hwa."

    Since your character doesn't speak English, what you see is gibberish.
If you find a language teacher, your proficiency in the language they
teach you will allow you to understand more of the words you hear.

    Suppose that your elf character is now 100% fluent in English.
If you greet a human player named Xyzzy by typing:

%^GREEN%^say hello there, xyzzy%^RESET%^

    Xyzzy will probably see something like:

Noobie says in Edhellen, "pericolo temak, forshtor."

    Instead, if you want to speak to a human, you'll have to type:

%^GREEN%^speak in english hello there, xyzzy%^RESET%^


    To find out what languages you speak, type:

%^GREEN%^language%^RESET%^


chapter 6 "Note to New Creators"

    You should probably hang on to this book for reference. If
you lose it, pick up a copy at the adventurers hall.

    However, you need to start reading the Creators Manual. If
you don't have one on you, get the one in the chest in your workroom.

    If you're new to coding, start with chapter 31. It'll
get you started with the Quick Creation System, or QCS.

Cratylus @ Frontiers
04 Jan 2006
chapter 7 "Hints and tips"

* The "wimpy" command helps you avoid death due to inattention or
  network lag. If you "wimpy 20", you will automatically try to escape
  combat if your health goes below 20% of your maximum.

* "target" and "ignore" are extremely useful when fighting more than
  one enemy. You should always target the toughest npc first, and
  always ignore any npc who can't get up because their foot or leg
  is severed.
    But if they collapse due to exhaustion, it's a good idea to keep
  beating on them, otherwise they may get back up and get healthy sooner
  than you expect.

* By default, different races speak different languages. If someone
  says something to you and you see no words in the same language as
  the rest of the mud, it means they are speaking a language you do
  not understand. 
    For example, if you are an elf, and you ask Radagast to teach
  magic attack, you might get something like this:

Radagast exclaims in English, "embleer con boltehe oota goota nehi auch"

      Even though in the real world you may speak English fluently, in
  the mud world, you do not speak English fluently. As an elf, your
  native tongue is Edhellen, and you may find human speech incomprehensible.

      If you find a trainer to teach you English, your skills in that
  language will need time to improve. As you get better at a language, 
  you will see fewer gibberish words.
      
      If you are a "newbie", this does not apply to you. A newbie in the
  default Dead Souls distribution is a player at level 4 or below. This
  definition may be changed by your admin.
      Newbies need all the help they can get just to survive, so they 
  are magically granted understanding of all languages, until they outgrow
  their naivete.

      If you are a student of languages in the Real World, you may 
  recognize many of the "gibberish" words used by Dead Souls to represent
  a foreign tongue. Your understanding of these words is not useful in
  the context of the game, however, because they are not intended to
  convey meaning other than "non-comprehensible words".


* Your ability to see is affected by various things:

  - A room's ambient light level
  - Time of day
  - Local light sources (flashlights, torches, etc)
  - Your race's light sensitivity
  - Magical effects
  - Exposure to an excessive-light event

      It's important to remember that a room may be too dark for
you to see everything in it. You might be able to see the description
of a room with no problem, but it may be necessary for you to
light a torch in order to see the treasure chest there.

      In the same way that darkness can impair vision, brightness
can do the same. For elves, an outdoor area in bright sunlight that
contains additional light sources can be just as hostile to
vision as a dark cave with no torch would be for a human.
      Regardless of race, a sufficiently adverse event, such as 
a bright flash or special spell, can render you temporarily blind.

      As with languages, newbies have some exemption to light-level
limitations. 

* Mages can wield knives but are pretty much helpless with any other
kind of edged weapon.
