chapter 3 "Getting Started"

    If you've read this far, there's a good chance
you already like the lib and are eager to get
going on this whole mud thing. Whether this is
true or not, this is where you find out for sure.

    Let's assume you're set with the vision thing.
You're going to make a mud with a Dora the Explorer
theme. You can practically hear the music even
now! Let's get this mud written and open! Vamonos!

    The first thing that happens here is you need
to get real familiar with this mud. If you haven't
done so already, when you finish this chapter,
you must do the following:

1) Read the Player's Handbook, cover to cover.

2) Create a test character. Do *not* use your 
admin character's powers to give her any
equipment or money. Using the information from the
Player's Handbook, play this character until she
solves the Orcslayer Quest. Do not use any creator
characters to help her in any way.

    It is very important that you do this. It
is the best way you will know for sure whether you
have made the right lib choice. 
    
    This doesn't mean that I'm asking you if you're
happy with the questing system, or how the items
in your inventory get listed, or whatever. Such
systems and cosmetics can be changed, sometimes with
trivial work.
    What you're testing is the feel of the mud, 
the parser, and that certain "I don't know what"
that tells you whether this is really a mud lib
you can live with.

    Don't like quest advancement? That can be removed.
Want turns-based combat? That can be arranged (though
not trivially). But if you get a low level discomfort,
and can't shake the feeling that you can't get 
anything done, then this is when you'll find out.

    The second advantage to completing the Orcslayer
Quest is that it helps you see how things are 
organized. As you proceed along the quest, you should
be using your admin character to examine the
files that compose the rooms, items, and npc's you see.
    You will know where there are working samples of
doors, locks, hostile npc's, friendly npc's, spells,
and so on. This information will be valuable to you
in the next step you take.

    If you complete the Orcslayer Quest and decide 
you still like the lib, your next step is to create a
small area. Read the Creator's Manual starting from
chapter 31. This provides you a detailed set of 
instructions on how to get stuff built quickly and
painlessly.
    Build a few rooms. If you can't think of something
to build, create a room just like the one you're
sitting in right now, including desk, door, and
scruffy mud geek sitting on a chair.
    Or you might already know exactly what you want
to build. This is a good time to build a few
rooms of Dora's Grandma's House, or the tree house
of Tico the Squirrel.

    It's vitally important that you start using the
building tools, because just like with the Orcslayer
Quest, this is the point where you will discover whether
the build system here is a deal killer.

    Once you're done with your few starter rooms, you'll
be in a position to know whether you've really made
the right mudlib choice.
