NITETIME MUD // HOW TO PLAY =========================== READ, TYPE, PRESS ENTER The game prints a description and a prompt. Type a short command at the prompt and press Enter. You do not need to write a story sentence. For example, type `look receiver`, not "I walk over and carefully look at the receiver." LOOKING AROUND look This describes your current room and shows visible people, objects and exits. Some rooms also show a short `Try:` suggestion. look <target> This examines a visible or accessible target. For example: look receiver `l` is the short form of `look`. The game also accepts `examine <thing>` for inspecting a nearby thing. MOVING Exits appear when you `look`. Type the displayed exit name by itself. An exit may be a direction such as `north`, or a phrase such as `outside` or `take trail`. Short directions such as `n`, `s`, `e`, `w`, `u` and `d` work where the game defines them. Some routes can be closed, locked or dependent on story progress. They give useful feedback. If the game prompts you to use `open` or `close`, follow the exact nearby wording. Do not assume every door in the world is interactive. USING THINGS Objects and rooms can provide commands that make sense there. In the opening Garage, for example: read board check terminal tune radio listen The named object must really be nearby. Quest actions may also require earlier objectives. Check `tasks` when an interaction does not yet produce the result you expected. CARRYING OBJECTS inventory get <object> drop <object> `i` means `inventory`, and `grab <object>` also picks up a portable object. Fixed scenery cannot be taken. Some commands work only when you carry the correct equipment. QUESTS WITHOUT A WALKTHROUGH quests tasks hint `quests` lists known quests. `quests <name>` shows one quest's objectives and progress. `tasks` gives only the next required objective. `hint` starts gently and reveals a later staged hint when used again. Quest updates are concise, and repeated actions do not award the same progress twice. YOUR PERSONAL RECORD journal map status The journal contains only discoveries and achievements you have earned. The map contains only places you have visited; `?` marks an unvisited place. Status brings together your location, active quest, discovery count and relevant field equipment information. TALKING WITH PEOPLE local Is anyone here? private dan I found the receiver. global Anyone exploring tonight? online Local speech stays in your room. Private speech reaches one connected player. Global speech reaches the public NITETIME community channel. Online lists connected character names. See /mud/communication.txt. LEAVING AND RETURNING Quest progress, discoveries, achievements, explored locations and important equipment state persist across reconnects. Returning players use `connect <name> <password>` at the welcome screen. MAKING A CHARACTER VISIBLE Use `appearance` to build a structured visual profile. Use `hold`, `wear` and `equipment` to manage what is visibly in your hands or on your body. These details can appear when someone looks at your Character and in a photograph of the moment. TAKING FIELD PHOTOGRAPHS The two-handed Field Camera frames rooms, nearby objects, Characters with consent, and the visible side of exits. A successful `snap` creates a private immutable record before an external lab develops any image. See /mud/field-camera.txt for the full procedure and /mud/photo-history-and-lab.txt for the manual development boundary.