Informational Guides

[UzakGM]

Attention, newer players or older returning players!

The Eternal-City is a very complex game and along the years many things have been added or changed and it can be frustrating for players to find all of the information they need without having to search the forums extensively. This thread will be designated to document past and new changes that dictate how the game functions along with a few other useful bits.

If you feel some information is lacking, or needs to be updated, please send me a private message on these forums and I will make the appropriate changes. This is not a thread for discussion. A thread will be created for discussion.

Detailed below will be:

Account System
Administrative System
Training System
Skill System
(more to come at a later date)

[UzakGM]

Account System

Account system:

The Eternal-City currently offers four types of accounts, each with their own benefits. Accounts must be registered through the Skotos website to gain access to TEC.

-Free account:
--Free access to TEC only.
--Limited to 1 character in first character slot.
--No role-point gain.
--No access to RP expenditures.
--Same ability to gain SPs as basic and premium accounts.
--Same ability to join organizations.
--Same ability to participate in events.
--Access to the entirety of the gameworld.
--No tolerance policy. Abuse will result in the account’s suspension.
--Limit of one account per IP address.
--Free accounts have been released in May 2010.
--This program is subject to being closed at any time should Skotos feel the need to do so.
NOTE: Free accounts may use the @number-one command once to change the character in their first character slot. (account must be made prior to May 2010)

-Trial account:
--Same as a basic account but with a pre-paid duration of one month. After the end of the one month period the account will automatically become a free account. If you wish to regain the benefits enjoyed in this account please purchase a basic account.

-Basic account:
--Cost of 12.95$ USD per month. (You will save if you purchase quarterly or yearly)
--Basic access to all Skotos games
--Access to 2 character slots.
--Base rate of 1RPs/hour with a maximum of 6RPs/hour
--Access to @sp-to-gsp command
--Access to RP expenditures.
---Access to @gsp command (25 RPs per GSP)
---Recovery of discarded items (100 RPs)
---Additional Mark Point (100 RPs)
---Luck Points (125 RPs)
---Automated Scar Generator (200 RPs)
---Coma purchase (250 RPs)
---Additional skill slot (250 RPs)
---Repair of destroyed item (250 RPs)
---Bone break (500 RPs)
---Skill slot Purchase (250 RPs)
---Exchange character order (500 RPs)
---Item Alteration (1000 RPs)
---Skill Slot Swap (1000 RPs)
---Attribute Potential (1000 RPs)
---Veteran Character Package (1000-10000 RPs)
---Cut tongue (1500 RPs)
---Iridine Citizenship (1500 RPs)
---Character Alteration (2000 RPs)
---Basic Patricians (2500 RPs) (currently disabled)
---Custom Items (3000 RPs)
---Player Kill Ticket (3000 RPs) (currently disabled, handled at no RP cost through @request system)
---Character Slot (8000 RPs)

-Premium account:
--Cost of 29.95$ USD per month. (You will save if you purchase quarterly or yearly)
--Premium access to all Skotos games
--50 StoryPoints per month (can be exchanged in the play menu for RPs at a rate of 1:2.5)
--Access to 5 character slots
--Base rate of 3 RPs/hour up to a maximum of 8 RPs/hour
--3 GSPs per character per month
--Access to beta characters (currently disabled)
--Access to @sp-to-gsp
--Access to RP expenditures
---Access to @gsp (25 RPs per GSP)
---Recovery of discarded items (100 RPs)
---Additional mark points (100 RPs)
---Luck Points (125 RPs)
---Automated Scar Generator (200 RPs)
---Purchase NPC Character (200-1250 RPs)
---Coma purchase (250 RPs)
---Additional skill slot (250 RPs)
---Repair of destroyed item (250 RPs)
---Skill slot Purchase (250 RPs)
---Custom WA Logout Message (500 RPs)
---Bone break (500 RPs)
---Exchange character order (500 RPs)
---Custom emotes/speech pattern (500 RPs)
---Ability to change a pet’s name (500 RPs) name <pet> <pet-name>
---Item Alteration (500 RPs)
---Skill Slot Swap (1000 RPs)
---Attribute potential (1000 RPs)
---Character alteration (1000 RPs)
---Veteran Character Package (1000-10000 RPs)
---Cut tongue (1500 RPs)
---Room makeover (1500 RPs)
---Custom item (2000 RPs)
---Custom actions – esthetic only (2000 RPs) (currently disabled)
---Basic patrician package (2500 RPs) (currently disabled)
---Domus credit (2500 RPs)
---Welcome Area private room (2500 RPs)
---Personalized event (3000 RPs)
---Weddings (3000 RPs)
---Player Kill Ticket (3000 RPs) (currently disabled, handled at no RP cost through @request system)
---Founding an organization (4000 RPs) (no current RP costs, strict process)
---Wealthy patrician package (5000 RPs) (currently disabled)
---Character Slot (8000 RPs)

[UzakGM]

Administrative System

Administrative System

-The staff here at TEC is known as GameMasters, GM for short. There are also StoryGuide (SG) positions that some players have been assigned to, but they are not part of the TEC staff. The GMs take care of all administrative issues that are not Skotos related.

--If you have any situations that need to be looked at immediately and are of importance, please use the “proclaim !” command followed by your message. We will respond as soon as we are able to. Once we have replied to you, you may use the "proclaim" command without the exclamation point. If we are not available to respond immediately to your concerns, please file a request with the @request command or a report with the @report command depending on the type of issue you have.

--The @request command needs to be used if you wish to make a RPs expenditure that requires staff assistance. This applies to all characters. You may also file suggestions for commands through this system. If you wish to have an answer, this is the best place to ask.

--The @report command is used to file a report about any bugs, harassment, foul play, balance concerns and typos. If the issue has to do with a specific room, please file the report from that room in particular. You will generally not receive a response about these unless the GM feels a need to contact you.

--The @feedback command is used to leave your opinions to the staff about any ongoing issues. Suggestions do not belong in this category and must be sent through the @request system.

-SGs are players that have been granted the ability to run events and spice up the gameworld. This is their one and only task. Do not ask them for help if you have any issues. If you have game related issues, please contact the game staff.

--To contact the SG team please use the “sgproclaim” (can be simplified to sgp) command followed by your text.

--If you wish to leave feedback to the SG team for their events or general work, please use the @sgfeedback command.

-A group called the Auxilii are both an IC and OOC group that help new players or older returning players to the game. If you have forgotten a command or need some help with mechanics, they are the perfect people to help you.

--To contact or respond to an Auxilii member you will need to use the “aux <message>” command. This channel is OOC in nature.

[UzakGM]

Training System

Training system:

-In order to gain SPs you must successfully complete an action. When doing an action, your roll must be higher than your success to land a
successful attack. Your SP gain does not fluctuate dependent upon your success/roll.

-A weekly cycle cap has been implemented. Cycles will end and start on Wednesdays. Once a cycle ends, your maximum SP gain will be restored.

-- To view how much time is left before the new cycle begings, please use the "ssk" command.

-A system has been implemented and requires you to rotate your actions to maximize your SP gain. In other words, if you wish to have the best SP gain possible, you will want to use and hit with as many attacks as you have available to you.

-A system has been implemented and requires you to rotate targets if you wish to maximize your SP gain. You can only practice so much on
the same targets before it becomes less challenging for you therefore giving you less SP.

-A system has been implemented so that dependent upon your ranks you will receive a different SP gain for fighting harder or easier opponents. The harder your opponents are to fight, the better your SP gain will be.

-A Skill Points cap of 75 that had existed for years has been removed. You may now train to your heart’s desire without being forced to spend
your SPs.

-Sparring in practice mode will now yield only half of your SP gain when above 5000 SP gained. The decrease will start at 2500 (100% SP gain) and gradually settle to 5000 SP (50% SP gain). At 3750 SP gained you will have a 75% SP gain when sparring. To view how many SPs you have gained so far you can use the "@sp-count" command.

--To enter or exit practice mode, simply enter: “practice” . You will deal no damage when in practice mode. Your SP gain in practice mode when not sparring will be much lower than your SP gain while outside of practice mode. Using practice mode to train on creatures is therefore not a good option.

-Once you reach your character’s weekly SP cap, which is different for all characters, you will be able to continue doing actions with a SP gain of .025 whereas it would drop to .005 and lower before.

-A rollover system has been implemented for SP gain. Any SP that is left on your weekly cycle before you reach your cap will be added to your next weekly cycle’s cap. Meaning that if you don’t have much time to train one week, you will have more SP stored on your weekly cap and will be able to gain more SP and faster than usual. This cap is limited to 900 SPs which is roughly three weeks of inactivity.

-You will now be able to gain SPs by watching other characters fight it is entirely dependent upon your skill level and theirs. This only works for skillsets that you know and are being used by another person. This applies to both combat and non-combat. A message will let you know that you have gained SPs by gleaning off another person.

-You will now be able to gain full SPs after sweeping an opponent off its feet.

-You can use General Skill Points (GSP) to learn new skillsets. You will start off with 5 GSPs. GSPs cost 25 Role-Points to purchase. You can alternatively spend 25 SPs to purchase 1 GSP.

--The syntax to learn a skill or a new skillset with GSPs is: learn <skillset> from <npc/pc> with general

-You may now use these following useful commands:

--“ssk” : Show a list of your current known and unlearned skillsets along with the amount of SPs you have to spend. The skillsets at the top are those that you currently know and those at the bottom, under General Skill Points are those that you have unlearned. You may relearn them through the use of GSPs or the SPs you have left in the skillsets when you unlearned them if you have enough. This command will also let you know when the cycle is coming to an end.

-- “ssk costs” : This shows your current skillset order and will tell you how many SPs are needed to level up an easy, average, difficult or impossible skill. This also tells you the amount of GSPs or SPs needed to learn your next skillset (does not apply to Healing and Tailoring). The first number shows you how much it will cost to purchase the first lesson for a new skill. The second number shows you how much the following lessons will cost.

-- “skills” : To view a full list of your current skillsets and all of their skills and associated ranks in those actions. This will also show you how many SPs you have stored. At the top of the list will be shown your current amount of skillsets known and how many you are able to learn.

-- “skills <skill>” : Allows you to view only the designated skillset instead of the complete list.

-- “skills ?” : Shows you a list of all current known attacks or skills and the syntax to use them.

--“@sp-to-gsp” : At a rate of 25:1 you may purchase GSPs with your SPs. To do so: @sp-to-gsp <skill> [to] <amount of gsp> This is not available to freebie accounts.

--“@gsp” : At a rate of 1:1 you may transfer your GSPs into SP. This is not available to freebie accounts.

--“@sp-reset” : Resets your current amount of stored SPs in a skillset to 0.

[UzakGM]

Skill System

Skill system:

-In order to learn new skills or further your current skills’ ranks, you must have SP stored up. The SP cost for each lesson will be dependent upon how hard the action is and in what skillslot it is. If it is in your first skillslot, it will cost 10/5 (10 for the first lesson, 5 for the second, third and so on) for an easy attack. 15/7 for average, 17/9 for difficult and 19/11 for impossible. You can alternatively use the “ssk costs” command to determine how much a lesson will cost. (this does not apply to the tailoring and healing skillsets)

-A skill’s difficulty usually says a lot about the skill in question. A skill that is easy will be easier to perform, but will also tend to be less damaging. An average skill will be harder to perform than an easy attack, but will also cause more damage. A difficult or impossible skill will generally have a special effect or do outstanding damage, but will be much harder to hit with – these skills usually require a skill pre-requisite before you can use them.

-You will start with one rank in the ‘basics’ of your skillset with combat skillsets. If you wish to learn a new attack under this skillset and bring it to rank 2 you will have to train your ‘basics’ to rank 2 before being able to further your knowledge of the new attack. Let’s say you know ‘one-handed swords’ and ‘sword jab’. If you wish to train sword jab to rank 2 you will have to bring one-handed swords to rank 2 first. Levelling up one-handed swords will give a significant bonus to all of the sword attacks that you will learn.

-You may learn as many skills as you wish under a given skillset. There are no limitations. To know what skills you can learn in a skillset go to your local NPC trainer to get a list of all available skills. Note that some NPCs will have varying degrees of knowledge of their skills.

--You may use the “train” command to get a list of what someone is willing to teach. You can also use the “train <skillset>” command to refine your search as some lists can be quite extensive.

-Characters are able to teach other characters once they reach the pre-requisite of 10 ranks. You must have 10 ranks in any actions to be able to teach them properly. You are also able to choose how well you are wishing to teach. Furthermore you are able to charge a fixed amount per lesson taught. The person learning from you must have the money on their person or they will not be able to learn from you. You can abort the teaching process at any time by using the “stop” command.

--The basic command to teach is: teach <skill>
--You are also able to:
teach <skill> to <#ranks> for <#> <currency>
teach <skill> to <#ranks>
teach <skill> for <#> <currency>
----Valid currencies: sens, sterces, denars, cents, talents

-Characters are able to learn from other characters or NPCs. To learn from a NPC you must have enough money on your person to purchase the lessons. The cost for lessons at NPCs rises by 2.5 denars for every lesson. As such the first lesson is 2.5 denars and the second one will be 5, the third 7.5 and so on. To learn from someone, simply type in: learn <skill> from <trainer>

--You may also learn more than one rank at a time to save up some time. The command is: learn <skill> from <trainer> with <sp_type> #
<amount_of_ranks> . The cost will remain the same as usual – you will not receive a discount for learning more than one rank at a time.

-Characters have the ability to unlearn any actions that they have on their characters. When unlearning an action, you will receive a fraction of your spent SP dependent upon the difficulty of the action and the skill slot it is in when unlearning. Ranks that are self-trained will not earn you more SPs when unlearning them.

--To unlearn an action you must simply type in: “unlearn <action>” . The SPs given by unlearning an action will be stored in your corresponding skillset and added to your current total. You must unlearn all of your actions in a skillset before being able to unlearn the skillset itself.

--When unlearning a skillset entirely, the SPs will be stored and now become inaccessible unless you relearn the skillset. If you have enough SPs stored, you may relearn the skillset from a trainer at any time by using “learn <skillset> from <trainer>” and the stored SPs will be used. You will not have to spend GSPs to repurchase the skillset if you have enough stored SPs. If you have no use for these SPs you can alternatively convert them into GSPs with the @sp-to-gsp command.

-Characters have the ability to self-train their actions. This is especially useful for the lesser known actions if you have no trainers. You will still need one lesson in the particular action before being able to self-train. You cannot learn new actions by self-training. You can invest as many SPs as you like in an action. There are no limits to how high you are able to self-train a skill or action, but keep in mind that your ‘basics’ will need to be higher than the action itself.

--To self-train a skill, you must have already one rank to be able to use the “selftrain” command. The syntax is: selftrain <action name> . You can also use the selftrain command to further your knowledge of Combat Maneuvers or a sub-style skillset “selftrain <action-name | skill name> with <skill name> ".

[Kneller]

Organizational Bank Accounts 101

Appending "from group" to your standard commands will work in most cases. This is literally "from group", not <group name>.

Example:
withdraw 1 sen from group

You can also ask the org bank clerk for a report to get a list of recent transactions.


===============

If you are the leader/treasurer for multiple orgs, there are two things that can occur in terms of prompts. You'll either get a list of applicable orgs, in which case you just select/name your choice, or dialogue similar to this:

You offer a silver denar to a female clerk.
A female clerk accepts a silver denar from you.
A female clerk asks you, "Would you like this to go in to <org name> account?"
You say to a female clerk, "No"
A female clerk asks you, "Which group's account would you like this deposited in?"
You say to a female clerk, "<org name>"

I believe in the above case that the clerk just asks you for whatever org is first on your list. You can of course respond with 'yes', too.

===============

[Kneller]

Comas

=[Summary: General Mechanics: Character Status: Coma]=========================
-General Information-

The coma system is meant to create a small element of cost related to pursuing
dangerous actions in the gameworld.

There are a variety of methods of entering a coma:

1. HP loss. Once a character has passed as specific threshold they will pass
into a coma. This threshold is usually the negative value of max health
points (i.e., if you have 100 health, your coma threshold would be -100
health). However, the threshold can either be raised or lowered by selecting
specific traits for your character.
2. Combat-related injuries. Direct combat with other characters in the game
can come with a small risk of being directly placed into a coma through the
critical hit system. For example, a very successful and lucky strike could
result in piercing a character's heart, resulting in the character
immediately being placed into a coma.
3. Incidental injuries. Occasionally, non-combat related activities can result
in a character falling into a coma. These can include things like consuming
excessive amounts of alcohol in a very short timespan, consuming poison, or
attempting suicide.

While in a comatose state, you will be unable to interact with the gameworld.
Further treatment is required to recover a character from a coma. Most often
this will involve the following steps:

1. Your character is transported to a Hospice or NPC healer who can start the
treatment process. This can either be done by another player (through
dragging or carrying) or directly by the affected character through the Luck!
system (typing "luck!" while in a coma will result in the character being
miraculously rescued and brought to a ward by an NPC). Your character will
not recover from a coma without treatment in a coma ward.
2. Once admitted to a coma ward, your character will begin to be treated for
their injuries. Treatment will most often take approximately 48 hours, but
can be influenced by a large number of factors (i.e., character attributes,
level of injury, etc.). You can check what your character's recovery time is
using the command: @coma-time. While recovering from a coma you will still be
unable to interact with the gameworld. There is a small chance of recovering
early from a coma for characters who are logged in during treatment and your
character may experience vivid dreams while in this state.
3. After the appropriate amount of time has passed, your character will awaken
and once again be able to interact with the gameworld. If your belongings
were turned in to the healer, they will be able to recover their belongings
by asking the healer for their belongings. Your character may suffer from
weakness and other related symptoms for a further 48 hours upon recovering
from a coma, dependent on the severity of the coma.
4. After this period of convalesence has passed, your character will be fully
healed.

At any point in the recovery process, a player can end their character's story
by using the 'END' command. This command will immediately and permanently
kill your character.

It is important to note that the coma system is not experienced in some
circumstances. For instance, if a character has been sentenced to death by
law enforcement or was under attack by an aggressor with an open PK (player
kill) ticket for the character, the character will instead be killed upon
reaching their coma threshold.


-Inducing a Coma On Another Player-

Sometimes you or another player may wish to place another character in a coma
as part of an ongoing story arc. This requires role-points be spent by the
person who wishes to induce the coma. The process is similar to the normal
comatose process, however, the coma may be induced at any point while the
victim is unconscious through the use of the 'kill' command or the attacking
player while be prompted with a warning when your character has taken
sufficient damage to enter a coma. At this point the attacking player will be
asked whether they wish to expend role-points to place the victim in the
coma. Role-point cost is calculated based on the number of comas the
attacking player (not the specific character) has previously induced over the
last four weeks and is calculated as followed:


1st coma: 250 RPs
2nd coma: 500 RPs
3rd coma: 750 RPs
4th coma: 1000 RPs
5th++ coma: 1500 RPs

[Kneller]

Coma Ward Healers

Addendum:

Coma ward caretakers can be a little daunting to deal with, since for most people it isn't someone you see very often.

Once the patient is in a room with the coma attendant, you simply remind them that there is someone here to "admit" to the ward. Otherwise, the healer checks the room periodically and will eventually notice the patient laying there.

In either case, the healer will ask if anyone is willing to pay for treatment. You can respond by saying "yes" or nodding your head at them. You will be charged the healing expenses, and the patient's belongings will go to you for safekeeping. If no one volounteers, the hospice will take this responsibility at the patient's expense once they have awoken.

[Kneller]

@report priorities

Just as a reminder, there are varying levels of priorities on @reports. They are there for a good reason, to help us filter and sort through tickets at a higher rate of efficiency. This gets muddled up when players are trying to 'bump' themselves by using a higher priority.

This will not net you a quicker response time or more attention: They will simply be recategorized appropriately and addressed on the same priority level regardless. However, it does still add more time to responses overall, as we have to take them and re-organize them. Here is a list of priority levels with examples:

Low
Generally aesthetic errors, or other things that are just 'weird' but not troublesome or interfering with gameplay.
- Typos (descriptions, NPC speech/emotes, etc.)
- Historical/story misinformation (from a GM or gameworld source.)
- Minor item errors (unusual weight, can't be worn, torch won't go out, store lantern has gone out.)
- Other minor gameworld errors

Medium
The default category. If you aren't sure, or if you don't categorize it, or if you just feel it's more important than a typo but still isn't gamebreaking, this is where you set it.
- Disciplinary issues that are low-level or perhaps accidental (double warrants, infrequent vulgarity by a player or character, first witnessed scripting, etc.)
- Gameworld mechanical errors (suspected 'broken' items, skill-balance concerns, doors that shouldn't be locked are, etc.)
- Other uncategorised bugs or issues (GM or SGNPC left IG, pet dog behavioural problems, lawkeeper NPC stationed inappropriately, etc.)

High
Not quite gamebreaking either, but is slowing or halting gameplay or causing a large disruption.
- Major disciplinary issues (especially affecting new players or characters.)
- Repeated vulgar/OOC behaviour, scripting, etc.
- Shopkeeper lost your item
- Definitively bugged item or skill (Balance issues still go in lower categories. This is for BROKEN skills.)
- An often-used or important command returning error messages or not functioning as intended.
- Lesser errors compounding into larger issues, or simply being left aside for too long.
- Temporary event function/change/feature/NPC that you think was left active unintentionally.

Immediate
Something preventing you or another from playing, or risking imminent limitations of such a level.
Examples:
- Use of most-used commands such as look/go returning errors.
- Unable to enter any command on a character without triggering an error.
- Trapped in a room for non-IC reasons (PvP cases would still fall under 'high' or 'medium' unless something incredibly OOC/abusive is going on.)
- Inability to access characters outside of normal restrictions ("normal" as in account type or disciplinary limitations.)
- You notice that your characters remain IG after you've logged out, or you see others stuck frozen/asleep IG.
- Other emergencies that have not been responded to with proclaims.

Proclaims
Unless it is in response to a GM or a conversation initiated by the GM Desk Bell (located west of the Welcome Room), or to note something that may have been unperceived during an event, it is only to be used for emergencies. If the issue isn't worth a high or immediate report, don't proclaim about it. Lesser incidents that are going on live can also be proclaimed before @reported (scripting, vulgar or abusive behaviour, stuck character, etc.)

---

Please help make this system more effective for everyone. You're only wasting time, yours included, if you misrepresent your @report to try and cut in line.

[Kneller]

Clarification on orgs and org-credits

Since the topic's been raised elsewhere, now's as good a time as any to lay out how this works today:

OOC costs have been all but abolished from this system. The trade off -- and the main thing you need to keep in mind with an org -- is gamewide impact.

--- Forming an Org ---
If there's a niche that is perceptively missing (say, a functional PC religion org), we're far more likely to work with requests to form one. This is versus recognizing another Legio Century, Constable Station, Gladiator Stable or other body already providing similar opportunities/services.

This isn't to say the latter would be refused or ignored (or we'd be stuck with one gang, one stable, one newbie-oriented org, etc.) They simply won't take precedent over other org projects and may fall on the production back-burner.

--- Guild Credits ---

GCs are a novelty at this point. They still exist because some systems for automated purchases haven't been updated yet, so for the time being you can still spend them for those things that don't need GM attention. Requests will instead be fulfilled on a basis of gamewide benefit.

Example: If two orgs make event requests at the same time, but only one of them is willing to make it a public event, then the public one is worked on first.

Example: One org wants to buy a custom skill for its membership. Another one wants to sponsor a new static NPC available to everyone. The NPC will come first.

First come first serve still applies, to a point. If you're asking us to rebuild your org hall and fill it with NPCs and membership-only features, it could take a few weeks or months to complete and you're likely to see simpler/public requests for other orgs completed sooner.

---

None of this negates IC costs on anything, of course.