Character Customisation

There are a vast array of commands and tools at your disposal, to turn a character that is simply a collection of stats and numbers, into a living and breathing personality. Here are some of the best options for fleshing out your character and giving more detail and depth:

AdjectiveSyntax: ‘adjective xxxx’
You adjective is a short phrase or description of your character that other players see when they are in the room with you. You may use color codes in your adjective but please remember to conclude it with a %^RESET%^ lest your colors bleed into the room. See the help file “help adjective” in game for more details. The only mechanic that must be included in your adjective is your character’s race. You may use it anywhere in your adjective using the identifier $R, otherwise it will be appended to the end of your adjective.

Your adjective should be something appropriate that someone could tell almost immediately about your character. It should also be fairly shortand succinct as well as stable. This is not something you should be changing every few minutes just because you can. For a more detailed description of your character you can set your description (see help describe in game for more info).

DescriptionSyntax: ‘describe xxxx’
Adds a description that people will see when they look at you. The description is shown in the form of “your name + text”. For example, if I type “describe is a blue-eyed elf.”, then my description will read “Joe is a blue-eyed elf.”. If no argument is given, then you will see your current description. If the argument -remove or -Remove is used then you will clear your description.

Descriptions past a certain point of play (level 6) are required, but you are strongly encouraged to come up with one as soon as possible before you are forced to. Poor descriptions that have been obviously entered to simply fulfill the requirement to level are not allowed. You must adhere to the guidelines below in determining your description. Your description should also be at a very minimum 2 sentences, and when deciding what you look like you should also defer to your race and charisma to guide you.

Please keep in mind that a description and adjectives are the means by which you describe your *physical* appearance to people. Stick to the facts, and do not add opinions. If you were to walk up to me in the street, you would not be able to tell if I was strong or evil or good.

For additional guidance on how your stats may influence your description, please read role-playing stats.

Speech styleSyntax: ‘speech xxxx’
Using the “speech” command, you may change the emote when your character speaks from something other than “Name says:” The letter “s” will automatically be appended to the end of the first word in your emote portion such that typing: “speech holler loudly” will result in:

Bob hollers loudly: “the stuff you say”

Color codes may be used within speech.

Colored speechSyntax: ‘alias say xxxx $* xxxx’ (where xxxx are color codes)
Many players choose to create an alias to distinguish their spoken text in colors other than default white/gray. You may do this using an alias attached to the “say” command. For this to work, you must make use of the truncation symbol $* within the alias. One way to do this is:

alias say say %^opening color codes and/or symbols%^ $* %^closing color codes and symbols%^

Using the truncation symbol $* allows the alias to be dynamic every time you say something different.

Messages on entering/leaving a roomSyntax: ‘message in/out xxxx’, ‘review’
You may modify the message sent to room when you exit or enter an area. The message out function must include the symbol $D to indicate where your character is heading. Examples:

message in enters with a hop, skip and a jump
message out skips $D happily

You should use the command to check that you have entered it accurately!

Emotes and actionsSyntax: ’emote xxxx’ and specific actions (eg/ ‘grin’)
Emotes are commands that allow you to perform non-verbal activities that are seen throughout the room. They add depth to role play and you should become very familiar with their use. You are allowed to use color codes in your emotes. In game, please read “help emote” and “help emoteat” for full descriptions. Emotes should not be used to bypass the language system for normal speech.

Like emotes, a library of “souls” are included in the game for very common (or just silly) actions. For example, typing “smile” will make you smile and you do not have to use the emote command to do so. You may find some souls that you do not like and you may write over them using an alias. For example, the soul “grin” shows the room “Bob grins evilly.” You are welcome to create an alias:

alias grin emote grins crookedly

In which case, any time you type “grin” the room will see: Bob grins crookedly

To see the library of souls, type “help souls” in game. When you are comfortable with this command, you may also want to try out the more advanced , which allows you to direct emotes at specific people.

PosesSyntax: ‘pose xxxx’
Similar to emotes and souls, the pose command is usually used for nonverbal cues. A pose, however, is a posture or state that is appended to the end of your adjective and visible to anyone in the room. It can be used to describe your position in the room (e.g. pose sitting at the bar), your state (e.g. pose curled into fetal position, bleeding), or some sort of repetitive action that you do not want to continuously emote (e.g. clearing the road of debris). A pose will persist until you leave the room or type “pose clear”.

General personality and quirksYou should not feel completely constrained by the descriptions of your race, class, deities and alignments. Every character should be tailored to be interesting, enjoyable to play and, above all, like a real person. Creating “signature” emotes, phrases and behaviors are encouraged. You will find that breaking the mold of one of your mechanical descriptions is an easy way to add quick depth to your character. If you require guidance, please contact an Immortal.

Character historySyntax: ‘background’
Backgrounds are not optional and should be completed before advancing to level 10, and can be used to flesh out a character’s history before they arrived in the realm of Shadowgate. Where did you come from and what shaped your character to get to this point? The background does not need to be a comprehensive summary of everything that has happened to your character, nor does it have any particular style or perspective as a requisite; it should be used to offer an insight into the character and what has brought them to this point, or what drives them. Please consider mailing your background to an Immortal if you need any help or are unsure.

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