Furscape New Player's Guide

====== Getting a Permanent Character ======
You're welcome to ask questions on the **guest** channel or talk about MST3K on the **chat** channel for as long as you want. But why not just jump right in?

  * [[connecting to Furscape|Log into the MUCK]] and 
  * Say "Hi" on the **guest** channel.
  * **@request form**, then 
  * **look data pad** to start the new character:
  * Enter your name,
  * Your character's name, and
  * Your email.
  * Submit it, and wait for a [[administration|staff member]] to make your username. (This could take up to a day, but an online staffer might also create your character within a matter of minutes!)
  * Meanwhile ask some questions on the **guest** channel about the [[encyclopedia galactica|theme]].
  * Check your email, then log in with your character name and temporary password to get started.
  * You can start playing just as soon as a staffer checks your character's biography and description. (see below)

NOTE: If you already have a character and are requesting a second or third, please use your existing character (not a guest) to run the @request program.

There are a number of reasons why a character @request might be denied: If you failed to provide a plausible-sounding real name, if you requested a character name the staff consider unacceptable, if you failed to provide a valid email address, if you already have too many characters, or if you have recently been given a character and have not yet configured it.

After your character is approved, you should receive an email with a temporary password and instructions for how to log in. If you don't get the email after 24 hours or so (and it doesn't turn up in your Spam folder), you should ask a wizard to check on it. It may be that your @request was denied for some reason, or it may be that no wizards were available to process it, and they just need a reminder.


====== What kinds of people can you play here? ======
** New players should take a look at [[choices|this guide]] before deciding what their characters are going to look like. **

The majority of characters in [[encyclopedia galactica|Furscape's setting]] are [[recom]]s: animal-like beings created by humans back on Earth before the [[history_introduction#the_apocalypse_war|Apocalypse War]]. The majority of recoms are based on mammals: cats, canines, rabbits, skunks and so forth. However, there are also some birds, some reptiles, [[Belter]]s, some centauroid species, and a few other odd types. Keep in mind that [[recom size|recoms vary a lot in size]]. Some recoms have odd traits such as extra tails, wings or other extra limbs, strangely colored fur, or nonstandard gender (herms or androgynes).


====== Setting Up Your Character ======
After you have logged into your new character, there are several basic steps involved in configuring it. These are things you should do before getting into roleplay. 

===== Basic settings =====
First, you need to set a permanent password. The one emailed to you is considered temporary, and you will want to change it to something you can remember. The command is:

**@password <old password>=<new password> **

So, for example. . . If your randomly assigned password was FJ874 and you want to change it to fooble, you would enter:

**@password FJ874=fooble**

If your client supports colors, you can turn **color on**.

Since Furscape is open to socially mature players of all ages, we need to verify your [[birthday|real life age]]. (It won't be shared with other players except as a yes/no check.) To confirm your real life age, just type **@birthday**. Note that this is different from your character's age, which you set up with the biography. 


===== Appearance =====
Next, define how your character is seen by others. The most important things to fill in are:

  * Description -- a paragraph or a few with good details on what your character looks like (keep in mind that [[recom size|giants]] may get stares and sore feet and [[verboten tech|weapons laws]] may get enforced)
    * **@desc me =**<Your description here.>
    * **{nl}** can be included to make paragraph breaks. Use this instead of hitting ENTER; the @desc command should be all one line.
  * Species -- fox recom, cat recom, human, robot, etc.
    * **@set me=species:**<Your species here>
  * Sex -- usually male, female, herm or [[androgyne]]
    * **@set me=sex:**<Your sex here>

You can check your description by typing **look me**.

===== Biography =====
We also have a CINFO (character information) program, which is used to make information about your character available for other players to read. This will help them roleplay more effectively with you, but does not mean that their //characters// will know this information. Your cinfo is also what allows staff or another player running a scene to determine what your character is capable of. Thus, please stay within theme and be reasonable and realistic in your choices. 

You are not required to fully fill out all of these fields immediately. To begin with, you need to fill out at least a few, such as homeworld, history, and skills, so that other players will have at least some idea who you are.  More information can be added as you develop your character and as a result of your character's new experiences. However, once you have roleplayed a part of your character's history, please do not change it retroactively, except as directed by staff.

You can check your CINFO by typing **cinfo** followed by your name. **Ask a staff member to check your CINFO and description when you're done setting these.** (If a staff member isn't handy at the moment, just leave [[commands|page #mail]].) The staff member can help you make any revisions so that you can be approved to play!

(Just as with @desc, you can use {nl} to break up long cinfo entries.)

Some fields you can set are:
  * affiliation (your employer, organization, or citizenship in the game)
  * age (the approximate age your character appears to others)
  * [[official_rules#adult_themes|birthday]] (year, month, and day your character was born- The IC date is exactly 200 years in the future)
  * desc (a brief, one-line description of your character- compare [[#appearance|@desc]])
  * character (personality and habits)
  * [[rp_guide#theme|history]] (a brief story of your character's background)
  * hobbies (character interests and passtimes)
  * homeworld (what planet or colony do you come from?)
  * image (optional URL link to a picture of your character- keep it PG13 please)
  * occupation (what your character does for a living)
  * reputation (anything other characters are likely to have heard about you)
  * residence (where you live: apartment, tree, cave, village, spaceship?)
  * skills (notable in-character skills, experience, degrees, certificates, etc.)
  * tinyplot (what are your preferences for plots or RPs?)

The command for setting any of these fields is **cinfo #set **<field>**=**<text>

It is possible to set custom CINFO fields, so you can add any kind of info that you think others ought to know about you, or set secret fields with information that only staff should know. (If you need to use custom or secret fields, please choose names for them that are different from the standard fields listed above.)

**cinfo #setmisc** <fieldname>**=**<text>

**cinfo #secret** <fieldname>**=**<text>

You may want this information to appear on the [[dramatis personae|character bios]] wiki page as well.

| [[devik|{{http://www.trmichels.com/WolfHeadStare3310.jpg?75x75|Dumb cinfo tricks!}}]] | //Devik Sez: Once you've established your character's birthday (check out the **+bday** command on the MUCK!), you can set your cinfo 'age' field to always show your character's age without the need to update it. To do this, run:// |
| ::: |   // cinfo #set age={eval:{div:{subt:{convtime:{time} {date}},{convtime:00:00:00 **02/16/81**}},31556926}} //   |
| ::: | //In the above example, the character's birthday would be "**02/16/81**" or 16 Feb, 2181. Replace the date as appropriate for your character!// |