Intro to Communication
This guide assumes you have already read the Walkthrough and Exploring documents. While it is not required, if you come across some unfamiliar concepts in this guide, you may wish to look over them as well.
Emoting
Emoting is the way you show what your character is doing in the game. We saw
before than you can emote within the look command. You can also emote
without using almost any other coded action. Your sdesc (short description,
like "the tall, one-eyed man") will automatically
appear at the beginning of the emote. You can either type
>emote <the action you want to describe> or use a colon : instead
of the word emote. So you could do either:
>emote squeezes through the crowded tavern, looking for an empty seat.
>:squeezes through the crowded tavern, looking for an empty seat.
Both produce the same result, shown to others in the room as:
The tall, one-eyed man squeezes through the crowded tavern, looking for an empty seat.
Taverns, Tables and Sitting at the Bar
In Armageddon, taverns are the main gathering places in all major outposts of
civilization. It's where you go to meet job recruiters, make deals with
traveling merchants, flirt with attractive strangers, contract with assassins,
and start bar brawls. It can be useful to
>look tables to see where there are seats
available.
As you can see, >look tables doesn't necessarily mean they're all tables. General
tavern etiquette suggests that you not sit at a table that's already occupied, unless
invited by someone sitting there. But anyone can sit at the bar, and most people
usually do.
>sit bar >sit at 7 >sit (pulling up a barstool) at 7
Also, if you >look bar or >look table you can see what kind of seats are pulled
up to the table (chairs, cushions, barstools, etc.) as well as see anything that
has been placed on the bar or table.
>l tables
At 1) a narrow stone ledge protruding from the wall are:
the scarred, emerald-eyed man, and one empty seat.
At 2) a plain stone table are:
a few empty seats.
At 3) a broad table of scarred baobab wood are:
some empty seats.
At 4) a rough sandstone table are:
a few empty seats.
At 5) a lengthy, ceramic-topped table are:
some empty seats.
At 6) a lumpy, dragon-carved stone table are:
some empty seats.
At 7) a long, scarred bar of agafari wood are:
the tall figure in a hooded, brown military aba,
the scrawny, red-haired woman, and a few empty seats.
>look tables (with 's' at the end)
will show you all the seating areas in a room. >look
table (without the 's') will show you the first object with the keyword 'table'
in the room. In the above example, you could look at other tables by typing
>look 2.table (for the second table) or
>look sandstone.table (using a specific keyword).
Talking at Tables
When you're sitting at a table, you'll want to use the >talk command to communicate with
other people at your table. You can target another person in any emote by using ~keyword.
>talk Hello there. >talk (glancing to ~military) That a T'zai Byn aba? I been lookin' for a Byn Sarge so's I can join up. At your table, the tall, one-eyed man says, in southern-accented sirihish, glancing to the tall figure in a hooded, brown military aba, "That a T'zai Byn aba? I been lookin' for a Byn Sarge so's I can join up."(This is what everyone at your table sees.)
At a long, scarred bar of agafari wood, the tall, one-eyed man speaks, glancing to the tall figure in a hooded, brown military aba.
(This is what people who aren't at your table see.)
>talk. However, players who have the 'listen' skill can attempt to hear what people are saying at other tables.
Tell
If you want to speak to someone who isn't sitting at your table, you'll want to use
>tell along with one of the person's keywords.
>tell elf Don't stand so close to me! >tell dwarf (peering down) Hey, stumpy, yer in my way.
Before you talk to someone, you might want to >look at them by targeting one of
their keywords. You can also add an emote to this command.
>look military (glancing up and down)
Say
And if you're not speaking to anyone in particular, you can use >say or simply >'
>say (to no one in particular) Is there anyone here from the T'zai Byn? To no one in particular, you say, in sirihish, "Is there anyone here from the T'zai Byn?" >'There's a templar executing an elf down the street, anyone want to come watch? You say, in sirihish, "There's a templar executing an elf down the street, anyone want to come watch?"
Keywords and Targeting
Oftentimes there will be multiple people sharing common keywords. For example, in the same room you might have:
the lithe, auburn-haired woman the short, auburn-braided woman the lithe, black-braided woman
Obviously this can make targeting the correct person difficult. Once you know someone's name, that's usually the easiest keyword to use. But if not, you can also make it easier by using multiple keywords to target someone (or something) by adding a period between keywords.
>tell lithe.auburn Hello!
Pronouns in emotes
There are also times that you'll want to target someone without using their full short description, by using pronouns instead.
- ~
- will insert the lithe, auburn-haired woman at that part of your emote (the person you target sees 'you')
- !
- him/her (the person you target sees 'you')
- ^
- his/her (the person you target sees 'your')
- %
- sdesc+'s (the person you target sees 'your')
- #
- he/she (the person you target sees 'you')
- &
- himself/herself (the person you target sees 'yourself')
- =
- sdesc+'s (the person you target sees 'yours')
- +
- his/hers (the person you target sees 'yours')
>emote walks over to ~lithe, smiling at !lithe as he takes ^lithe hand for a moment, dropping a few coins from his hand into %lithe as #lithe holds it open. The tall, one-eyed man walks over to the lithe, auburn-haired woman, smiling at her as he takes her hand for a moment, dropping a few coins from his hand into the lithe, auburn-haired woman's as she holds it open.
(This is what everyone else in the room sees.)
The tall, one-eyed man walks over to you, smiling at you as he takes your hand for a moment, dropping a few coins from his hand into yours as you hold it open.(This is what the lithe, auburn-haired woman sees.)
Where you appear in the emote
You can also make your sdesc appear somewhere besides the beginning of the sentence by using the @ symbol.
>emote trudging in from the street, @ is covered in a fine layer of gritty sand, which she pauses by the door to brush off. Trudging in from the street, the lithe, auburn-haired woman is covered in a fine layer of gritty sand, which she pauses by the door to brush off.
There are also additional ways of emoting. >pemote is a possessive
emote, and is used when you want to attach 's to the end of your sdesc.
>pemote boots leave a trail of sand and dust on the tavern floor as she walks across it. The lithe, auburn-haired woman's boots leave a trail of sand and dust on the tavern floor as she walks across it.
Hemote and Semote
Then there are >hemote and >semote.
Hemote is a hidden emote, something that wouldn't be seen unless someone is looking at
you very closely, perhaps with the >watch command. It could be something you're doing
under the table, or a minute detail that wouldn't be apparent to everyone.
Semote is a silent emote, for actions that have no sound. Semote is only visible
to those who can see you, so it is often used by players who are hiding, or magickers.
As you can see, the possibilities are nearly endless, but it's fine if you don't want to use the advanced ways of targeting right off the bat. They're there if and when you want them.
What Should I Do Next?
Your journey through the land of Zalanthas is entirely your own, but we do have some recommendations for further reading.
In the Gameplay Section we have more specialized guides to things your character can do. Of particular note are the following:
Shops will show you how to get different equipment for your character. Skills will teach you the basics of what characters can do. Combat or Crafting pages are helpful for players who plan to engage in these activities.
Often the best method of getting more help is to contact one of the Helpers.