Building Guide

AREAS
-Areas must have a 'Purpose'. Not only a purpose for the entire area, but purposes for each of the sub-areas within
-Each Sub-Area must have an allocated zone type as per the Bartle System:
ACHIEVER   :: A leveling area
KILLER     :: Deadly creatures, the voids of space, a place where permanent death can occur
EXPLORER   :: Rare treasures, Old temples, Jungles, etc
SOCIALISER :: Cantinas, Bars, Restaurants, Safe zones where players can RP

ROOMS
- Room descriptions should be between 4-12 lines in length. Anything less and it looks like a lack of effort, anything more and it can look excessive
- Descriptions should include the structure of the room, its floor, ceilings, walls, lighting, smell, etc. You should try not to include references to specific NPCs or Items within the description.
- Try to include objects within rooms to add 'flavour', if your room is a street, add a street light, manhole cover, sidewalk, as an object

OBJECTS

- GENERIC STATWHORE
-- The only valid stat modifiers for items are: Health, Initiative, Knowledge and Charisma
-- The maximum stat increase an item may have is +1 to a stat
-- An increase of +2 may be gifted to an item if a -1 modifier is included also
-- All items that have an increase to a stat must be sensible i.e. a smart suit increasing Charisma by +1, a toughened-bantha hide vest +1 Strength, etc

- MISSION REWARDS
-- The maximum stat increase for mission items is +2 to a stat
-- These items must only be able to be acheived by a single player once
-- These items must be hard to obtain and involve a long and detailed mission
-- These items must NOT be reset in the area, they must only be mob loaded
-- Must involve movement and interaction within an Explorer zone

- UNIQUE/RARE ITEMS
-- The maximum stat increase for unique or rare items is +3 to a stat
-- These items may be created in an area but must not be reset into the area
-- The only way these items should be obtained is through an RP reward
-- The acheivement of the item must involve the player travelling through a KILLER zone

- WEAPONS
-- Weapons must be created using the weapontype flag for objects (oset weapontype )
-- Weapon stats must not be modified
-- No weapon can have additional modifiers to stats not included in their template stats
-- Civilian weapons (Sporting Blasters, Holdout Pistols, etc) may be purchased from shops and carried by guards
-- Military weapons must not be widely available, they are not to be sold in normal shops (blackmarket only)
-- Soldiers may carry military weapons

NPCS
- NPCs must be set using the template system, i.e. set their skill (mset skill and then their race
SKILL 1 :: Academy mobs, Newbie zone mobs
SKILL 2 :: Rodents, Children, Small droids
SKILL 3 :: Teenagers, Jawas, Small animals
SKILL 4 :: Mercenaries, Citizens
SKILL 5 :: Thugs, Guards, Customs
SKILL 6 :: Trained Soldiers
SKILL 7 :: Faction Troops, Stormtroopers, NR Troopers, Tusken Raiders
SKILL 8 :: Bounty Hunters, Assassins, Beasts
SKILL 9 :: Elite Troops, Royal Guards, Mandalorians
SKILL 10:: Rancors, Wampas, Exotic Creatures
- The susceptible, resistant and immune flags are no longer used for NPCs so don't bother setting them, this is determined by race
- HP is automatically determined by their skill, race, and strength stat
- First set an NPC's race, then make sure you set its appropriate skill level

From the Head Builder

=Very few areas will exceed 150 vnums. Most will be reduced to 50-100. EVERY ROOM YOU BUILD should have some significance. If it has no significance, it should be removed. A street with 5 rooms between interesting areas has no purpose. Remember that rooms don't actually have a set distance that they encompass! 1 room could just as easily, in RP terms, span the length of eight kilometers as it could 8 meters. Thus multiple rooms for a street are not needed, ever.

=Room descriptions should not include mobile or objects. Smells, floor, ceiling, walls, and the colors of these things are all that need exist in a room description. No room description should be more than 8-12 lines long. Many could be shortened to 3-4 lines, and this is preferable.

=The 'Flavor' and 'Colour' of areas should come from it's mobs and objects, not it's room description, because most people don't even bother to read room descriptions unless they are bored.

=Every planet needs a purpose. Keep in mind the archetypes of the Bartle system: Achiever, Killer, Explorer, Socializer. Every planet should have something to cater to at least 2 of these.

=Sub-Areas within planets should also have their own special purposes. Look at every room you build, and ask yourself "Does this room have a purpose? Does it REALLY need to be here?". A Cantina should not just be a room with a few chairs at a bar, and a bartender. A Cantina is an RP area! Thus, it needs things to enhance RP! Holoprojectors with 'examine' progs to show you what's playing. ('If time' checks could work for this, so they display different things at different times of day.) Or they could have activated programs to run through random 'races' or 'boxing matches', which players can passively bet on before they 'watch' the program.

=Every room, or every other room, should have an object of some sort. They don't need to be fancy at all, but they should provide some ambience. Street lamps, trash, manhole covers, etc, could all be put in 'streets'. Every bar should have an actual bar, and likely some tables. Transit stations should have benches for weary travelers. You can even make a 'steps' object for rooms that have stairs leading to an 'up' exit. Make the steps furniture that players can sit on. Offices should have desks. Meeting rooms should have big tables. You get the picture. With every room, think to yourself: "What object could I put here?" Sometimes you'll come up with something really cool, and often it will be something that might be very useful for being used in RP.