Swords of Chaos
---------------

  Swords of Chaos is a Muinet product, written by Mark Peterson.
  Swords of Chaos is Copyright (C) 1997 by Mark Peterson, All Rights Reserved.
  
  Muinet BBS: 612-823-5151
  MajorNet  : ML:ML@WG.DEV.MUI (sysop support forum)
              ML:ML@CHAOS.ADE# (user forum)
  E-mail    : kaemjp@sprynet.com (the author)

  Swords of Chaos is distributed by:

  Adept Communications
  Sales  : 800-294-3044
  Support: 502-584-1807
  Fax    : 502-584-3301
  BBS    : 502-584-4585
  Telnet : bbs.adept.net
  FTP    : ftp.adept.net

Having Problems?
----------------
Swords of Chaos is, as of this writing, an extremely stable product with no
"known" bugs. If you are experiencing a lot of problems with SoC (GP's,
lock-ups and other flakiness), chances are it is due to your system being 
configured with an insufficient number of "file handles". Check your DOS 
"config.sys" file and see what "FILES=" is set to. If it's less than 200, 
chances are that SoC is not going to work properly. We recommend that you
set FILES=254 unless you have some specific reason not to. If problems 
persist, please contact Adept Technical Support (at the above number). If
they cannot help you, they will put you in direct contact with the author.

Note: SoC does NOT work with versions of Major BBS older than MBBS 6.25. If
you are running such an antiquated system you are, in a word, SOL (at least
as far as SoC is concerned).

Sysop Operations
----------------

Swords of Chaos has been designed to require virtually no sysop monitoring
or intervention once installed. The game itself is self-maintaining,
open-ended and all difficulty configuration options have been set for
a moderately challenging, yet not impossible level of play.

However, Swords of Chaos also provides many features and configuration 
options for the sysop who wants to become involved with the game and create a
world out of their own imagination with playability tuned to just the way
their users like it.

Configuration Options
---------------------

  As previously mentioned, your copy of Swords of Chaos is already
  configured for a well-tested optimum level of difficulty. It is
  challenging enough to provide even the canniest player with months of 
  exciting play, and at the same time is not so difficult that new players 
  will not be able to get started.

  Still, some sysops may wish to lower the level of difficulty at least
  initially to compensate for a user base that may not be experienced
  with interactive, real-time adventure games. Similarly, some sysops
  may find that their users are not challenged by the default configuration
  and thirst for greater challenge. With that in mind, here are a few
  different configuration combinations that you may want to try:

  Easy
  ----
  BASEEXP : 125
  MONEXP  : 170
  TREASURE: 80
  STATCURV: 3
  CURVECUT: 32
  THIEFEXP: 8
  MINBANK : 2000
  CHEAPEXP: 1
  BONUSEXP: 15
  START2WP: -2
  STARTSHD: -1

  Moderate (Default)
  --------
  BASEEXP : 150
  MONEXP  : 150
  TREASURE: 60
  STATCURV: 4
  CURVECUT: 36
  THIEFEXP: 5
  MINBANK : 1000
  CHEAPEXP: 2
  BONUSEXP: 10
  START2WP: -3
  STARTSHD: -1

  Challenging 
  -----------
  BASEEXP : 200
  MONEXP  : 140
  TREASURE: 40
  STATCURV: 4
  CURVECUT: 36
  THIEFEXP: 3
  MINBANK : 500
  CHEAPEXP: 2
  BONUSEXP: 10
  START2WP: -5
  STARTSHD: -2

  These are just generic guidelines. Feel free to experiment around with
  different combinations to see what works best for you and your users.
  Beware of making the game too easy to begin with. Unless you plan on
  resetting the game after a "shakedown" period, making the game too easy
  at the onset can have long-lasting implications; players may acquire
  attributes, abilities, spells and items during the "easy" period that will 
  allow them to essentially ignore any subsequent clamping down you might try 
  to make on difficulty.

  The three easiest configuration options for making small-scale adjustments
  to game difficulty are BASEEXP, MONEXP and TREASURE. If you're afraid of 
  throwing the game out of whack, try making minor (10 points at a time) 
  adjustment to one or all of these three options.

  BASEEXP
  -------
  This is the base factor which determines how much experience players need
  to earn to advance. Increasing this number will slow down player
  advancement.

  MONEXP
  ------
  This is the base for determining how much experience is awarded to players
  for kills and thefts. Lowering this number will slow down player
  advancement.

  TREASURE
  --------
  This determines the overall richness of the realm. If set to 100 (the
  highest it can go) all monsters carry the maximum amount of treasure
  possible. Lowering this number will slow down player advancement.

  PVPLEVEL
  --------
  Another important configuration option is "PVPLEVEL". This determines which
  players can attack which other players. It represents the allowed disparity
  in "levels" between an attacker and an attackee. For example, if set to
  5, an attacker's level must be within 5 levels of the attackee. If set to
  0, this totally precludes the possibility of player-vs-player attacks. The
  default setting is 100, which generally allows any player-vs-player
  attacks.

  In addition to PVPLEVEL, you can also use the "outlaw" system to limit
  player-vs-player conflict. Setting the level 4 CNF option OUTLAWS to YES
  enables the outlaw system. In the outlaw system, players must specifically
  declare that they are outlaws (from the main SoC menu). Only players
  who have declared themselves outlaws may attack other players, and they
  may only attack other outlaws. This (presumably) will let the people who
  are into murder beat the crap out of one another, while leaving the more
  law-abiding players out of it.

The Sysop Character
-------------------

  Players with the special key SYSOP (changeable within Level 3 CNF)
  receive automatic SoC "Toggle Permission" permission when they create a new
  character. With Toggle Permission, you can turn on and off the other
  special permissions within the game; most noteably "GameOp" permission. 
  With GameOp permission you can do just about anything in the game. As a 
  GameOp, you can use the "gameop" command to perform various special 
  functions within the game. See "help gameop" for further details.

Editing
-------

  One ability available to those with gameop permission is the ability to 
  "edit" the game (using the "gameop" command). You can edit players, rooms, 
  monsters, items, store catalogs, office holders and permanant monster 
  locations. You will probably want to edit your own character to provide 
  yourself with enhanced skills, attributes and spells.

  Players can also be assigned "Edit" permission, which gives them limited 
  editing powers and no special gameop powers. This can be handy for allowing 
  people to build onto the game, without letting them become all-powerful. 
  Players with edit permission turned on, but gameop permission turned off 
  are only allowed to edit the room, item and monster templates and have no 
  access to any of the other special gameop powers.

  You can further limit what an editor can edit by selecting the edit player
  option and assigning them a limited block of rooms, items and/or monsters 
  that they are permitted to edit. These values are set on the "player stats" 
  edit screen.

Editing Characters
------------------
  
  Using the "gameop" command, you can edit players regardless of whether or 
  not they are actively signed on to the game. You may change virtually
  every piece of information that makes up that character. 

Editing Items
-------------
  
  All items in the game are initially derived from item templates in the item 
  file (MUICHAOS\DATA\ITEMFILE.DAT). Each individual item in the item file 
  has a unique ID #. Go to the gameop menu and select "edit item". You will 
  then be asked if you want to edit an item in the item file, on an active 
  character, or on the ground in an active room. If you choose to edit an 
  item in the item file, you will be changing the item template, thus 
  changing all subsequent instances of that item. Otherwise, if you elect to 
  edit an item in the inventory of an active player or an item on the ground 
  in an active room, you are merely editing that single instance of an 
  item - it has no affect on the item file template (so, if you want to mess 
  with someone's head by changing the name of an item in their inventory, or 
  perhaps reward someone by increasing the power of an item they are holding, 
  you can do so without permanantly changing the template for that item).

  If you choose to edit an item template in the item file, you will be asked 
  for the unique item number of the item you want to edit. All item templates 
  have a unique item identifier number (numbered 1 to x, where 'x' is the 
  maximum number of items for which you have configured your installation). 
  The game comes with over 950 different item templates, to which you can add 
  your own custom items (more on that later).

  When editing an item template, you can specify the following:

  Item Article 
  ------------
  The "article" (a, an, the, some, etc) in the item's name. If you don't 
  want an article, leave it blank.

  Item Adjective
  --------------
  The adjective in the item's name. For example, the adjective in 
  "some bronze platemail" is "bronze". If you don't want an adjective,
  leave it blank. 

  Item Identifier
  ---------------
  The real "name" of the item. In our "some bronze platemail" example,
  "platemail" is the item identifier. Items are referenced by their 
  identifier, not their articles or adjectives, so be sure to name them 
  appropriately).

  Item Type
  ----------
  The basic type of the item:

    Edged Weapon
    Blunt Weapon
    Pole Weapon
    Unarmed Combat Aid
    Magic Device
    Shield
    Armor
    Cash (Cash type items do not go into a player's inventory)
    Jewels (Jewel type items have a special value determination formula)
    Trinket (A "do nothing" item or a puzzle piece, enhanced value)
    Container
    Talisman
    Transporter (one-shot teleportation device to a specific room)
    Amulet (protection against offensive magic)
    Psychic Focus (increases the casting powers of magic using classes)

  Item Subtype 
  -------------
  The item subtype modifies/expands on item type. Not all items need to have
  a subtype, only if appropriate/desired. They are:

    Two-Handed Weapon   (Type: Blunt, Edged, Pole, or Unarmed)
    Non-Metallic Armor  (Type: Armor)
    Light Weapon        (Type: Blunt, Edged, Pole, or Unarmed)
    Skeleton Key        (Type: Magic Device)
    Scroll              (Type: Magic Device)
    Strapped Shield     (Type: Shield)
    Light Shield        (Type: Shield)
    Magic Ring          (Type: Magic Device)
    Magic Container     (Type: Container)
    Special Key         (Type: Magic Device)
    Puzzle Piece        (Type: Trinket)

  Nonsensical combinations are ignored (for example, an item who's type is 
  magic device and who's subtype is "light shield" is just a magic device).

  Repairable
  ----------
  Weapons, armor and shields can normally be repaired (uses added) using
  Talismans. If you don't wish an item to be repairable, set this flag
  to NO.

  Instillable
  -----------
  Most items can be instilled with magic spells. If you don't wish an item to
  be instillable, set this flag to NO.

  Infinite Uses
  -------------
  Most items have a finite number of times they can be used before they
  break (or vanish, or whatever). If you wish an item to last forever (uses
  never decrement), set this flag to YES.

  "Instilled"
  -----------
  You can specify whether a weapon, shield or armor is instilled with a
  spell.

  Race Restriction
  ----------------
  If you want to limit the use of an item to players belonging to a specific
  race, enter the first letter of the desired race. Otherwise, just leave
  race restriction blank.

  Class Restriction
  -----------------
  If you want to limit the use of an item to players belonging to a specific
  class, enter the first letter of the desired class. Otherwise, just leave
  class restriction blank.

  Spell Cast 
  ----------
  For magic devices, this is the spell which is cast by the item. Spells
  are designated by spell number.

  "Special" Keys & Doors
  ----------------------
  In Chaos, most keys and door locks are generic. I.E. any key will work on
  any door that is not designated special. You can however set up "special"
  doors and keys to place greater restrictions on certain areas of the game.
  When editing a room, you can add an exit from the room designated as a
  "special door". You assign an aribtrary special index to number to the
  special door. When editing keys, you may designate a key as being "special"
  as well. Similarly, you assign the key an arbitrary special index. Thus,
  players must find the specific special key to unlock the corresponding
  special door. I.E. if you assign an index of "1" to a special door, then
  a special key who's index is also "1" is the only way for the door to be
  unlocked. Special keys may only be used once before they break.

  Puzzle Sets
  -----------
  Items that are of type "Trinket" and subtype "Puzzle Piece" are parts of
  puzzle sets. When a player obtains all of the pieces of a puzzle, they
  use the "use" command to turn the puzzle set into a totally new item.

  A puzzle piece has three pieces of information associated with it:
   
   Puzzle Set Index - A unique identifier common to all pieces of the set.
                      It is a number you choose between 1 and 32767. All
                      pieces of the set should have the same index number.
   Pieces in the set- The total number of pieces (1-20) in the set.
   Item created     - The item file index of the item created when the
                      player obtains all the pieces and assembles them.

   Note: For all pieces of a set, index, number of pieces and item created
   should be identical. You could be tricky and have different items created
   depending on which piece the user specifies with the "use" command 
   (i.e. "Item created" is a different item for each of the pieces), but 
   puzzle set index and pieces in set should ALWAYS be the same for any given 
   set of puzzle pieces.

   You should set the "item level" for the item created so that it's
   attributes have something on which they can be based (particularly if
   it's a weapon, shield or armor). If item level is not set for the item
   created, a default level of 1 is used (pretty wimpy).

  Semi-Permanant Items
  --------------------
  You can designate an item as being "permanant". What this means is that
  you specify a room number for the item, and when the BBS comes up, the
  item is placed into the specified room. It will remain in that room until
  someone comes along and picks it up. If you specify a room number of 0 as 
  the location for a permanant item, the actual location will be determined 
  randomly (and will change every time permanant items are refreshed). You 
  can either specify a level for the item or leave the level set to 0. If set 
  to 0, it will be instantiated using the level of the player who enters the 
  room. Otherwise, it will be instantiated using the level you specify in the 
  item definition.

  Permanant items are refreshed (i.e. put back into the game) once per
  day (when the BBS comes up). If you want them to refresh more often than
  that, change the level 4 CNF option "ITMREGEN". ITMREGEN is the number
  of minutes to wait between refreshes of all permanant items.

  Custom Text Files
  -----------------
  You can specify that a custom text file be displayed to a user when they
  look at an item. The files are stored in the directory specified by the 
  level 4 CNF option TEXTDIR. Files should be named "Ix.TXT" where 'x' is the 
  item file template ID number of the item in question.

  Editing "Active" Items
  ----------------------
  When editing "active" items (items in a player's inventory or on the
  ground in an active room), you also have the opportunity to edit these
  values (remember, this kind of item editing only affects the specific
  instance of an item, not the template in the item file):

  Armor Class
  Armor Class Bonus
  Weapon Hits
  Weapon Combat Bonus
  Uses
  Value

  The reason you cannot edit the above values for "templates" is that they
  are determined when an item is actually created (instantiated). The level 
  of the monster they appear on is what determines their relative power. So, 
  a "shortsword" that appears on a level 1 monster will be radically 
  different from a "shortsword" that appears on a level 100 monster, even 
  though the same template is assigned to the 2 different monsters.

  There are a couple of exceptions to the above rule. When editing an item 
  template you can set the "level" of the item. If you select 0, the item 
  will be instantiated based on the level of the monster to which it is being 
  assigned. If you pick a non-zero value, the item will be instantiated based 
  on the specified level, rather than a monster's level.

  Also, you can specify an item as having "static attributes". Once so
  specified, you can set an item's value, armor class, hits, bonus and uses 
  in the template and when the item is instantiated, these values will carry
  over into the individual item (rather than having them derived from the
  item or monster level).

Editing Monsters
----------------
  
  Like items, all monsters start their life as templates in the monster
  template file (MUICHAOS\DATA\CRITFILE.DAT). They then become instantiated
  as real live monsters when players either randomly encounter them or
  summon them. To edit a monster template, select "edit monster" from the 
  gameop menu. You then specify the unique monster file ID of the monster you 
  want to edit. You can edit the following values associated with a monster 
  template:

  Article
  -------
  The article (a, an, the, etc) that appears before a monster's name. If
  you don't want the monster to have an article, just leave it blank.

  Name
  ----
  The name of the monster.

  Plural Name
  -----------
  The name of the monster if there are more than one in the same room.

  Monster Type
  ------------
  Monsters come in a variety of different types:
  
    All monsters receive a base defensive level (i.e. armor class) equal
    to 1/100th of their body points. Additions to this AC level are as
    follows:

    NPC (Human) - No natural armor class (their AC is solely derived from
                  armor and shields they carry). If an NPC is not assigned
                  any weapons, random weapons may be assigned to them when
                  they are created (encountered). For NPC's above level
                  3 who have not been assigned any weapons, there is a 50%
                  chance that they will carry a dueling sword or a slim
                  dagger.
    Monster     - Natural AC is equal to the monster's level (any armor or
                  shields they carry are added to their natural AC).'
    Animal      - Natural AC is equal to 1/2 the animal's level. Animals
                  do not talk, cannot cast spells, cannot rob and cannot
                  parry. Generally speaking, they do not carry treasure
                  (although there is no coded rule against this).
    Weird Monster-Natural AC is equal the monster's level. They can wield
                  more than 2 weapons or shields (their number of limbs is
                  generally indeterminate; they are WEIRD).
    Humanoid     -Similar to humans in shape (i.e. orcs, elves, dwarves,
                  and so on). Natural AC is equal to 1/3 their level.
    Oracle       -Same as monster, with special abilities.
    Huntress     -Same as monster, with special abilities.
    Awesome      -A truly difficult monster:
                   Natural AC is equal to twice the monster's level
                   Enhanced chance of spotting and outreacting a player
                   Natural armor class is equivalent of steel armor (absorbs
                    damage)
                   Inflicts more damage than a normal monster
                   No action time penalty for using multiple weapons
                   Can cast FEAR and TELEPORT (if a caster)
                   Can wield more than 2 weapons/shields
    Loner        -Similar in all respects to WEIRD monsters, except that
                  they only drop their treasure if a player kills them
                  "solo" (i.e. without any help from anyone else). Handy
                  for contests and the like.
  Level
  -----
  Level is the generic power measure of a monster template. Level is used to
  determine all the specifics about a monster when it is created (i.e. 
  instantiated). It is used to determine the monster's stats, the value and 
  power of items it carries, and so forth. A very good player might spend
  many months playing the game before they reach the point where they can 
  fight level 100 monsters. A good player might have to spend a couple of 
  weeks before they can reach a level of power necessary to fight level 20 
  monsters. Monster power increases on a curve relative to level, so a level 
  40 monster does not have twice the stats of a level 20 monster, rather it 
  might have 3 or 4 times the stats.

  Spell Caster
  ------------
  Yes or no, does the monster cast spells? Which spells it can actually
  cast are determined by the monster's level.

  Magic Weapons Required To Hit
  -----------------------------
  Yes or no, can the monster be hit by any kind of weapon or must the
  weapon be enchanted for the monster to be hit (generally reserved
  for, but not limited to, "evil spirit" type monsters)

  Magic Immune
  ------------
  Yes or no, is the monster immune to spells and enchanted weapons? If yes, 
  the only way to kill it is with non-enchanted weapons.

  Blocks
  ------
  Yes or no, will the monster attempt to prevent players from picking items
  up from the ground in the presence of the monster?

  Good
  ------
  Yes or no. Good monsters ignore players unless attacked. Evil monsters will 
  attack on sight any players they detect.

  Treasure
  --------
  Yes or no, does the monster carry treasure?

  Items Carried
  -------------
  If you specify that the monster can carry treasure, you may enter up to
  5 different item templates that the monster can carry. When monsters are 
  encountered it is randomly determined whether that instance of a monster
  is carrying some or all of it's potential items (based on the level 4 CNF
  option TREASURE). Once it has been determined that an instance of a monster 
  is carrying one if it's possible items, the item is instantiated with 
  values based on the level of the monster. Possible items that the monster 
  might carry are specified by their unique item template file ID #. To 
  remove a possible item from a monster, enter an item ID of 0.

  Permanant
  ---------
  You can designate a monster as being "permanant". If you designate a
  monster as permanant, you may also specify whether or not it is a
  "roving" permanant monster. Permanant monsters are special monsters
  that stay in the game until they are killed. You specify the room number
  where they reside and anyone entering that room will encounter the
  permanant monster. Their stats and items are not random - they are
  always maximum, based on the permanant monster's level. Also, their items
  can be enhanced (with the ITMBOOST CNF option). 
  
  There are a number of permanant monsters in the base SoC package. Generally
  speaking, these monsters are extremely high level and extremely deadly.
  For the most part, they function as scenery and can be used as barometer
  of how your game settings are working out - i.e. if players have become
  powerful enough to kill them, then perhaps it's time to either raise
  the difficulty level of the game or start adding higher level monsters.

  Once a permanant monster has been killed, it is removed from the game.
  Permanant monsters (by default) only regenerate once per day (during
  cleanup). If you wish to have them regenerate more often than that,
  change the PRMREGEN CNF setting.

  Permanant monsters have a number of special abilities that make them even 
  more deadly than normal monsters. In general, players should be advised to 
  stay away from the standard permanant monsters until they themselves
  become very powerful (unless they really enjoy getting killed).

  Roving permanant monsters do not occupy a single room. Depending on how
  you set them up, they either start out in a totally random room or they
  start out in the room you specify in their definition template. Once
  initialized, they then start wandering around at random. Roving permanant 
  monsters are a fun diversion that can be added to the game to add some 
  "spice". Roving permanant monsters try to avoid roving through safe havens, 
  town rooms, guilds and other special rooms, so as not to alarm the 
  neophytes.

  Hit Vector
  ----------
  You can specify a number of special consequences for when a monster hits
  a player.

  Poison - The monster is poisonous. Players will die from their poisonous 
           wounds unless they cast the spell that removes poison.
  Steals - Monsters can opt to try and rob a player instead of attacking
           them.
  Drains - Very heinous monsters can drain their victims. Whenever the
           monster does damage to a foe, it heals itself by the same
           amount.
  Pest   - Pests will not initiate an attack, but they will sit there and 
           attempt to steal things and/or pick things up from the ground.
           Once attacked, they will defend themselves.

  Attacked Vector
  ---------------
  These vectors are executed when a monster is attacked:

  1. Player goes to jail. This should be reserved for monsters that a noble 
     adventurer just shouldn't be attacking (fair maidens, and so forth). 
     When a player attacks such a monster, they are hauled off to jail by a 
     gang of burly guards.
  2. Player is penalized evil points. The number of evil points a player
     is penalized for killing the monster is settable on a monster-by-monster
     basis. If left set at 0, the default will be used (as specified by the
     level 4 CNF option ADDEVIL).
  3. Monster's level morphs when it is attacked. If the monster's current 
     level is lower than the level of the player attacking it, it's level is 
     increased thusly:
     new level = (player's level) * (monster's morph factor)
  4. Monster always flees when attacked

  Morph Factor
  ------------
  For monsters that morph, this is how many times bigger than their attacker
  they become.

  Talk
  ----
  Normally, when a player talks to a monster they receive a generic hostile 
  or friendly message (these are defined in level 6 configuration). Leave 
  this blank to have the monster speak generically, or type in the phrase you 
  want the monster to say when players talk to it. This could be handy for 
  giving hints, setting up quests, etc.

  You can also have the contents of a text file displayed when a player talks
  to a monster (more on that in a moment).

  Reward Item / Number of Quests
  ------------------------------
  For "huntress" type monsters, you can specify the number of quests a
  player must complete as well as the item the player is rewarded for
  completing the quests. If not specified, the number of quests will 
  default to the level 4 CNF setting HUNTRQST and the reward item will
  default to the level 4 CNF setting TALINDEX.

  Custom Text Files
  -----------------
  You can specify that a custom text file be displayed to a user when they
  either look at a monster or talk to a monster. The files are stored in the 
  directory specified by the level 4 CNF option TEXTDIR. Files should be 
  named either "MLx.TXT" (for when a player looks at the monster) or 
  "MTx.TXT" (for when a player talks to the monster). 'x' is the monster file 
  template ID number of the monster in question.

Editing Rooms  
-------------

  To edit a room template, select "edit room" from the gameop menu. You must 
  then specify the unique room template file (MUICHAOS\DATA\ROOMFILE.DAT) ID 
  number for the room you want to edit. Basically the room file describes 
  each room, tells what other rooms are connected to it and what monsters are 
  encountered there.

  Room Type
  ---------
  There are number of different room types for rooms with special abilities
  or considerations. Most rooms are type 0 (nothing special). The special
  room types are:

  Academy      - A room where players can train for quests.
  Player Arena - A room where players can fight each other for wagers.
  Hall of Fame - A room where people can view the hall of fame (a listing
                 of individual achievements).
  Water Room   - A room where players take "drowning" damage. Drowning damage
                 is 2 fatigue and 2 body points per second. Players who are
                 levitating do not suffer this damage.
  Bank         - A room where players can make transactions with their
                 bank account.
  Safe Haven   - A room where monsters cannot show up and players are
                 prevented from initiating hostilities against one another.
  Boat         - A room where the player is considered to be in a boat. The
                 only thing special about it is that there are no tracks.
  Closet       - A room where a player can access their private storage
                 "closet".
  Solo Room    - A room where only one player at a time is allowed in.
  Fire Room    - Similar to water rooms, a room where players take "fire"
                 damage. Damage rate is the same as for a water room, there
                 is no way to avoid this damage.
  Damage Room  - Users always take a one-shot hit of damage when entering
                 this room. No description of where the damage is coming
                 from is issued by the program, so it should be part of the
                 room description itself. For example, if you want someone
                 to take damage from a rockslide, have the room description
                 say something like "You're hit by a bunch of boulders!".
                 The number of damage points is random from 1 up to however
                 many body points (total) the player has.
  No Cast Room - Players may not cast spells naturally here (they cannot use
                 the cast command). Monsters in the room are under no such
                 restrictions.
  No Magic Room- Similar to the No Cast room, both magic items and natural
                 casting will not work here. Also, upon entering the room
                 all of the player's spells expire. Again, monsters in the 
                 room have no such restrictions.
  (Negative #) - Negative numbers are for the guild halls. Rooms of this
                 type allow guild members to access their guild treasury.
                 There is also special code designed to keep non-guildmembers
                 out.
  Stores:
  There are four different room types for different kinds of store. Each
  store has 6 default items that they sell (configureable in level 4). In
  these rooms players can buy and sell items.

    Mercantile   - Any items can be bought and sold here.
    Armory       - Only handles armor and shields.
    Weaponsmith  - Only handles weapons
    Alchemist    - Only handles magic devices.

  As previously mentioned, the "new" items that a store sells are initially
  set to the item numbers from level 4 CNF for the individual type of store
  (MERCI1-6 for Mercantiles, ARMOR1-6 for Armories, WEP1-6 for Weaponsmiths,
  and ALCHEM1-6 for Alchemists). To customize which "new" items a store
  sells, use the "edit catalog" gameop menu option.

  Trap
  ----
  You can specify a variety of traps for a room. If the player is not
  protected by the appropriate spell they may set off the trap when they
  enter the room:

  Poison Dart - The player is poisoned.
  Bomb        - A bomb explodes and does damage to the player. Use this trap
                carefully, any player can be instantly killed by this trap.
                Damage is random, from 2 up to twice a player's total body
                points.
  Teleport    - The player teleports to a different room.
  Slow Motion - The player is "langoured" (their actions take longer). Lasts
                for 180 seconds.
  Sleep       - The player falls asleep. Lasts for 60 seconds.
  Aggravation - The player "aggravates" monsters (all monsters, good or
                evil, will attack the player). Lasts for 120 seconds.
  Weakness    - The player becomes "weak" (does not naturally regenerate
                body points or fatigue). Lasts for 120 seconds.
  Dispel Magic- All of a player's spells expire and they lose all of their
                magic points

  Room Description
  ----------------
  Up to six lines of text describing the room. A good room description
  should make sense without any kind of previous context (players might
  teleport into the room without actually traversing the rooms leading
  up to the room), and should avoid describing items, creatures or "events" 
  that happen in the room - let the game do that. The room description    
  should be nicely static and not make any implications that the actual
  state of the room can't live up to.

  Cardinal Exits
  --------------
  You may specify up to 7 different "cardinal" exits from a room. These
  are north, south, east, west, up, down and out. You may also specify
  whether or not these exits are visible. If not visible, a player
  must "search" for them to find them. A room should always have at
  least one visible exit (after all, they had to enter the room somehow).
  Exits are specified by the unique room ID # to which they lead. For
  example, if you say that the "east" exit leads to room #2, then a
  player going east will next encounter room #2. 
  
  It's usually a good idea (though not neccessary) to have exits connect
  reflexively. For example, if the east exit of room #1 leads to room #2,
  then it should probably follow that the west exit of room #2 should
  lead back to room #1. Similarly, an "out" exit should lead back to the
  room from which the player entered. This is not a requirement though, feel 
  free to confuse the heck out of your users if that's your desire (they
  may come after you with pitchforks, torches and pointed sticks, but if
  you don't mind....)

  Special Exit
  ------------
  A room may have one "special exit". This exit is described as "You see...".
  Players leave via a special exit using the "go" command. There are a 
  number of factors which make up a special exit:

  Article
  -------
  The article (a, an, the, etc) of the special exit description. If you
  don't want an article, leave it blank.

  Adjective
  ---------
  The adjective describing a special exit. For example, the adjective in
  "The flaming gates of hell" is "flaming".

  Descriptor
  ----------
  This is the "noun" of the special exit description. It is what players
  specify in their "go" command. In the previous example, a player would
  type "go gates" to enter the flaming gates of hell.

  Special Exit Type
  -----------------
  There are five types of special exit:

    Nothing Special   - Player can always just "go" to the exit.
    Door              - Player must first unlock the special exit (i.e.
                        "a wooden door") with a normal "key" device.
    Magic Door        - Player must unlock the door with a magic key. Normal 
                        keys will not work on it.
    Special Door      - A specific key is required to unlock this door (see
                        the above discussion of special keys and doors).
    Password Activated- User must chant the correct password/phrase to unlock
                        the door. 
       
  Special Exit Filter
  -------------------
  Certain players can be prevented from passing through a special exit.
  Currently available filters are:

   1: Player must belong to guild #1 to pass through
   2: Player must belong to guild #2 to pass through
   3: Player must belong to guild #3 to pass through
   4: Player must belong to guild #4 to pass through
   5: Player must belong to guild #5 to pass through
   6: Player must belong to guild #6 to pass through
   7: Player must belong to guild #7 to pass through
   8: Player must belong to guild #8 to pass through
   9: Player must belong to guild #9 to pass through
  10: (formerly arena filter, unused at present)
  11: Player must be carrying a specific item to pass through. Additionally,
      you specify the item file index of the item they need.
  12: Player must belong to a specific class to pass through
  13: Player must belong to a specific race to pass through
  14: Player must hold any one of the elected offices to pass through
  15: Player must be the governor to pass through
  16: Player must be the assassin to pass through
  17: Player must be the paladin to pass through
  18: Player must be the judge to pass through
  19: Level Filter. If greater than 0, player must be that level or higher
      to enter. If less than 0, player must by that level or lower to enter.
      E.G. if the subspecification is 60, only players level 60 and higher
      can enter. If set to -60, only players level 60 and below can enter.

  Leads To
  --------
  The room to which the special exit leads.
  
  Visible
  -------
  Yes or no, whether the special exit is visible. If not visible, a player
  must "search" to find it.

  Encounter Chance
  ----------------
  If a player can encounter monsters in a room, this is the chance that they
  will encounter a monster. If you don't want monsters to show up in a room,
  set the encounter chance to 0. Otherwise, set it to a value between 1 and
  100. Encounter rolls are made once every 'x' seconds for each active room
  ('x' is actually the level 4 configuration option "ENCRATE". The default 
  value is every 30 seconds). If the encounter chance is 100, then players 
  will have a 100% chance of encountering a new monster in the room every 'x' 
  seconds. If the encounter chance is 50, then they will have a 50% chance, 
  and so on. A good value for a room is 10-20. It provides enough random 
  encounters without overwhelming the player.

  If you specify that the room has encounters, you can specify up to 5
  different monsters that can appear in the room. These are specified by
  the unique monster template file ID number. If you don't want to have
  5 different monsters show up in a room, enter "0" into the vacant slots.
  DO NOT specify the monster ID numbers for permanant monsters here. 
  Permanant monsters are not "encountered" in this fashion. Whether or not
  a permanant monster appears in a room is something you specify while
  editing the permamant monster template itself.

  It is generally a good idea to have some consistancy in the levels of
  monsters that you designate as appearing in a room. Players should
  be able to assess the level of difficulty of a room after encountering
  the first monster. So, if the first monster they encounter is level 20,
  then they should be able to assume that all other monsters they encounter 
  there will be within 10 levels (or so) of level 20. If a player runs into a 
  level 1 monster in a room, they shouldn't have to suddenly be surprised by 
  a level 50 monster! (Unless of course you hate your users).

  Cover Factor
  ------------
  The cover factor for a room determines how easy/hard it is for a player
  to hide there. It ranges from 0-100 with 0 being no cover and 100 being
  heavy cover.

  "Town Rooms"                                                         
  -----------
  Rooms can be designated as so-called "town" rooms. In the default room
  file, all of the rooms that make up the city of Elfhelm are designated
  as town rooms. This designation serves two purposes. First, it serves to 
  create "avoid" regions for various special monsters. For example, 
  "invasions" and bounty rovers will not originate or wander into town rooms. 
  The theory behind that is that rooms designated as town rooms will 
  generally be occupied by new, weak players and they shouldn't have to deal 
  with huge, awful monsters that they wouldn't otherwise expect to find 
  there. Secondly, players can only summon the town guard (using the "guard" 
  command) in rooms designated as town rooms.

  Note: It is also possible to specify a room as a town room, but still allow 
  invaders and rovers to show up there.

  Teleport Not Allowed
  --------------------
  If for some reason you don't want players teleporting to a room (either via
  teleport, safe return, bring or seek), set the "teleport not allowed" flag
  to yes. This could be handy for keeping people from popping into areas that
  they would normally have to accomplish something else to enter (like
  figuring out a chant to open a door, etc).

  Custom Text Files
  -----------------
  You can specify that a custom text file be displayed to a user when they
  look at a specified "descriptor" within the room. For example, you might
  want to create a text file containing some lengthy text that is written
  on the wall of a room. You could set the room text file descriptor to
  "wall", and then when a player types "look wall", they would receive the
  contents of the text file for that room. The files are stored in the 
  directory specified by the level 4 CNF option TEXTDIR. Files should be 
  named "Rx.TXT" where 'x' is the room file template ID number of the room in 
  question.

Editing Permanant Monster Locations
-----------------------------------

  The gameop menu also has an option for relocating permanant monsters. You 
  specify the permanant monster template # and the room number to which you 
  want to relocate the permanant monster.

Editing Store Catalogs
----------------------

  Stores, by default, sell up to 6 standard items (in addition to items sold 
  to the store by players). When you create a new store, the items that are 
  sold are derived from the level 4 CNF options for the type of store in 
  question: MERCI1-6 for Mercantiles, ARMOR1-6 for Armories, WEP1-6 for 
  Weaponsmiths and ALCHEM1-6 for Alchemists. 

  If you wish to customize which "new" items a particular store sells, select 
  the "edit catalog" option from the gameop menu. You specify the room number 
  of the store, the catalog number of the item in question (1-6) and the item 
  file index of the item you want sold there.

Reports
-------

  It can be very difficult for a sysop to remember what monsters carry what
  items and what monsters can be encountered in what rooms. Swords of Chaos
  provides three different reports summarizing monsters, items and rooms
  for use by the sysop in both designing new areas and providing hints to
  the users.

  Warning! Generating reports will monopolize your CPU for a minute or
  longer (depending on the size of your data files). As such, you should
  only generate these reports when there are no users on the system (or
  the users on the system have been appropriately warned of the impending
  dead response time). Reports can also be generated during cleanup.

  Monster Report - Lists all monsters and the items they carry.
  Item Report    - Lists all items and the monsters that carry them.
  Room Report    - Lists all rooms and the monsters and items found therein.

Adding Custom Items, Rooms and Monsters
---------------------------------------

  Swords of Chaos comes packaged with 1582 rooms, 967 monsters and 950 items, 
  providing your user base with the potential for many months of 
  entertainment, discovery and challenge. However, Chaos also provides the 
  sysop with the ability to add on to the base lands - creating new rooms to 
  explore, new monsters to encounter and new items to find. To create your 
  own custom areas you need merely to increase the values in the level 4 
  configuration for "number of rooms", "number of items", and "number of 
  monsters". Once the data space has been increased, you need only devise 
  your own rooms, monsters and items and add them to the game. You can then
  edit them online via the gameop menu. 

  Feel free to use existing monsters in your custom rooms or existing items 
  on your custom monsters, or create monsters and items wholly out of your 
  own imagination. All you need to do to connect your custom rooms to the 
  existing world is choose an existing room and edit one of it's exits to 
  lead to one of your new rooms. Also, there is nothing sacred about the 
  existing world, so if you want to change the base rooms, monsters or items, 
  feel free!

  If you choose to drastically decrease the level of difficulty of the game, 
  then you will undoubtedly need to create your own new areas of the game. 
  Otherwise, people will quickly run out challenge. If you find that people 
  are killing the highest level monsters from the base areas, then it's time 
  to create new areas with even tougher monsters.

Files and Directories
---------------------

  All of the Chaos data directories and files reside underneath the "MUICHAOS"
  directory:

  MUICHAOS\
    DATA\
      BAGS\        - Container files
      COWARDS\     - Snapshots of the rooms of players who hung up
      GFORUMS\     - Guild forum message files
      HELP\        - All of the SoC documentation files
      MAIL\        - Players' personal mail files
      ROOMITMS\    - Items and monsters waiting in rooms
      BIZNESS.DAT  - Public forum messages
      CATx.DAT     - The catalog for a store (x = room number)
      CLOSETS.DAT  - Players' personal storage areas
      CRITFILE.DAT - The monster templates
      FAME.DAT     - Hall of fame records
      GUILDS.DAT   - Guild specifications (guild name, master name, etc)
      GSTOREx.DAT  - Guild stores (x is 1-9)
      ITEMFILE.DAT - The item templates
      LOG.DAT      - Listing of the last 22 users of Chaos 
      MACROS.DAT   - Players' macros
      NAMEFILE.DAT - An abbreviated version of USERFILE.DAT (enhances
                     performance)
      NEWSTAND.DAT - Obituary notices, etc.
      OFFICES.DAT  - Votes and office assignments
      ROOMADD.DAT  - Temporary room information (turf kills & graffiti)
      ROOMFILE.DAT - The room templates
      USERFILE.DAT - All of the SoC players

  If you wish to "restart" the game, i.e. remove all players and start over,
  delete all files from the BAGS, COWARDS, GFORUMS, ROOMITMS and MAIL 
  directories. Also, delete all ".DAT" files from the MUICHAOS\DATA directory 
  except for ROOMFILE.DAT, CRITFILE.DAT and ITEMFILE.DAT (those three files 
  make up all the static information about the game and should never be 
  removed).

Special GameOp Powers
---------------------

  As an active gameop (a player with "GameOp" permission turned on), there 
  are a number of handy features at your disposal (beyond those found on the
  gameop (and other) menus).

  - The "where" command shows the current room ID for each player currently 
    playing the game. 
  
  - You can teleport to any room in the game by entering "cast teleport <x>",
    where <x> is the room number to which you want to teleport.

  - You can instantly relocate a local player (a player in the same room as
    you) by entering "cast teleport on <player> <x>", where <player> is the 
    name of the player you want to teleport and <x> is the number of the room 
    to which you want to relocate them.

  - If the player in question is not in your current location, you can 
    remotely relocate them using the bring spell: 
    "cast bring on <player> <x>"

    This can be handy for rescuing stranded or endangered players from their 
    current dire straights. For example, "cast bring on gumby 1" would rescue 
    "gumby" from his present predicament and move him to room #1 (town 
    square).

  - You can summon a specific monster by entering "cast summon <x>" where <x>
    is the ID number of the monster you want to summon.

  - You can follow someone who is not currently in the same room as you are.
    If the specified player is in a different room, you will instantly
    teleport to their current location and then start following them.

Text Variables
--------------

SOCBLURB Is either a null string if the user already has an SoC character
         or the level 6 BLURB message if they don't.

SOCVER   The current SoC version number
