CTROOM_RULES

This help file contains the rules for building a clantown room. Remember,
room descriptions are what players should see WHILE in the room and should
not be subjective. Descriptions should be what is there, or possibly, what
is nearby. Describe the room as it is and do not make judgments about how
players will perceive it.

All clantowns must have a portal. Portals may not be changed to another
roomtype except by a level 35+ god. If you accidentally make a room a
portal, and need it changed to something else, pray for assistance.

Rules for Building Room Names:

1. The first letter of the main words within a room name should be
    capitalized. Words that should not be capitalized are: 'a' 'of' 'and'
    'in' 'the' 'to' 'on' 'an' and 'for'. The exception BEING WHEN the room
    name begins with one of these words. In that instance, it should be
    capitalized. Examples: "Upon a Path of Gravel" or "A-Warm and Cozy
    Loft".

2. There should be no extended characters, which include, but are not
    limited to: > - < / \ ! . Commas are the only acceptable punctuation
    allowed within a room name. Example: "A-Small, Hidden Stairway". The
    character "-" should ONLY be used if it is required in the word.
    Example: "Somewhere Within the Mist-Filled Cavern"
    See Also: help CTB_ROOMNAME


Rules for Building Room Descriptions with Explanations:

1. Do not use the words "you," "your," "yourself" or similar words
    unless you can do so without telling players how they think, feel
    (emotional or intense physical feelings), act, or what they say.
    There are some exceptions to this rule.
    See Also: help CTB_YOU

2. Do not tell the players how they feel or act, let them decide on their
    own reactions. For example, both "The destruction of this village
    seems worse than any seen before."-and "The destruction of this
    village makes everyone sad."-do not work well in room descriptions.
    For the most part, words such as: seem, may, maybe or any other
    suggesting words shouldn't be used. Laying out the possible actions or
    future consequences of existing conditions should be avoided. Yes,
    there are always exceptions, but avoid any that force someone to
    decide one way or the other how they are thinking. Another example:
    "The castle seems far away from this area." That is subjective to each
    person. Maybe it seems far away to you, but it may not to someone
    else. So the description should say that either the castle is far
    away, or it is not.

3. Stay away from using phrases that imply the use of the senses
    (smell/feel/etc.) unless it is very general and does not break rule 2
    for building rooms. If you are in a bakery, having a sentence like
    "The smell of freshly baked bread lingers in the air." is perfectly
    fine. A sentence like "The terrible smell of rotting corpses fills the
    air."-would not be because of the use of 'terrible'. This sentence
    assumes that the smell of rotting corpses is terrible, but not
    everyone may think it is.

4. If you mention animals, humans, or anything else that could be
    construed as a mob in the room description it must be well in the
    background.
    See Also: help BACKGROUND

5. Do not use words like "obviously" and "suddenly". If you are standing
    in a room for a period of time, something is unable to "suddenly"
    happen. Obviously is a bad word to use because not all things are
    obvious to certain people.
    See Also: help SUDDENLY

6. Justify each clantown room after you finish writing the description.
    The command is 'J' in the editor. It is best to type 'J' and then hit
    the enter key before you save each time you edit. This means that
    you are adjusting the text to best fit the line.

7. Each description should be at least 4 lines or 3 sentences long when
    justified. It is not difficult to write this amount or more.
    See Also: help CTB_ROOMLENGTH

8. Do not use quotes in descriptions. Very few situations would need
    them. The only real instance they are allowable is when quoting what
    is on a sign, engraving, statue, or the similar. Example: The sign
    reads "Enter at your own risk!"

9. As a general rule, do not mention other zones in the room
    descriptions. The exception here is if you talk about the "land of
    Medievia"-in a general sense.

10. Do not repeat words. Example: This is a very very clean room.

11. Be very careful of comma usage. See help COMMAS for specific
    information on commas. Please go through that help file if you find
    that you are getting many denials because of commas or if you are not
    very comfortable using them.

12. Do not make rooms loop around each other. This means, do not make
    mazes. Each exit should lead to a different room. Example: Make sure
    if you have room 10230 to the south of you, that you do not make an
    exit to room 10230 in any other direction.

13. Be very careful when mentioning directions in the description.
    Remember that a player may not be coming from a particular direction.
    Refrain from saying things like "Continuing to the north" or "leaving
    the option of heading north or west".-The proper use of a direction
    would be: "To the west, a wall.." or "There is a river to the east."

14. Each room description must be unique. There should be no repeating
    room descriptions. The descriptions can be similar, just not the same.

15. Use normal punctuation within the description. Do not use characters
    such as the characters in between the quotation marks and including
    the quotation marks: ">-<-..-?-*-&-~-'-/---\-!" The first of two
    exceptions to this is that if the hyphen (-) is required between two
    words. Example: mist-filled. The second is if they are used on a sign
    of some kind. If you are quoting what is on the sign, you can either
    quote it after a colon (:) or between quotation marks (").

16. Do not put mobile or player names in descriptions. This includes
    purged/deleted players or gods.

17. Do not plagiarize or use copyrighted stories, characters or objects.
    See Also: help PLAGIARIZE

18. Clantowns should use established and consistent American spelling
    and grammar rules. Please do not use British spellings, as the ZEs are
    simply not qualified to check this. It is far, far, far more important
    that you write naturally and descriptively. Beyond the basics in the
    grammar help files, leave the diction to us.
    See Also: help GRAMMAR_INDEX SPELLING

19. Avoid using the same word or phrase over and over in a description.
    Get a thesaurus to find a synonym, or try describing it with a
    different phrase that means the same thing.
    See Also: help SYNONYM CTROOM_TIPS

20. Make sure your room descriptions reflect the theme of your town.

21. Make sure your descriptions hold true for most circumstances. For
    example, the sun will not always be reflecting off a lake.

22. Avoid ending a sentence with "here" if it is unnecessary.
    See Also: CTROOM_TIPS

See Also: CTB_INDEX CTROOM_TIPS