Triggers in Roleplay

Campaign-Related Roleplay Information

Moderators: Shar, Auril, Eilistraee

Auril
Staff Member - Quests
Posts: 522
Joined: Fri Apr 12, 2002 5:01 am

Triggers in Roleplay

Postby Auril » Sat Apr 03, 2004 6:56 am

After a recent meeting with the RP-Quest sphere, we have concluded that there are many more triggers being used by players than are appropriate to the roleplay situation. Sometimes the triggers fit, but since we strive to present a wide range of locale, emotional content and type of quest, there will often be circumstances where specific triggers are inappropriate.

Please take some time to look at your triggers, and decide if they are generic enough for roleplay or not. Shifting from resting on your bottom to kneeling before standing after praying or memorizing spells is appropriate. Praising one's god, when surrounded by dubious people of unknown religion, probably is not unless you are a fanatic. Other roleplay circumstances might necessitate a trigger. Most basic combat triggers, and anything in gsay, will be perfectly acceptable.

There are some alternatives to triggers with visible action, including setting up a class which can be turned on and off at will. I've asked Eilistraee to post information about how to do that.

Otherwise, you could consider having your mud client send a message to the screen with the name of an alias which does the action you normally had triggered, so you can decide if the situation warrants the action.

I know it takes a lot of work to make these kinds of changes. But as your character gains depth, more manual control will more effectively convey your personality and will enhance your roleplay.

Thank you for your time and patience.
Eilistraee
Staff Member - Quests
Posts: 1097
Joined: Mon Feb 17, 2003 7:20 pm

Postby Eilistraee » Sun Apr 04, 2004 4:00 am

There are any number of ways that you can have character emotes but manage them and ensure they are only active when you want them to. I'm certainly no expert when it comes to zMud, and not even a novice when it comes to other MUD clients. But here are some possible solutions, using tools available in zMud versions 6+.

First and foremost, I highly suggest you place any and all triggers within a Class folder. You can create them by viewing your settings through the Settings menu, selecting the Class option (a folder icon) and then creating new. Name it something memorable, Emotes works well.

Once the folder is created, you can move any existing triggers/aliases or any settings at all into it through a drag and drop interface. You can also double click on the newly named folder to open it, and work inside. You should create any triggers inside this class.

All settings - aliases, triggers, class folders - can be turned on and off easily. When you view them in the editing window, there is a green bulb in the bottom right of the window that indicates active status; no green means it is inactive. You can also de-activate settings by right-clicking upon them and making certain the Enabled option does not have a check mark. You can also disable class folders through the command line; where you type in commands to send to the mud, by using the syntax #T- <foldername>. More on this later.

When a class folder is disabled, all settings within it are also disabled and will not operate. As you may surmise, this suddenly allows you to quickly toggle large groups of aliases and/or triggers between active and inactive. By placing your RP emotes within such a folder, you can easily control the temptation to gaze at the horizon when you are within a cave.

This is by far the best advice I can give for controlling your emotes. Everything else is a manipulation upon one or more class folders. Here are some suggestions.

Create an pair of aliases. You do not want these within the emotes class folder. You can paste this into your command line for simplicity; the first option is the alias name, what you type to run it. These aliases also assume an alias class folder of Emotes.

#alias {emoteon} {#t+ Emotes}
#alias {emoteoff} {#t- Emotes}

As the names suggest, this turns the Emotes folder on and off again. Here's another one for you.

#trigger {< T:} {#t- Emotes}
#trigger {You receive your share of experience.} {#t+ Emotes}

These triggers will turn off your emotes when you are involved in battle; there are some that simply seem bizarre.

You can also place your RP emotes into aliases individually, and then on your RP trigger; be it on Autosaving or just a timer, you can reference the aliases with the emotes. This then allows you to turn your RP emotes off a trigger, yet still use them manually if you feel the situation warrants it. For this to work, ensure that your emote aliases are not within the Emotes folder.

Some people have many different emotes that they use. If you would like to have more than one RP emote but you aren't certain how to do it randomly, here is the means by which you can. You do not want to type this into the command line, but instead use the editor for your trigger. The text to execute on the trigger text is like this.

%case(%random(# of emotes), emote1, emote2, emote3)

If you want to use special characters like commas, semi-colons or other punctuation, and your alias isn't working then make certain you put a tilde (~) before the symbol.

I'm quite willing to answer questions about anything contained within here when I have time. We do consider your emotes for behaving in character, and enjoy seeing them when appropriate. I hope that this little bit helps.

Eilistraee
Sesexe
Sojourner
Posts: 879
Joined: Fri Oct 03, 2003 5:13 am

Postby Sesexe » Wed Apr 14, 2004 12:40 am

Here's an example of the random talking alias I use for lichiepoo:

name:
llsay

comand:
#CASE %RANDOM {emote utters in a deathly voice, '%0'} {emote screeches in horrific tones, '%0'} {emote speaks in a ghastly pitch, '%0'} {emote murmers from beyond the grave, '%0'}


Results look like:
Llaaldara utters in a deathly voice, 'Feel the powers from beyond the grave.'

Llaaldara screeches in horrific tones, 'Feel the powers from beyond the grave.'

Llaaldara speaks in a ghastly pitch, 'Feel the powers from beyond the grave.'

etc. etc.

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