Getting Started
Now that you've taken the first steps towards starting your adventure in Legends of the Jedi, there are a few tasks that new players will find themselves needing to complete in order to begin. The list may seem intimidating at first, but this guide is meant to help people that have never played a MUD before. Some of the information it explains might be simplistic for a MUD veteran. For those players needing help with a specific section, please click on one of the titles below.
Connect to the Game
Choosing the client that you wish to use can be one of the most important decisions you make in your MUDing life time. Once you are comfortable with one, it becomes very hard to switch between them. While they are, for all intents and purposes, the same, there are subtle differences that showcase the strengths for each one. This is not an exhaustive list of every client available, but it does cover the most used clients from our pbase. Feel free to explore other options and figure out which one works best for you! You can find a walkthrough on how to install, setup, and connect to the mud for each of the clients listed below. For new players, we strongly suggest that you use Mudlet. It is the simplest client to setup because of how the Legends of the Jedi client installs automatically when you connect to the mud.
Web Client
What the webclient lacks in sleekness and customization, it makes up for with it being the easiest of any client to jump right into the game. You can go to the portal and start playing right away. No installation or setup necessary. It needs mentioned that a new account cannot be created on the Web Client. Our accounts are set by IP address so you will need to log in at least once with a different method to create your account. The webclient also lacks plugin support which includes a mapper.
Pros: Lightweight, no installations, instant access.
Cons: No trigger or alias support, doesn't support 256 colors, occasional connection issues from multiplay restrictions.
Mudlet
Mudlet is one of the new clients to hit the scene for players still enjoying MUDs. It has a sleek interface, runs on Unix, Windows, and Mac OS, and sports a strong suite of LUA integration for scripting. There is very little to say in a negative way about this client. The only big thing is that the community has not fully taken to using Mudlet yet and as such, some of the useful community built scripts have not been converted over yet. This is quickly improving, however.
Pros: Sleek design, works on all modern OS, good system optimization, and robust scripting tools.
Cons: Trigger and alias interface has a learning curve, missing some of the useful community-built plugins.
Mushclient
Mushclient is one of the older contenders these days. It might not be the most eye catching piece of software, but it still holds its own from a functionality standpoint. Mushclient is the most used client in our player base, and the fact that many have used it for 10 or more years is the biggest factor to have not switched to Mudlet. It does have the biggest repository of custom built scripts and plugins that the player base has curated through the years.
Pros: large library of community scripts, easy to learn triggers and alias configuration, robust scripting tools.
Cons: eye sore, slow updates, poorly optimized for today's systems, only works with Windows.
Create a Character
Now that we've gotten that boring stuff out of the way, it's time to get started with the fun tasks. Legends of the Jedi is, at its core, a free-form storytelling sandbox that you will help to narrate with your words and through your actions. In order to do this, you will need to create a character. Your character is what you will use to orchestrate and interact with the game world. For all intents and purposes, it is the 'you' that you want to be in the game world. Maybe you've always wanted to play a retired gunslinger that now sits at the local cantina re-telling your timeless tales to anyone that will listen. Perhaps you're a smuggler trying to out run the local authorities as you barely jump to hyperspeed. A pilot that is just starting out in the Imperial Navy hoping to some day command your own fleet to hunt down those Rebel scum! Your imagination is the only limiting factor. A more in depth guide for creating your character can be found here.
Select a Race
I always find it best to pick what race my character should be before anything else. It helps me understand what will be expected from me and gives me an idea of what the character will be like. If this is your first time ever roleplaying, we strongly suggest that you roll a Human character. Some players struggle with and feel embarrassed about acting, even in text form, so this helps calm their nerves since it is more comfortable to them. If you're the type that prefers a challenge, or maybe you're just sick of being human, this is the list of free races at the time of this writing.
Don't let the word free catch you up. With today's age of everything being paid DLC, that is not the case with LOTJ. We use a system of points that your account earns simply by playing, participating in events, contributing to the mud in meaningful ways, and even when your character dies! This is used to give players merit for playing and allows us to lock a few of the races that have a higher learning curve away from players just starting out. Accounts and account points will be explained in more detail later in this guide.
Choose a Name
Here we are. The most important decision you'll make in the lifespan of your character: the name. In Legends of the Jedi, you're going to be making a name for yourself. Do you want to be known as Boring McNameless the Bothan? While it might make for a good laugh, a character with a name like that would get for lack of better words, boring, fast. Characters with thoughtless names tend to get disregarded by other players. Another reason we picked our race first was to help us with picking a name. It would be rare to come across a Muun named Bob just as it would be to come across a Human named Nurip Kres. You want to pick a name that fits your race, and you want to avoid pop culture names such as Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, Harry Potter, Captain Picard, Malcolm Reynolds, and anything in between. Luckily for us, some people have found enjoyment out of creating name generators for specific Star Wars races. One of my favorites is Fantasy Name Generator. You can find Star Wars and Star Wars (TOR) under the Pop Culture drop down.
It should be noted that the character name is either your first name or your surname. The other can be added later via the surname or publictitle command, both of which will be covered in more detail later in this guide. Your character name is what others will see for ships that you own, when you get in trouble with the law and find yourself with a warrant, or worse, a bounty, what they will use to send you mail, and other various game system interactions.
Pick a Class
Classes on LOTJ are intertwined with one another based on the race you chose. You may have noticed the break down of levels based on class when you selected a race. LOTJ is designed so that every race has bonuses and negatives to the other classes, depending on what main role was selected. For the purposes of this guide, we're going to focus entirely on what the main goal of your character is and less about the secondary tasks they can do. A short summary of each of the classes can be found in the image below. There are essentially three kinds of roles in Legends of the Jedi. Combatant (pilot, combat, bounty hunter), Support (smuggler, leadership, espionage, slicer), and Crafter (engineer, medical, science). Depending on which role you wish to fill, choose one of these professions for your character. It is advised against new players rolling a medical, science, or bounty hunting main on their first character. A more in depth guide for understanding race and class combinations for your character can be found here.
Create an Account
Accounts on LOTJ are essentially your legacy in the game. This is the name you'll be known as on LOTJ for years to come. Choose your name wisely, as this cannot be changed easily. Each of your characters will get attached to this account, which accrue account points on their death. The more account points you have, the more expensive races you can afford which opens up new roleplay experiences. If you play long enough, you'll even be able to purchase force for a character during character generation. These points can also be used to purchase levels in a class. These levels affect your current level, not your max level, essentially giving you a head start in the leveling process. Another thing to keep in mind with accounts is that it is common for players in LOTJ to refer to a previous character as "Such and Such's Emperor" or "Do you remember when Accountname played that one...." An account allows you to be recognizable in the years to come, even if you stop playing for long periods of time. A more in depth guide for creating and utilizing your account can be found here.
Explore the Academy
When you first load into Legends of the Jedi, you'll find yourself in the newbie academy. Banvhar Station is a mixture of Out of Character (OOC) interactions and a staging ground to get your character prepared for the actual game world. There are sections designed to teach you basic mudding commands, LOTJ specific commands, ways to craft or purchase clothing, and a few beginner quests to get you started. We like to advise players to take their time and read through the room descriptions, but we also understand that it can be information overload. Players will help you along the way with the things you forgot or missed once you reach the game world, so fret not! Below is an image of the mapper for Banvhar Station.
Learn the Basics
When you're ready to proceed, head north out of the starting room. You'll come to a cross roads. Heading west will take you along the path for learning the basic commands of MUDs and some of the more commonly used ones on LOTJ. The path loops back to this room when you reach the end. East will take you through a few more advanced commands that are LOTJ specific and you'll end your route in the training grounds for Banvhar. If you take that route, head on down to the Complete Some Quests section. If you decide to ignore that path for now, head north into the shopping area of Banvhar Station, the Acad-Grad Shopping Mall and proceed to the next section. If you look at the map above, you can also see the turbolift to reach the training grounds there.
Grab Some Gear
As you'll soon find out, gear in LOTJ can be acquired in different ways. Two of the more common approaches for gathering gear is to buy it from a vendor, or from another player. In Banvhar Station, you have the option to either craft your own gear with the MAKECLOTHING skill, or purchase it from the vendors in the Acad-Grad Shopping Mall. There is a wide assortment of supplies, clothing, arms, and even a few pieces of armor to choose from. It is recommended that most players pick up a Lem's Repeating Blaster from the shop, a number of ammunition cells, some medpacs, and the "piloting for dummies" instruction manual. You can look at this manual to get information and also look at the subsequent chapters listed. Flashlights are never a bad purchase either as they tend to break easily. If you're more combat oriented, or even if you're not, the bantha hide armor is some of the best you'll find until you can purchase some from an Engineer later. If you'd rather to try your hand at crafting your own clothing, you can find cloth and sewing kits in the training grounds. Remember to RESEARCH the makeclothing skill or you might find yourself failing quite often. There is a library in the training grounds as well.
Complete Some Quests
When you're ready to head off to the training grounds, you can find the Turbolift for the area just to the east of the Acad-Grad Shopping Mall. In the training grounds, you'll find quests for some, but not all, of the classes in LOTJ. There are quests for combat, medical, smuggling, engineering, and leadership to name a few. While already mentioned, it's also a good idea to stop by the library and research all of your available skills. The ones relating to piloting and slicer, to name a few, are quite useful for everyone. Just make sure that research is the first thing you research. There are a few characters of note that will help you figure out the quests along the way. Pay attention to what they say when you enter their room.
- Ilosan Kiht - Leadership
- The Security Commander - Combat
- Killing Holograms - Combat
- Escaped Prisoner - Smuggling
- An injured Wroonian - Medical
- Foreman Mentel - Leadership
- Keeper of the Workshop - Sells engineering supplies
If you run into any issues with these quests, you can find walkthroughs for each one with spoilers here.
Character Development
At this point in your character's life span, you've learned the basics of the game, you've probably gathered equipment from the various shops or created gear your own clothing in the workshop, and you've gained knowledge in a few of the classes that Legends of the Jedi has to offer. It's time to build the character itself. A character has three basic characteristics that help get you started. You need to create a description of what the character looks like, a history of why they are how they are, and build out their persona (quirks, accent, etc). This will help you bring the character to life and give you a foundation to grow your RP from.
Write a Description
A character description, put simply, is what other players see when they look at you. Similar to when you look at someone in real life, what are things you notice? You probably notice roughly how tall they are, what their body shape is, what color their eyes are, and any distinguishing features like scars or tattoos. The description should at least be one paragraph and roughly four to five sentences long. Some players definitely make them longer, and that's perfectly acceptable, but anything less leaves a lot to the imagination. It's better to give other players a clear picture of what you want the character to look like and not let their mind fill in too many gaps. Don't be afraid to get creative. Remember: Your character is special in a Galaxy with billions of uninteresting non-player characters. You should stand out. The HELP DESCRIPTION command in game will give you the necessary commands for adding a description. A more in depth guide with tips on writing descriptions and examples can be found here.
Create a Background
Another key piece of information you need to create for your character is a history or background file. They are a mixture of public records and a job resume. Players with the skill called lookup will have free access to this information when you're in the room with them. Players tend to struggle with figuring out what information to put into them. There are some things to keep in mind: What planet did they come from? How old are they? How did your character learn to do what they do? Was it learned in a trade school, in a gang, or perhaps they were a member of a local militia. Criminal records are another good detail to have, even if they are fabricated. The thing to remember is that everything you add is a possible RP hook for your character. The small details give reasons for why your character behaves in certain ways. Use this information to help bring your character to life. The only requirements for history files are using a template to make it look official and having your real name in it. Everything else is free form. The HELP BACKGROUND command in game will give you the necessary commands for adding a background. A more in depth guide for writing a history with examples can be found here.
Generate the Persona
So now that we've described what you look like and how you came to be who you are, it's time to figure out how you act. A persona encompasses who you are. Just like in real life, what you do for a living should not be the only way people describe you. This is where your creativity will shine. Does your character have hobbies? What about life goals? Think of past experiences that drive your character. What made them leave their homeworld? Did they have a spat with their family and they wanted to get as far away as possible? Another thing to think about is how they would react in situations and why. Maybe your character saw a corporation completely destroy their favorite childhood location for greed so now they fight for the environment. You don't need to have this figured out on day 1, nor does any of it need to be a strict mindset. People change their ways over time and so should your character. They will evolve over their life span. You just want to have a good foundation to start with and go from there. For further roleplaying tips, check out the Writing Games blog by Andruid.
Enter the Game World
You've made it to the end and by this point should have the knowledge necessary to help you be successful in your tenure on LOTJ. When you're absolutely sure, head north in the main area of Banvhar station towards Start Independent or Join a Clan hallway. When you reach the clueless student, make sure you go east to the Game Clients room. Speak to the Master of Ceremonies and say confirm. You'll be given a box of goodies which you should look at, and be sent to the last steps in the Academy. It is STRONGLY suggested that new players join a clan on their first character. This will give you a source of knowledge to draw from and an easy way to find people to interact with. You'll also have access to the resources of the clan which can sometimes include gear, ships, and more. If you decide that you'd still like to go it alone, head west and choose one of the starting planets. Both Coruscant and Wroona are good choices and they have a job board on the planet to help you find work. Otherwise, head east and select a clan. In either case, you'll find yourself in the game world where things will be considered completely in character.
With all of that said, Welcome to Legends of the Jedi. If you have questions, you can utilize the OSAY command to ask OOCly that is shown to anyone in the room, the OOC command which is a global out of character channel, the RPC command which is a private line to the Roleplay Council, or the IMMCHAT command that will give you a direct line to staff.
