Description line (room)
When you look at a room--or enter it--there are several possible lines.
Contents
Verbose
This is what you get when you "look", or enter with look set to verbose.
Room name
If you have "options output shortinlong" set to "on", the first line will be the room's short description, or name, in brackets.
Lookmap (top)
If you have your "options output map" option for the type of room you're in set to "top", the lookmap will be next. This is an abbreviated version of what the map command shows you.
If it's too bright or dark to see, this is omitted.
Moon
If it's night and the moon is out, you'll get a line about the moon that's appropriate to the amount of cloud cover and whether you're on land or water. If there's no moon, it will say that instead.
- It is night and there is no moon.
- It is night and the <phase of moon> is hidden by the clouds.
- The <water/land> is lit up by the eerie light of the <type of moon>.
The phases of the moon are, in order:
- waxing crescent moon
- waxing quarter moon
- waxing half moon
- waxing three quarter moon
- waxing gibbous moon
- full moon
- waning gibbous moon
- waning three quarter moon
- waning half moon
- waning quarter moon
- waning crescent moon
- no moon
Long description
Next is the room's description, telling you what it looks like and what things are in it.
If it's too dark to see, then instead of the description you get this:
Something. It's dark here, isn't it?
On the other hand, if it's too bright, you get this:
Something. It's too bright to see anything!
Extra description
Some rooms have another line describing something specific in the room, which varies. Some examples are:
- In the Mended Drum, there's a line about the atmosphere.
- In street rooms in Ankh-Morpork, the line describes how many people are around.
- In forested terrain rooms, the line describes what's underfoot--fallen leaves, and so forth.
- Moving stalls, such as the ones found in the Djelibeybi bazaar, show up in these lines (non-moving stalls don't seem to).
- In Sto Lat and Genua, rooms leading to the sewers have one of these showing a manhole cover.
- Outdoors in Genua during the nighttime, rooms with lamps and torches have a line saying that they illuminate the surrounding area.
- In some shops in Genua, there is a line saying that, "A strange symbol has been etched over the entrance", indicating the shop is under the protection of one of the Coffee Nostra families.
- In CWC, the street lanterns change to reflect round world Chinese new year.
- In Ankh-Morpork, the street lamps change from 'A street lamp is here.' to 'A holly-festooned street lamp is here.' around Hogwatch.
Effects
There are a variety of effects that a room can be under.
Appearance | Type | Source |
---|---|---|
A <colour> balloon bounces around the room, giving it a festive atmosphere. | Item | balloon |
Balloons in <colours> bounce around the room, giving it a festive atmosphere. | Item | balloons |
The area is filled with <colour(s)> coloured bubbles, floating everywhere. | Item | Bubblebath |
There <is/are> [a] <name(s)> shaped crater(s) in the ground. | Other | crater |
A <colour> garland is hanging around, colouring the room up a little. | Item | garland |
<colours> garlands are hanging around, colouring the room up. | Item | garlands |
Some graffiti has been scrawled here: <message> | Other | Graffiti (Genua) |
Reality is somehow distorted here. | Ritual | Lost Highways |
An octogram on the ground glows in eldritch fashion. | Command | Octograve |
Someone has sprinkled <type(s)> powder around here. | Item | Powdered rock |
Thick clouds cover the sky. | Ritual | Soothing Rain |
A group of dead hands is thrusting out of the earth here. | Spell | Myrandil's Vicious Seizure |
If you can't see, then this part is omitted.
Background magic
The next line, if applicable, is the level of background magic in the room. This is only visible to those who can see into the octarine, that is, witches and wizards.
Weather
This section contains formulae or data from the distribution mudlib. This information may be several years out of date, so needs to be verified as correct. You can help by performing research to validate it. |
If you're outside, there will be a line describing the temperature, season, approximate time of day (or night), and weather.
If visibility is good you can see the following, if there's no precipitation that part is absent:
It is <a/an> <temperature> <season>'s <period of day> with <wind>, <cloud cover> and <precipitation>. <storm>
The period of day, wind, cloud cover, rain and storm are described below, the other ones in their respective pages.
Period of day
The day is divided thus:
Time | Description |
---|---|
varies to varies | night |
varies to 11:40 | morning |
11:41 to 12:20 | midday |
12:21 to 18:00 | afternoon |
18:01 to varies | evening |
The exact time of sunset and sunrise depends on the day of the year.
Morning comes in stages. First, the weather line changes to say that it's morning. After a few minutes or so, the sun actually begins to rise.
The turnwise sky starts to lighten as the sun peeks over the horizon.
Five (real) minutes later, this message appears:
The sun rises further above the turnwise horizon lightening the sky as morning arrives.
Finally, five minutes after that, this message appears:
The sun rises above the turnwise horizon and greets you for a new day.
Similarly, the transition from evening to night comes in stages. First, the sun begins to set, with this message:
The sun starts to set slowly on the widdershins horizon.
Five minutes later, this message appears:
The sun sinks further below the widdershins horizon.
Within a short time, the weather line changes to say that it's night. Finally, five minutes after the previous message, this message appears:
The sun disappears from view below the widdershins horizon.
After that comes the various aspects of the weather.
Wind
These are the messages you get in order from windless to as windy as you can get:
- no wind at all
- almost no wind
- a gentle breeze
- a steady breeze
- a strong breeze
- a steady wind
- gusty winds
- strong winds
- gale-force winds
- storm-force winds
Cloud cover
These are the messages you get in order from cloudless to as cloudy as you can get:
- a beautifully clear sky
- a few high level cirrus clouds
- scattered puffy clouds
- some puffy clouds
- many puffy clouds
- medium cloud cover
- dense cloud cover
- packed cloud cover
- thick black clouds
- thick heavy storm clouds
Looking at the clouds while outside gives you the room's full weather line.
Precipitation
The precipitation part combines the following like so:
<strength> <type>
Precipitation types depend on temperature, from coldest to warmest they are:
- snow
- sleet
- rain
Precipitation strength can be from the weakest to the strongest:
- light
- steady
- driving
- heavy
- very heavy (if rain: torrential)
You can look at the precipitation by type, i.e. look rain, but if it's sleeting you can only look at sleet not rain.
Doing so will give slightly different messages:
- lightly
- steadily (if there is a steady wind or stronger: hard)
- heavily
- very heavily (if rain: torrentially)
Storm
With extreme rain and wind, you additionally see:
Peals of thunder and streaks of lightning rend the sky.
Or if visibility is bad, you'll only see:
Peals of thunder echo overhead.
Obvious exits
Next, there's a line listing the obvious exits. The word "obvious" is important here: hidden exits will not be shown. Also, if you're in the terrains, you'll see either only the four cardinal directions (if you're not on a road), or the directions in which you can continue along the road (if you're on a road).
Living things
Any living things in the room, and their positions, will be shown next. If it's too dark or bright to see, this line and the next get changed to, "Some objects you can't make out are here."
Items
Any objects on the ground will be shown next. This also includes permanent and semi-permanent features such as street lamps, signs, wanted posters, carriage route notes, craters with no particular shape, and graffiti in certain spots.
Lookmap (bottom)
If you have your "options output map" option for the type of room you're in set to "bottom", the lookmap will be here.
Brief
This, on the other hand, is what you get when you "glance", or enter a room when you have look set to brief.
Darkness
If it's too dark to see, then all you see is:
You can't see your hand in front of your face.
Lookmap (top)
If you can see, this as the same as for verbose look.
Room name and obvious exits
This differs from verbose look: the line consists of the room name, then the abbreviated forms of the obvious exists, in brackets.
Living things
If you can see, this as the same as for verbose look.
Items
If you can see, this as the same as for verbose look.
Lookmap (bottom)
If you can see, this as the same as for verbose look.