S
Ssussunriyh
Guest
[Excerpted from the archived thread "Asnod's Descriptions 101," as originally written by Asnod, with additional notes from various players, and edited and expanded by Yours Truly... 
]
Beginners:
A description is, obviously enough, a text narrative about a character that someone plays in the In-Character (ISRP) chat rooms; what s/he looks like, how s/he is dressed and equipped, etc. To read someone's character description, you would use the following command:
/look at soandso
The command you would use to create or rewrite a description is:
/describe edit
If you follow the instructions that are then displayed, you would do this:
1. Type a "/" [slash], and then type in your (new) description. It is not necessary to hit Enter as soon as you run out of space in the dialog box, or at the end of each sentence. The text will "wrap" automatically.
2. Hit Enter when you reach the end of a paragraph and/or when finished typing in your description.
3. Type "/." [slash, period] then hit Enter to quit editing and save the new description.
Suppose you want your description to read "Bob is a 5 foot 11 inch tall human wearing bright green clothes with a blue painted breastplate over the top, lettered in yellow with the name 'Bob' in common script."
You would type the following:
/describe edit [Enter]
/Bob is a 5 foot 11 inch tall human wearing bright green clothes with a blue painted breastplate over the top, lettered in yellow with the name 'Bob' in common script. [Enter]
/. [Enter]
Afterwards, typing "/look at Bob" would then give the reader the desired result.
If you do not begin by typing a slash, iChat will assume you are using the default command, which is "say" (i.e., posting speech to the room.) Skipping the "/" before "Bob is etc..." while entering the description would result in the following description when viewed:
say Bob is a 5 foot 11 inch tall human wearing bright green clothes with a blue painted breastplate over the top, lettered in yellow with the name 'Bob' in common script.
Note: Any line you type before you quit editing by typing "/." will end up in your description. That is why there are people running around with "tell soandso whatever" and other chat lines in their descriptions.
Please don't try to chat and edit at the same time. You will end up with lines in your description starting with the word "say" that are then blank, or include bits of conversation. This can become annoying, especially if there are lots of them cluttering up the text in your description.
Intermediate:
Now that we know how to enter a description let's move on to formating one. With iChat you cannot indent the beginning of a line of text by putting spaces in to tab something over - iChat will simply omit them. However, if you follow the / with any character (other than a period) then put the spaces in, it will work. So, something like this:
/~ Bob is a 5 foot 11 inch tall human wearing bright green clothes with a blue painted breastplate over the top, lettered in yellow with the name 'Bob' in common script.
This is useful when you want to separate a description into paragraphs.
I would cover the use of bold, italics, and color here also, but given that occasionally such knowledge is abused (and the fact that for some reason certain clients don't shut off the formatting changes automatically at the end of the line and require a tag, leaving people with everything in bold, italics, or some horrible color) I won't get into that. If you do use one of these things, please, remember to end your tags. Thank you.
Additional Notes:
I have found it handy to type out a description beforehand in MS Word, Notepad, or some other word processing program, and then cut and paste to enter it. If you right-click inside the dialog box, you will get a menu which includes Cut, Copy, Paste, and similar commands. - Ssussunriyh.
Make sure you refresh your screen after typing the /. at the end (when it says "Your description has been successfully updated.") That way you'll get to continue. Also, doing a description in a silent room (ie: ISRP_Lobby) allows you to look at only what you're typing. - Wizo_Reesa.
A glitch in iChat is also responsible for the
<gettickermsgs>
<end>
that we all know and love. I believe this occurs when the scrolling iChat ticker reaches its end and restarts while you are in edit mode. Prepare your text in something like Notepad first, watch the ticker, and copy & paste in a hurry, and you should never have to refresh just because of editing your description. Of course, milage may vary. - Asnod.
Advanced:
Now that we know how to make a description, and how to format it to make it "pretty" or whatever, lets discuss what should be included in a description. The first point to remember is that the command to see someone's description is "/look at soandso". The second point to remember is that these descriptions are used for reference In-Character.
Combine these two points and you can come up with a fairly good assumption that everything in a description should be something that is visible and comprehensible just by seeing your character.
Here is the Asnodian list of what probably belongs in a description (Note: there are millions of reasons to make exceptions):
Race
Gender
Hair color/length/style
Eye color
Skin color
Body build (slim, muscular, etc.)
Armor
Weapons
Clothing
Carried items (backpacks, pouches, walking sticks, etc)
Tattoos
Scars
Missing (or extra) appendages
Jewelry
Musical instruments
Here is my personal list of what should NOT by any means show up in a description:
Full family history for the character
Character's personal history
The history of some item the character carries
Personality traits
Personality descriptions
Pleas for attention
Character's spouse's, relative's, friend's, or significant other's name
Character stats
Weapon stats
Armor stats
Both lists could probably be expanded greatly, but I think we get the idea. Of course, discretion should be used on everything listed. If your character is fully hidden by a cloak or robe, armor or clothing and such wouldn't normally be visible, so don't go into great detail about it. (Though perhaps there will be the telltale bulge of a sword's hilt hidden beneath a cloak. A sword would certainly be visible if strapped across a character's back.) There are also some anomolies that should quickly be addressed.
Anomolies:
Shapechangers (were-creatures and others) can be seen through by use of True Seeing and similar magic, which would reveal their natural form (the grey skin and featureless face of a doppleganger, for example.) While True Seeing shouldn't be an extremely common ability, it would be nice to those people who do have it to add a blurb at the very end of a description in OOC tags "(( ))" either a message for people with True Seeing to PM you, or what is seen with True Seeing.
Illusions can also be seen through, though it is much easier. Using OOC tags would be appropriate in this case, with a note that it is an illusion perhaps, and some indication of how hard it is to see past. Actual stats are not recommended in a description, though it is best to keep them ready in case someone wishes to know the DC so they can let the fates (Hiss, Click, Bones, etc) decide if they pierce it or not rather than Auto-defeating it.
Additional Notes:
You may also want to include clues to the class of the character other than armor and weapons, for instance saying that soandso's char wears plate mail, and carries a long sword is great, but it suggests two different classes, the fighter and the paladin. Now saying that soandso's char. wears plate mail and carries a Holy Avenger, says that the char is a paladin. If your clues aren't enough for the class to be noticed, you might want to include it in the description. - Shen's player
How would the average onlooker be able to tell a Holy Avenger longsword from a non-magical masterwork longsword at a glance? They couldn't. Maybe if said character was dressed in full-plate armor, armed with an ornate longsword, AND wore the holy symbol of a goodly god, that would give the observer a clue that he was looking at a paladin. On the other hand, he might be a cleric who learned how to use a sword, or a fighter who just happens to be deeply religious...
A character's description doesn't always indicate his/her class. General tendecies, yes, but stereotypes often lead to meta-game thinking. - Loremistress.
When making your description also remember to make it as short as possible. People tend to skip over a description that's too wordy. When you're in a scrolling chat and trying to read a description that's ten pages long....well you get the idea of the impossibility you're looking at. Make a brief version for the chat room and then you can put your big version up on a website for your character.
Which brings me to my second point, including links in your description. I've always found using the little button on your chat screen that lets you type in the link and a name for the link VERY useful if you, say, wanted to link to a picture or a website for your character, and then you don't have to worry about messy HTML coding. - Seraph's Player
This concludes our course; please post any questions, the exam will begin Monday at... :teach:
]Beginners:
A description is, obviously enough, a text narrative about a character that someone plays in the In-Character (ISRP) chat rooms; what s/he looks like, how s/he is dressed and equipped, etc. To read someone's character description, you would use the following command:
/look at soandso
The command you would use to create or rewrite a description is:
/describe edit
If you follow the instructions that are then displayed, you would do this:
1. Type a "/" [slash], and then type in your (new) description. It is not necessary to hit Enter as soon as you run out of space in the dialog box, or at the end of each sentence. The text will "wrap" automatically.
2. Hit Enter when you reach the end of a paragraph and/or when finished typing in your description.
3. Type "/." [slash, period] then hit Enter to quit editing and save the new description.
Suppose you want your description to read "Bob is a 5 foot 11 inch tall human wearing bright green clothes with a blue painted breastplate over the top, lettered in yellow with the name 'Bob' in common script."
You would type the following:
/describe edit [Enter]
/Bob is a 5 foot 11 inch tall human wearing bright green clothes with a blue painted breastplate over the top, lettered in yellow with the name 'Bob' in common script. [Enter]
/. [Enter]
Afterwards, typing "/look at Bob" would then give the reader the desired result.
If you do not begin by typing a slash, iChat will assume you are using the default command, which is "say" (i.e., posting speech to the room.) Skipping the "/" before "Bob is etc..." while entering the description would result in the following description when viewed:
say Bob is a 5 foot 11 inch tall human wearing bright green clothes with a blue painted breastplate over the top, lettered in yellow with the name 'Bob' in common script.
Note: Any line you type before you quit editing by typing "/." will end up in your description. That is why there are people running around with "tell soandso whatever" and other chat lines in their descriptions.
Please don't try to chat and edit at the same time. You will end up with lines in your description starting with the word "say" that are then blank, or include bits of conversation. This can become annoying, especially if there are lots of them cluttering up the text in your description.
Intermediate:
Now that we know how to enter a description let's move on to formating one. With iChat you cannot indent the beginning of a line of text by putting spaces in to tab something over - iChat will simply omit them. However, if you follow the / with any character (other than a period) then put the spaces in, it will work. So, something like this:
/~ Bob is a 5 foot 11 inch tall human wearing bright green clothes with a blue painted breastplate over the top, lettered in yellow with the name 'Bob' in common script.
This is useful when you want to separate a description into paragraphs.
I would cover the use of bold, italics, and color here also, but given that occasionally such knowledge is abused (and the fact that for some reason certain clients don't shut off the formatting changes automatically at the end of the line and require a tag, leaving people with everything in bold, italics, or some horrible color) I won't get into that. If you do use one of these things, please, remember to end your tags. Thank you.
Additional Notes:
I have found it handy to type out a description beforehand in MS Word, Notepad, or some other word processing program, and then cut and paste to enter it. If you right-click inside the dialog box, you will get a menu which includes Cut, Copy, Paste, and similar commands. - Ssussunriyh.
Make sure you refresh your screen after typing the /. at the end (when it says "Your description has been successfully updated.") That way you'll get to continue. Also, doing a description in a silent room (ie: ISRP_Lobby) allows you to look at only what you're typing. - Wizo_Reesa.
A glitch in iChat is also responsible for the
<gettickermsgs>
<end>
that we all know and love. I believe this occurs when the scrolling iChat ticker reaches its end and restarts while you are in edit mode. Prepare your text in something like Notepad first, watch the ticker, and copy & paste in a hurry, and you should never have to refresh just because of editing your description. Of course, milage may vary. - Asnod.
Advanced:
Now that we know how to make a description, and how to format it to make it "pretty" or whatever, lets discuss what should be included in a description. The first point to remember is that the command to see someone's description is "/look at soandso". The second point to remember is that these descriptions are used for reference In-Character.
Combine these two points and you can come up with a fairly good assumption that everything in a description should be something that is visible and comprehensible just by seeing your character.
Here is the Asnodian list of what probably belongs in a description (Note: there are millions of reasons to make exceptions):
Race
Gender
Hair color/length/style
Eye color
Skin color
Body build (slim, muscular, etc.)
Armor
Weapons
Clothing
Carried items (backpacks, pouches, walking sticks, etc)
Tattoos
Scars
Missing (or extra) appendages
Jewelry
Musical instruments
Here is my personal list of what should NOT by any means show up in a description:
Full family history for the character
Character's personal history
The history of some item the character carries
Personality traits
Personality descriptions
Pleas for attention
Character's spouse's, relative's, friend's, or significant other's name
Character stats
Weapon stats
Armor stats
Both lists could probably be expanded greatly, but I think we get the idea. Of course, discretion should be used on everything listed. If your character is fully hidden by a cloak or robe, armor or clothing and such wouldn't normally be visible, so don't go into great detail about it. (Though perhaps there will be the telltale bulge of a sword's hilt hidden beneath a cloak. A sword would certainly be visible if strapped across a character's back.) There are also some anomolies that should quickly be addressed.
Anomolies:
Shapechangers (were-creatures and others) can be seen through by use of True Seeing and similar magic, which would reveal their natural form (the grey skin and featureless face of a doppleganger, for example.) While True Seeing shouldn't be an extremely common ability, it would be nice to those people who do have it to add a blurb at the very end of a description in OOC tags "(( ))" either a message for people with True Seeing to PM you, or what is seen with True Seeing.
Illusions can also be seen through, though it is much easier. Using OOC tags would be appropriate in this case, with a note that it is an illusion perhaps, and some indication of how hard it is to see past. Actual stats are not recommended in a description, though it is best to keep them ready in case someone wishes to know the DC so they can let the fates (Hiss, Click, Bones, etc) decide if they pierce it or not rather than Auto-defeating it.
Additional Notes:
You may also want to include clues to the class of the character other than armor and weapons, for instance saying that soandso's char wears plate mail, and carries a long sword is great, but it suggests two different classes, the fighter and the paladin. Now saying that soandso's char. wears plate mail and carries a Holy Avenger, says that the char is a paladin. If your clues aren't enough for the class to be noticed, you might want to include it in the description. - Shen's player
How would the average onlooker be able to tell a Holy Avenger longsword from a non-magical masterwork longsword at a glance? They couldn't. Maybe if said character was dressed in full-plate armor, armed with an ornate longsword, AND wore the holy symbol of a goodly god, that would give the observer a clue that he was looking at a paladin. On the other hand, he might be a cleric who learned how to use a sword, or a fighter who just happens to be deeply religious...
A character's description doesn't always indicate his/her class. General tendecies, yes, but stereotypes often lead to meta-game thinking. - Loremistress.
When making your description also remember to make it as short as possible. People tend to skip over a description that's too wordy. When you're in a scrolling chat and trying to read a description that's ten pages long....well you get the idea of the impossibility you're looking at. Make a brief version for the chat room and then you can put your big version up on a website for your character.
Which brings me to my second point, including links in your description. I've always found using the little button on your chat screen that lets you type in the link and a name for the link VERY useful if you, say, wanted to link to a picture or a website for your character, and then you don't have to worry about messy HTML coding. - Seraph's Player
This concludes our course; please post any questions, the exam will begin Monday at... :teach:
