Setting up NetRPG for the first time

Open up the NetRPG application.  Once NetRPG is running, quit out of it either with command-Q or with the menu.  NetRPG will have made a hierarchy of folders on your startup disk, like the following:

HardDrive : System Folder : Preferences Folder : NetRPG Folder :

In the NetRPG Folder are two things:
• NetRPG Preferences file
• NetRPG Characters folder

NetRPG Preferences file

(NOTE:  Unlike Chat, these options aren't set in the resource fork)
Double clicking the NetRPG Preferences file will open it up with SimpleText (or TeachText).  It looks like this:

DontAllowPasswords: UNUSED
DontAllowLogins: UNUSED
DontAllowWhispers: FALSE
DontAllowYells: FALSE
PortNumber: 1420
NumberOfTicksToOtherApps: 3
NumberOfTotalConnectionsMade: 215
NumberOfTotalLinesSent: 125065
AdministratorPassword: admin
NetRPG is free but send me some email at erich@kagi.com

The first four options are explained in the Chat documentation.

The port number is set to 1420 by default, but you can change it to 23 if you want people to be able to connect by just typing "telnet mymac.cs.uiuc.edu" instead of "telnet mymac.cs.uiuc.edu 1420"

The NumberOfTicksToOtherApps controls the relative speed of the server.  It should run fine with a setting of 3.  The recommend settings are from 2 to 15.

The next 2 items are used to keep track of usage of the NetRPG server.

The Administrator password is the password used to do admin commands.

A note on logging: The default for NetRPG is to NOT store a log for channel 1, which is the normal channel my group uses for playing.  If you want to keep a record of events/typing on channel 1, set a file name in the "log names" in the STR# rsrc.

The reason there is no default log is that Muddweller and other programs have their own logging facilities.  See the chat documentation for further details.

The last item is a remnant from when NetRPG was shareware.

NetRPG Characters folder

Inside the characters folder is where each player's character sheet is stored.  In order for someone to log in, they must be given a character sheet.  To do this, copy the "Blank" file from the NetRPG samples that came with this distribution.  The Blank character sheet looks like this:

Password: user
AC: 10
HP: 2 / 2
Ready: 
--[Below this line is the visible character sheet]--

The name of the file is the login name of that player.  (Ex: Mike can log in as character Blade if the file "blade" exists in the characters folder).  Give each person a password that they will remember.  The other lines in the header are used to store a player's settings between sessions.

Logging in to NetRPG

Run your favorite telnet or mudding program (like Muddweller) and connect to the mac which is running NetRPG.  Be sure to use the correct port #!  Log in using a character name you have created (see NetRPG Characters Folder above) and the corresponding password.  You should get some intro messages saying that you are logged in.

If you want to take advantage of NetRPG's real-time mapping facilities, then everyone playing should log in twice.  These secondary windows are called 'info windows'.  To get an info window, make a second connection to the NetRPG server.  Log in using the same name, but use "info" as your password.  If everything is typed correctly, you will have now activated your info window.

When any icons are moved on the map, all people with info windows get updated copies of the map sent to them.  Also, other types of information output are sent to the info-window instead of the main window, so as not to get in the way of conversation in the main window.

To log out, all you need to do is type "/quit" and it will log you out of both windows.

Help Screens

The following help screen is available by typing a single slash "/":

===========================
NetRPG Online Help
===========================
Type "/help <topic>" without the quotes, where <topic> is one of:
chat - general chat commands
rpg - general characters' commands
sheet - working with characters' character sheets
dm - commands for RPG Dungeon Master
admin - commands for running the NetRPG server

Topical help is available via "/help rpg", etc.

General NetRPG Notes

In NetRPG, the person logging in with a name of "DM" has access to many commands that the players can't use.  Since duplicate names are not allowed, this results in a simple security method against players using DM features.

All commands ignore capitalization.  ie, /ATTACK = /attack = /AtTaCk, as well as /ATTACK ORC = /attack orc.

The best way to get used to all these options is just to crank up the server and play around with it.  Check out the differences between DM commands and results, and regular player commands and results.