Exploring and Interacting

Most play happens one room at a time. A room can be a literal chamber, a stretch of road, a forest clearing, or any other location its builder has imagined. Read the room description, inspect anything interesting, and use an exit or action to move the story forward.

If you are new to entering commands, abbreviations, and clickable actions, begin with Interface and Commands.

Worlds differ

Room descriptions, characters, items, exits, and special actions are created by each world’s builder. The commands on this page are platform conventions, but a particular world may add its own verbs, restrict an exit, or ask you to infer an interaction from the story.

Reading a room

The room view can contain:

• The room’s name and description.
• Exits, shown by direction.
• Items lying on the ground.
• Characters currently present.
• One or more builder-defined actions.

Use look at any time to show the current room again. Add a target to inspect a character, item, or detail more closely:

look
look guard
look sword
look painting

Descriptions often contain clues. If the prose calls attention to a particular noun, try looking at it even when it is not separately listed in the room.

Use exits when you want destination names as well as the abbreviated exit list:

exits

Moving between rooms

Move by entering one of the six directions. Their one-letter abbreviations also work.

Direction	Command	Short form
North	north	n
East	east	e
South	south	s
West	west	w
Up	up	u
Down	down	d

Moving normally costs 2 stamina, although terrain and world mechanics can change the cost. You cannot move normally while in combat; use flee if you need to escape an encounter. See Combat and Survival for details.

As you visit rooms, the map records them. A builder may also mark important landmarks so that they appear before you have personally visited them.

Selecting the right target

Commands usually identify things by a keyword from their name. For example, both of these commands target a sword:

look sword
get sword

When several things share a keyword, the command selects the first match unless you add a number. 2.sack means the second matching sack, 3.sack the third, and so on.

look 2.sack
get 2.sack

For item commands that support multiple targets, prefix the keyword with all.:

get all.rock
drop all.rock

The Items and Equipment guide covers item targeting and inventory commands in more detail.

Doors, keys, and containers

A closed exit must be opened before you can move through it. Identify the door by its direction or displayed name:

open north
close north
lock north

Opening a locked door automatically uses a matching key from your inventory when you have one. Builders can make a key break after it is used. To lock a door yourself, close it first and carry the appropriate key.

Containers can be on the ground or in your inventory. Look at one to see its contents, then name the container in an item command:

look chest
get potion chest
put potion sack

Corpses are containers too. Containers cannot be placed inside other containers.

Room and item actions

Builders can attach custom actions to a room or item. Available room actions appear with the room description, and the interface may present them as buttons. Enter or select the displayed action exactly as shown.

Some interactions are intentionally hidden. Dialogue, room prose, an item description, or a quest log may suggest a verb that is not listed as an available action. When in doubt, inspect the relevant character or object and follow the wording of the clue.

Stamina and resting

Stamina powers movement and many physical abilities. It regenerates while you are standing, but more quickly when you rest:

rest
stand

Rest only in a safe place. While resting, you cannot move or attack, and attacks against you deal double damage. Use stand before continuing.

For the exact regeneration rates and the meaning of each attribute, see Formulas and Attributes.

A basic exploration loop

1. Read the room when you arrive, or enter look to refresh it.
2. Use look <target> on anything important or unfamiliar.
3. Select a displayed action, interact with an item, or choose an exit.
4. Check exits or your map if you lose your bearings.
5. Rest somewhere safe when your stamina is low, then stand and continue.

Continue with Your Character to understand vitals, classes, skills, feats, and progression. When other players join the journey, Playing Together explains following and grouping.