Building

How do I submit a building request? What should I know?
All building requests must go through the Building Queue. There will be no exceptions to this. The Building Queue has a turnaround time of 48 hours to claim and review your request. Because of the nature of building, it may take longer to actually build what you're wanting if it's left up to staff to build it. If it's been less than 48 hours, don't page Buildstaff or @mail them about the request. They'll get to it. If it has been more than 48 hours, send a polite reminder to Swift via @mail, and he'll take care of it as soon as possible.

For those who want to build their own projects, you also need to submit your project idea to the Building Queue with a quick summary of what the project is, where you'd prefer it linked, and how many rooms will be included in the project. Staff will review your request within 48 hours and then will issue you a builder character to do the actual building. The Builder character's password will be @mailed to you and you will be responsible for doing the building. After you're done building, send an Inspection request to staff so that they can inspect it. once it's inspected and approved as Done, staff will link it to the Grid.

What kind of building projects will not be allowed on Winter's Edge?
The following buildings/building concepts are not allowed on Winter's Edge:


 * Any building that goes against theme: No city of the clouds from Star Wars or Empire State Buildings. Those are the obvious ones. Also covered in this section are buildings that would require the resident to own the land upon which it is set. The Crown owns all the land and derives its power from that ownership. While they will and usually do allow people to build their businesses and homes upon the land, they give over ownership in only extremely rare occasions. Any building request/suggestion in which your character (or an NPC other than the Crown) owns the land it is on will be immediately denied.


 * Cliched buildings: If the grid already has two or three of the building type you're requesting, you will likely be denied the request. Smithies and magic shops spring immediately to mind. If you have a building idea, walk around the grid, looking, and asking people about it, see if others have already had the same idea. Temples are an exception.


 * Any personal Keep, Tower, Stronghold, Castle, Fort, or similar structure, except with special permission: At this point, there are enough areas on the grid for numerous people to be able to roleplay with one another. Until Headstaff decides to allow players to build personal keeps (and so on) any requests in this vein will be denied.


 * Certain private dwellings: Any private domicile that your character couldn't possibly afford (a 26-room mansion for a 2nd level character for example), or wouldn't make sense for your character to have. Use common sense in requesting your private dwellings, and remember that while we don't mind providing characters with dwellings in which to RP, private dwellings should not be a focal point of Role play, as that cuts your PCs off from others who are on the grid.

What are the rules and guidelines for building?
There are a few guidelines that must be followed to have a building project approved here on Winter's Edge. They are listed below:

All building projects must follow the naming convention: Area/Building name - Room/Area within the building

For example:


 * White Hart Inn - Common Room


 * White Hart Inn - Sitting Room


 * White Hart Inn - Upstairs

All rooms and exits must follow the following @desc format, whether you are using one of Keran's Parents (for seasonal/time descs) or the Master Building Parent (#98):


 * @desc Room=%R%TParagraph%R%R%TParagraph%R


 * @desc Exit=%R%TDescription%R

All Exits must follow the exit naming convention:

Exit Name %xh%xbÂ‹%xn%xh%xcAlias%xn%xh%xbÂ›%xn;Exit Name;Alias

All Exits must have the following attributes set to them:


 * @desc


 * @succ


 * @osucc


 * @odrop


 * @fail *


 * @ofail *

''*- These are only necessary when set on an exit that will be +locked. Refer to help for more information about each one.''

All rooms in a building project must be parented to one of the following parents:


 * 98 Master Building Parent (the most common parent)


 * 41 Keran's Parent of Windowed Indoor Rooms


 * 42 Keran's Parent of Windowless Indoor Rooms


 * 43 Keran's Parent of Separable Day-Night and Season Desc Outdoor Rooms


 * #45 Keran's Parent of Season-and-Day-Night-Dawn-Dusk Outdoor Rooms


 * 44 Keran's Parent of Season-and-Day-Night Varying Outdoor Rooms


 * #46 Keran's Parent of Separable Day-Night-Dawn-Dusk and Season Outdoor Rooms


 * 47 Keran's Parent of Weather-and-Day-Night Varying Outdoor Rooms

The list of Keran's Parents can be views by typing +parent. If you need assistance with figuring out how each of Keran's Parents works, @mail Swift and he will get back to you ASAP.


 * +Tmaps must be installed on every room unless it is a hallway or some other pass-through point. All major rooms /must/ have a +tmap. See +help maps for more on setting up and configuring +tmaps.


 * Every room must be +checked for consistency. See +help +check for more information. This will also be checked by the staffer inspecting the building.


 * Every room must have one exit aliased as Out;o pointing back towards the main grid.

Any building projects that do not follow these guidelines will immediately be rejected and sent back to the builder for correction.

What about descriptions, and aesthetic considerations?
When you're desc'ing a room or an exit, or installing a +view (+help +view), or any other text entry in a building project, please run it through a spelling/grammar check. If you don't have a program that will do a spell check on text, go to Open Office and download the Open Office suite. It's a free office utility that has an excellent word processing program in it.

When you're going to build a project that's more than one room and one door, sit down and sketch it out on a piece of paper before-hand so you can get a solid idea of how the building should interact with the player. It doesn't have to be art, just a simple sketched diagram of the rooms, the doors that connect the rooms, and notes of any special descriptions or ideas for each room. Once you've done this, you're ready to sit down and flesh out your description.

When you're desc'ing the area, think not in terms of you, me, and them. Don't do the players' thinking for them. When you're going to describe something take a moment and look around you, realize how you're perceiving the area, how the area looks. If you're putting a cluttered desk in a description, you don't have to delineate each scrap of paper, ashtray, or empty potato chip bag. Just give the player a general idea.

An example:

In the center of this well lit office sits an oakwood desk, its sides scarred from many scuffs with the Janitor's vacuum cleaner. The top of the desk is littered with various rickrack from empty soda bottles to an old light bill from six months ago. Whoever habits this office is apparently not slovenly, just too busy to clean and too territorial to let the staff do it.

Okay, it's not the best description in the world, but you get the idea. Let the players do their own thinking, but don't be afraid to give them a little direction while you do it. And as a builder, don't get discouraged if no one "oohs and ahs" over your descriptions. Most players read it once and then get on with their lives - that's okay, it's not about setting, it's about the roleplay. If you're doing your job right, you're setting the scene for the roleplay in a believable, well written room, which people will come to know and love.

How does building ownership work?
From an IC standpoint, while people can 'own' the dwellings built on Crown land, it must be done with the Crown's approval. Building houses, warehouses, and shops is generally acceptable, while keeps and citadels need actual land grants. These are rare, and are only given, usually, to nobility or those who have earned landed knighthood. (Look under What kind of building projects will not be allowed on Winter's Edge? for more.)

Characters must pay for the buildings they desire, and the buildings must meet the standards detailed in this FAQ. They must serve a need, if public. A player can +qmail Building for information on what he can afford. Check the Core Rules and the Stronghold Builder's Guide for more information about costs and options. Players who build are strongly urged to @decompile their projects upon completion, and store those files for reference.

A building may be owned by an individual character, by a group of PCs, or by a faction. One PC should be chosen as the default IC 'owner' in all cases, but if he goes idle, ownership may be passed to another faction member.

If a player is 3 months idle without notice to staff, he has forfeited his right to ownership of the building in question and the money paid for it, and other players who have interest in purchasing the building may begin to do so. The exception to this is for projects owned by a group. In these cases, the ownership reverts to the PC elected by the active group members.

Building Tutorial available to look at in game.