*L201

TAAL's GUIDE TO WORLD BUILDING
==============================


PART 1C - THE ZONE
------------------
I mentioned ZONES earlier. Before you start making rooms, mobiles and objects
it is essential that you have a good understanding of how zones in WARP work.
A zone is a collection of rooms put together in a GRID. And the MUD consist of
a large number of such zones.

Let us begin with this simple illustration of a zone;

    -------------------------------
    |00|01|02|03|04|05|06|07|08|09|
    |10|11|12|13|14|15|16|17|18|19|
    |20|21|22|23|24|25|26|27|28|29|
    |30|31|32|33|34|35|36|37|38|39|
    |40|41|42|43|44|45|46|47|48|49|
    |50|51|52|53|54|55|56|57|58|59|
    |60|61|62|63|64|65|66|67|68|69|
    |70|71|72|73|74|75|76|77|78|79|
    |80|81|82|83|84|85|86|87|88|89|
    |90|91|92|93|94|95|96|97|98|99|
    -------------------------------         fig A. The Grid


Every zone in WARP is a assigned a (10sq x 10sq) GRID, giving a total of 100
rooms per zone. 
IMPORTANT: Each room within the zone is given a unique identification number
called a VNUM (Virtual NUMber) based upon its column and row cordinates. The
first room being 00 and the last being 99. To locate a particular idenfication 
number (VNUM) you simply read the row number first (i.e. downways) then the 
column number (i.e. acrossways). The number of the zone is attached before these
room numbers and thus room 21 in zone 50 would be room 5021.

This room number is important. It works like a personal locator, it tells the mud
where the player is and where to send them if they head in a particular direction.
Also, since the rooms are laid out in a particular grid it makes it easier for
the designers and supervisors to coordinate the zones with each other. (This is
why it is important that the rooms are put at the location in the map that its
coordinates suggest. An exception to this is NULL rooms (See Below)).

Zones aren't automatically connected with one another, and only DESIGNER+ 
immortals can do this. (It is important that the supervisor of an area coordinates
the builders so that the zones have consistency to each other.)

When you design the map of your zone you do not have to use every square of the
grid, and all rooms do not have to be in the exact spot that its coordinates
suggest. These rooms are called NULL rooms, and I will get back to those later.

The map needs to contain the following: Connections in between the rooms used,
and some idea of what terrain or surroundings each room finds itself in. How you
do this is up to you. Some use colours, others use symbols to signify terrain.

Here follows an example of part of a zone map (drawn in ASCII):

ZONE 69 - Grunburg
==================

                 |
  %00    :01    =02    :03    :04--- :05--- ~06--- ~07--- ~08
   |      |      | *    |      |      |      |      |      |
   |      |      |      |      |      |      |      |      |  @09
   |      |      |      |      |      |      |      |      | e
  %10-s- :11-d- =12-d- :13-s- :14--- :15--- :16    ~17--- %18--- ~19
   |             |             |      |      |      |      |      |
   |             |             |      |      |      |     t28     |
   |             |             |      |      |      |      |      |
  %20    @21-d- =22-l- @23eee :24--- :25--- :26    ~27-u59-+---- ~29
          |      |                           |      |      |      | 

Map Legend
==========

 %  - Forest
 :  - Fields/Farmland
 =  - Road/Street
 ~  - Lake
 @  - Indoors
 t  - Trail or similar

 -- - east/west connection
  d - connection with door
  s - connection with secret door
  l - connection with locked/barred door
  e - connection with enter-exit
 |  - north/south connection
 *  - special note about room
 

This is the northern part of a zone called Grunburg. At first it might look
a bit confusing, but try to visualize the zone a bit, using the map legend
to transform symbols into pictures. 

For more explanation on the actual drawing of an ASCII map, see HELP GUIDE MAP.

In the above illustration you can see exactly which room connects to the other
and how their VNUMS will interact. For example, lets take 6904 (zone 69, room 04)
which is listed as a field. Now, move one square to the right we have 6905. The
connection means, that a character standing in the fields of room 6904 moving east
(right) would end up in the fields room 6905.

You will also see that one point of the grid (09) isn't at its spot, this is
a NULL room, which have been reused really close nearby, to make an enter-exit
from room 6918. Another such NULL room can be seen with room 59, which have 
been used to make a room that is placed directly below where room 6928 would be,
and thus the square would already be occupied and we need a NULL. All NULLs do 
not need be used however.

By making this grid it's incredibly easy to plan with other builders how
your zones are going to link.  All you have to do is show this grid to the
other builder and he/she will know straight away that how the borders of
his/her zone will need to look. If you haven't done this you'll eventually run
into all sorts of trouble. You'll have roads connecting onto oceans and
mountains connecting into towns if you're unlucky.  Its also imperative that
you tell a supervisor your plans on linking so they can check and make sure
everything will fit in ok.

How do you plan the layout? You do not need to use all 100 rooms, but I 
reccommend a minimum of at least two thirds of the zone (60+ rooms). Further,
a way of planning connections can be to start out with all rooms connected, 
and then you remove connections as you go, finding a reason for those rooms
-not- being connected. This can be virtually anything. Dense forest and 
underbrush. A huge rock. A too steep mountainside. A crack in the earth. 
A wall. The back of a building. Just about anything, but make sure that it
fits the surroundings. 

A room does not have an explisit size. However a wilderness zone is roughly
20 miles across. (So a room would be roughly 2x2 miles.) Try to picture the
environment of your zone as you go. Think some about realism. What kind of
terrain is logic to use next to one another. 

If in doubt about anything, do not be afraid to ask someone that is more
experienced than you (i.e higher immortal level). If you can't find your
supervisor online, then ask anyone that seem available. 


There are a few requirements for zones:

1. If it is an outdoor zone where there can be reason to believe that your zone
will connect to zones around it, it absolutely must be 10 rooms wide and 10
rooms high. This is so it will fit in the grid and can be connected logically
to the zones around it. This does of course not mean you have to make all the
100 rooms in the grid itself, or that you have to reach the zone-borders in
every possible place, but atleast in some places.

2. The room numbering must be logical. Going east from 545 will take me to 546.
The only exceptions for this is when you use NULL rooms (rooms not used at
their ordinary place in the grid) to create up/down places or similar areas.
Also, the terrains and surroundings of rooms should connect logically - thus
you can't have a field of wheat connecting to a deep swamp without some rooms
in between as transition.


NEXT: HELP GUIDE WRITER or HELP GUIDE ROOMS