How to Read Books

How to Read Books

So you're found your first tome, encyclopedia or book, congratulations! Now what do you do? Here are some tips for obtaining the best reading experience at JediMUD!

Find the TOC

Let's look at the Table of Contents. Every book will have a table of contents. Here's an example:

>look toc
Table of Contents

Ch. I    Histories of the Gyrgyle Race
Ch. II   High Tongues of the Demon-Dragonkind
Ch. III  Low Dialects of the Gyrgyle Slave Caste
Ch. IV   Gyrgyle Ecclesia Encanto Est
Ch. V    Cadenza of the Ice Avatar

This book has five chapters.

Reading the Chapters

To read a chapter, you can reference it by the chapter number, like "one", "1" or by the first keyword in the chapter title, like "histories." For example:

>look 1
>look one
>look histories

Will read the first chapter in this book.

Learning a Subject

Some books can impart a lifetime of knowledge to the reader. Use the "study" command to learn the contents of a book. For the example above, use the following command:

>study encyclopedia

The time it takes to study a subject varies subject to subject and take into account your character's INTELLIGENCE, WISDOM and CHARISMA. Possessing 25s in INT, WIS and CHA will reduce the total amount of time it takes to study a subject. For example, Beleg would like to study the language and customs of the Gyrgyle race:

You stop using Giant Golden Sword.
You grab Encyclopedia Gyrgylynum, Vol. I .
> study

You sit down with this book and study the language and culture of the Gyrgyle race.
Beleg, based on your wisdom [18], intelligence [15] and charisma [18], you will require 49 turns to learn this material.

You begin studying the language and culture of the Gyrgyle race.

Every 30 seconds you'll be cued for study time remaining:

You continue to study the language and culture of the Gyrgyle race. Study time left: 19 minutes. 

Study Time

During your study, you'll be unable to perform other actions. Entering melee will end your study, and you will have to start your program again. It is recommended that you remain seated throughout your study session. If your study time is longer than the idle out time, it is possible that your study could be interrupted by the idle timer. The maximum study time possible is 49 turns. Once you have successfully studied the book, the book will be consumed and your character will forever (even in future remorts) possess mastery of the subject matter.

Your feet are suddenly free!
Congratulations!  You have successfully learned the language and culture of Gyrgyle race!

If the subject of the book cannot be studied, you will receive the following message:

You cannot study this material!