Newbie Guide Doors, Exits, and Exploring
Newbie Guide Doors, Exits, and Exploring
This guide written and published by p(Baca/Endo)
“It's a dangerous business, Frodo, going out your door. You step onto the road, and if you don't keep your feet, there's no knowing where you might be swept off to.”
Gandalf, JRRT, The Fellowship of the Ring
The goal of this guide is to help newer players find doors, open doors, move, and explore.
And maybe die less while doing it!
Many parts of this guide reference to the MUME help pages which can be found at:
https://mume.org/help/help_index
Bold words can be looked up in the games help files. Like help open.
Contents
Movement points
When you move around and explore the game by walking, riding, climbing or swimming, it uses up your movement points, often called mvs or mps.
The faster you move around, or the more difficult terrain you try to move across, the faster your movement points will be used up.
If you practice the Endurance skill some, or the Wilderness skill some, you might notice your movement points lasting a little bit longer.
The most effective way to use moves effectively us to learn the Riding skill and ride a mount.
Please read help movement or help mps
Basic Exit Information
First command to learn is the exit command and change autoexits.
The exit command shows you the way out from the room you are currently standing in. It might be north, south, east, west, up, or down. It should also show you any visible open or closed exits you can see. In town, a building, or a farm, this might be a type of door. If you are in a cave or out in the wilds, this might be a plant or rock covering up an exit.
The change autoexits command brings up the available visible exits whenever you enter a new room. So autoexit can save some time and give you more information about where you can go. Also autoexit helps with the mapper interface for knowing where you are in the game.
Options with Exits
You can move in any directions for any exit you can see. Try typing:
n, e, s, w, u, or d
You can look in any directions for more information:
look n, look d, look e
Look direction "Nothing special there..." means it's some type of wall or the side of a cave or mountain. It means you can't go that way.
You can search in a direction to maybe find out more information about the room or maybe a secret or hidden door. There is more on search and secret doors below.
You can scout in any directions you can move. Try typing scout w, or scout n.
If there is a mob in the direction you are scouting, you will be able to see it. You can also see the next rooms name, and the exits from that room. Some more dangerous areas of the game do not allow scouting. And a few rare exits are 'no-scout', just means the command won't give you any good information.
Types of Exits
You might run across exits that don't allow you to move that direction. Or require some more effort then just typing, n, e, s, w, u, or d.
Exits:
NORMAL - just type a direction and move that way and back if you want
SWIM - some exits require you to have swim turned on to go that direction
CLIMB - some exits require you to have climb turned on to go that direction
NO-RIDE - some exits you can pass through only if you are walking or leading a mount. You cannot enter them if you are riding. So just lead a mount to get through.
ONEWAY- some exits only allow you to move in one direction through them. Warning if you scout these exits, you are automatically pulled through!! It is possible something dangerous could be on the other side.
DRAIN MOVES - a few exits in the game take a few more movement points to pass through. This could be just some mud (takes 2-3 extra moves) to extremely deep snow (can take 20-25+ moves).
RANDOM - this can be very frustrating! There are different types of random exits. Some just give you a percent chance to go a different direction then what you typed. North turns out to send you east, west can send you north, etc. Makes it MUCH easier to get lost. Also some random exits force anything following you to unfollow you. So you can lose your group or your mount with you. If you are skilled in the Track skill from the Ranger guild, you might get randomed by an exit less often. Also if the sun is up you might get randomed less often.
SHUTTING - few exits in the game shut a door behind you after you pass through them
WARNING - possible death trap or damage exit, few exits in the game you might take damage passing them from falling rocks or sharp thorns. Some will instantly kill you or possibly kill you with a short time delay. Almost all of them will give you some sort of warning if you look in that direction to see if it is safe.
FALLING - there are different types of falling exits, but the general idea is if you go that direction, you can fall and take damage. The damage might be low (10-20 hits) or can be very high (100 hits). Some falls force you to sit down or even leave you dropped in rivers, and need to swim! Some fall exits can be avoided by not riding or going one at a time to keep your groups weight down to avoid breaking a weak bridge or branch.
SIZE or HEIGHT - very few exits in the game restrict how big of a character can walk through them. Pretty much these exits are hobbit only. If you are too big, you might hit your head for some light damage (1-4 hits), and not be able to pass that direction.
MOB STOPPING - there are some exits in the game where a mob will stop you from passing through an exit. Some of these mobs you can pass after you pay them. Others you have to kill or sleep them to get past.
WEBBED - It's even more Tolkien with spiders! Some exits are webbed. If you try and move through a webbed exit, you can get stuck. Sometimes you can break free from the webs after spamming directions or fleeing. Others you need to burn the webs first. You can use fire spells, lit torches and lanterns to burn some webs. Some webs are slightly fire resistant, and you need to pour oil or alcohol on them first.
Climb Exits
Some exits that require swim and climb you can do by just turning on the swim and climb options in the game. You can also choose how risky you want to be with your climbing as well.
Some exits are cliffs, mountains, valleys, wells, tall walls, trees, or other difficult terrain to move through. You'll need to use climb.
climb safe will let you climb any exit that won't hurt you by falling down.
climb always will let you climb any exit that might hurt you by falling down. The damage can be small (4-5 hits) to large (12-15 hits), so caution doing alot of this at lower levels. You can die from falling.
Climb exits work by percentage. If the climb exit is a 25%, if you have 28% climb, you'll pass by it easily, but if you only have 0 or 12% climb, you'll have issues and can often fall down by trying it. Some characters with a higher Dexterity or Strength a slight advantage with this.
If you are following someone with a rope, they can use it to help you avoid damage and climb more successfully. Also a player with high climb skill can climb up and tie a rope down an exit, to greatly boost your chances to climb an exit.
You can practice the Climb skill at Ranger guilds. Having a good Dexterity score will help you get a high % with your practice, Willpower and Strength help some too.
If you are a low level just learning to explore, 30% climb is good enough to get started.
If you make it to higher levels and go to more dangerous areas 60%+ climb might be needed.
climb, climb safe, climb always, tie rope down, wear rope, get rope
Swim Exits
If the exit was a lake, river, ocean, pond, or other source of water, you'll need some swim instead.
You can still walk across some swamps, marshes, fords, and very small streams usually.
Simply typing swim will either turn it on or off. If you have swim on, you can move OR FLEE into water rooms. If you have swim off, you won't move or flee into water rooms.
If you are boating, you can avoid needing to swim. Basically a boat is equal to 100% in the Swim skill. All you need to do is hold the boat in your inventory. Boats load in several areas of the game, and reappear every repop. Boats do have one major drawback, they are very HEAVY!!! Do not just carry one around, they are too heavy to do that. Drop the boat when done using it. Just use them for your water trips as needed.
If you can't find a boat you can buy them fairly cheap from Captain shops, they sell and buy boats. You can find a Captain shop in GH Forlond, just NE of Brandywine Bridge, Rushey, and Hobbiton in Shire, Tharbad, and Rivendell.
Also, there are a few rooms on rivers that have rapids, and boats either can't cross them, or maybe will break on the rocks.
During the winter and in some colder areas of the game, rivers and lakes will become frozen. You can walk across frozen water and lead a horse across. No swimming or boating is needed. In fact you cannot swim down if the water is frozen.
If you don't have a boat, you will be swimming. The more Swim skill you have from the Ranger guild, the less moves it will use, and the less you might swallow water, choke, and lose some hits, which is drowning in game. If you run out of moves you will drown, which is a death where you lose some travel points. If all you do is some rare surface swimming, you can probably get by with 30% swim skill or so, and maybe use a boat as needed.
Some rivers flow very fast, and will push you down stream, even if you do not want to go that direction. Beware of fast running water, as you may end up somewhere you did not intend on going. Also some running water is so fast, it is hard to swim back out of it. It has a delay and takes many moves and rooms to get out.
Swimming underwater is very different. You use up moves very VERY fast! And your chances of drowning underwater is MUCH higher then on the surface. Mostly you want to move under water as fast as you can type, so you can reach air again. One item helps very slightly with underwater swimming: a long hollow stem. It gives you a very small assistance with the first underwater room. You can pick them from reeds around several different water sources in the game. For swimming underwater alot, you'll want a swim skill of over 90%. And anything that can help increase your move regen.
get canoe, drop canoe, swim
Snow and Snowshoes
Some areas of the game are light snow fall to VERY snowy and deep. And sometimes during the winter the area or zone you are in may be getting some snow. Snow causes you or maybe your mount, to use up moves at a much faster rate, meaning you'll need to rest more often. In some areas the snow is so deep, it will drain even more moves from pushing through it.
There is an item in the game that helps with snow affecting your moves, and that's snowshoes. Just wear them, and you'll notice snow having less of an effect on your moves. They are not very good shoes for wearing regularly however.
Types of Doors (and other Exits)
You might see a door if you look in a direction, like look north, look east, or have autoexits on. You can open and close any door you can see.
open oakdoor, open branch, open treestump, close hatch, close greenbush, close barndoor
If you want to save some time and typing, you can use 'exit' in place of visible door names. This will open and close any exits you can see, without having to type out the entire door or exit name.
open exit or close exit
You might run across some issues when exploring and opening. Some doors or exits might be locked, stuck, magically sealed, require keys, or worse, hurt you or trigger some type of trap! Here is a quick run down of types of exits and then you'll get more details on them as you continue this guide:
Doors:
CALL - many city gates can be opened from the outside if you call at them. The gate guards will hear you on the inside, and if you are a citizen, open up to let you in. To get back out you just need to 'say open'.
LOCK - you need to pick or bash the door open, some locked doors in the game require a specific key that might load near by on a mob or in a chest
LATCHED - much easier to open then a locked door, you can simply turn the latch and unlock them. Just type unlock exit. It's really just a door with an extra step, if you are on the side with the latch.
DELAYED - the exit simply takes some time to open, you can't do it instantly
HEAVY - these doors require a certain amount of Strength to open them. You can even try to open them with help, like having 3 players all open at the same time and add your Strength up. Some doors take 18 Strength to over 40 Strength to open!
DAMAGE - these exits will hurt you while opening them, like damage from thorns, sharp and jagged metal, rocks falling, etc... sometimes wearing armour or having the armour spell up can help reduce the damage.
HIDDEN or SECRET - this is a door you cannot see and does not show up on autoexit. It can take some effort to find them, like looking for clues or the search command
Finding a hidden or a secret exit rewards your character with 9 travel points.
LEVER or CHAIN - some doors you cannot open without pulling a specific lever or chain to trigger them to open for you. Some of these doors open with a small delay.
KNOCK - some doors or gates will open with the knock command. Just knock gate and they will magically open.
HOLD OPEN - a few rare doors in the game require someone to stay and hold them open or they will swing shut. A player can hold them open, or a mob can hold them open.
SPECIAL - some door require very specialized means of opening. It could be a spell, a quest, digging, timed by seasons or even moon light. They can take some research learning how to open them.
NO-PICK - the door cannot be opened with picking
NO-BASH - the door is unbashable
NO-BREAK - the door cannot be opened with the break door spell, high level cleric spell
Types of Keys
Keys for locked doors and chests are commonly found in the possession of mobs. Most keys are pretty simple, find them, and you can unlock the door they are made for. But some keys are a bit more complex:
NORMAL - the key is pretty normal, and just opens one exit
NO-RENT - by default, most keys in the game are not rentable
RENTABLE - a few keys in the game can be rented
DECAY - a few keys in the game decay in a certain amount of time, better hurry to use them. It could be gone in 24 minutes or so.
ONE TIME USE - one time use keys break when you use them, meaning you can't use them more then once. Most keys you can use over and over.
There is an item, a keyring, that can help you keep track of your keys and lockpicks. A keyring can be purchased in a shop in Fornost, Tharbad, and an elven village south of Grey Havens. It can hold most keys in the game and a set of lockpicks. You wear it on your wrist. Not necessary, but can be handy for some characters. You can also just wear lockpicks on your belt.
There can even be other objects that act as a key. Several doors in the game are opened by gems, some require special rods, a branch, a pry bar, one even needs a pickaxe!
wear keyring wrist, rem keyring, put key keyring
Secret and Hidden Doors
Many doors in the game are a hidden or secret door. They have some type of keyword you need to type to open them. Using 'open exit' is not good enough. Finding this keyword can be tricky. Some times you need to re-read the room description for a clue. Maybe you need to <look direction> to see a clue that can help.
But the most reliable way is to use the Search skill, from the Thief guild. If you search in a direction, you have a chance to find the exit name. You do not really need a high search, as if you fail, you can simply search over and over a gain, it just takes a little bit of time. If you fail the search check you'll get this message "You don't see anything special there..." That does not mean there is no secret door there, just you failed to find it looking that time. But use the look direction command to not waste time where there is no secret exit.
Finding a hidden or a secret exit rewards your character with 9 travel points.
1-2 pracs in search is often plenty, unless you are doing some hardcore exploring of new areas. A few rare doors randomly switch and change their keywords over time, and you need to rediscover them every time.
search east, search down, search north, look west, look south, look up
Locked Doors and Opening Them
If a door does not have a key, or you do not have the key you'll need to look for another way in. One option is to bash the door. Bashing doors is based off of your Strength and your percent in the Bash skill from the Warrior guild. A few races in the game get a bonus to bashing down doors as well. Some doors are harder to bash down then others and some you cannot bash at all (NO-BASH doors). It takes a delay to bash a door and some movement points. So be careful, if you fail a few bashes you can end up low on moves pretty quickly. You'll want a pretty high percent in the Bash skill to even attempt this, 75-100% for any real chance of success.
BREAK DOOR - Break Door is a high level cleric spell that can magically shatter a door open very similar to a successful bash. Most doors in the game can be broken with this spell, but a few are NO-BREAK doors, and it will fail.
bash exit, bash secretdoor, bash underbrush
If you do not have the Bash skill, you might try the Pick skill instead from the Thief guild. Doors that are locked have a percent of pick that is needed to open them. If you don't have enough pick, it will tell you you can't open the door. The message is 'you try to pick the lock, but quickly give up.'
You can hold lockpicks, or wear them on your belt or keyring.
If you have enough percent in pick, you'll begin a delayed attempt to unlock the door. If you have very high pick this might go quickly. If your pick is barely enough it can take a long time to open it.
Let's say a door requires 50% pick to open and you only have 45% pick practiced. You'll never pick the door open. But if you have 48% pick practiced, you'll open it VERY slowly. If you have 70% pick, you'll open it reasonably fast.
One item you can get in the game to help is lockpicks. Lockpicks add a base +25% pick to whatever you have practiced in pick, even if it is 0%. So just having a set of lockpicks can open up really easy to pick doors in the game. Then if you can find any lockpick upgrades, it adds +3% to your picks for each upgrade. Some upgrades you do a quest for, some you pay for, others you even have to kill for.
So here is an example, a character has 35% pick practiced from the Thief guild. Then they get a set of lockpicks. Later they are lucky enough to get 3 upgrades done to that set of picks. Now their pick total is 35+25+9 = 69% Many doors in the game can now be opened. Really hard doors tend to be above 75% or more, but they are rare. Just getting started, a pick of 30-40% will get you in alot of places, and that can include the lockpick bonus. Alot of characters have 1-2 pracs in pick, lockpicks, and maybe an upgrade or 2.
pick exit, pick woodendoor, wear picks belt, put picks keyring, give picks guildmaster
Chests and Sarcophagus
Most chests are pretty straight forward. You can just open them and examine them to see what they have inside. But a few are locked. You can pick the chests open, but some of them can only be opened with a key. Very few might be opened with another tool.
You cannot bash open chests or other containers.
open sarcophagus, pick chest
Travel Points
If you follow some of the information in this guide, it will also help you get travel points. You can often find some more travel points in rooms of the game that are somewhat harder to get too. Behind difficult doors or areas with lots of swimming and climbing can be more travel points then other easier to visit areas. Doing some exploring doesn't just earn you travel points, you might find some gear or equipment, a skeleton to loot, a chest to open, a rare mob, or other surprises.
You gain some bonus travel points for the first time you visit a zone or an area.
If you are following someone, you get a few less travel points then if you are leading.
If you are leading others, you get a small bonus to travel points gained.
Type info to see how many travel points you currently have.
You have scored 21,552,689 experience points and you have 144,252 travel points.
Type level to see how many travel points you need for the next 5 levels.
Level 1 1 exp, 0 tp Level 2 1,000 exp, 100 tp Level 3 3,000 exp, 300 tp Level 4 7,000 exp, 600 tp Level 5 14,500 exp, 1,000 tp ...But the list does not end there...
Link back to the wiki guides:
