January 2021 Note: As there are still several structures to be built under the old system, this design guide has been left up to assist in that endeavour. In addition, there are sub-pages with the Permanent Structure information from the old Ultimate MHO guide that are staying live until all designs have been submitted.
HOW TO DESIGN AN MHO STRUCTURE
The following is designed to help you think about those things that are easily overlooked when designing an MHO structure.
Think about your Group. What is your purpose? Why did you create the group? What purpose does the structure serve relative to your group? What kind of structure did you want to build? Should it be welcoming? Daunting? Eerie? Cozy? Keep this in mind when designing your structure.
Decide ahead of time which rooms will be accessible by members and which will be off-limits to the public. If you bring the public into one of your rooms for an event, think about where they will be able to access from that room. For instance, if you have designed a meeting hall/area to hold public events and all of your rooms connect to this meeting hall via directions (north, east, southwest) and not portals (door, arch, stairs) then they will be able to wander. This isn't necessarily a problem -- it's just something to consider when designing.
Try to avoid using directions and locations specific to the viewer in your room descriptions. For instance: "Behind you is a polished modwir door." What if the person is theoretically facing the other way? A better way to describe this would be, "A polished modwir door sits between two elegant tapestries ." Or, you can just leave the portal as "You also see a modwir door" and not have the door's description as part of the actual room text. (Note: in the latter case, the door text is not included in the 511 character limit.)
If you would like to use a spreadsheet to organize your design thoughts, you can copy this spreadsheet (a Google Doc) and then send me a copy of it. If you prefer not to use this spreadsheet, please make sure that when you submit your application, you have included all of the necessary information for each room.
In addition, if you have an image of your map layout, you can send that, as well. It's not a requirement, though.
Pick a Location
1) When looking for the perfect location for your Group Structure,think about the design of your structure and ask yourself, "Does this fit in the surroundings?" This includes the portal to get to your structure.
2) Scout out three spots as candidates for your final location. These will need to be approved by the GM who currently oversees your specific location/area. Please do not contact that GM directly. The MHO GM will handle all necessary approvals.
3) Familiarize yourself with any existing restrictions regarding specific areas. For instance, Ta'Vaalor and Ta'Illistim currently will not allow any military and/or political buildings near the town walls. There could be additional restrictions in place.
4) Consider your entrance portal - ie: a gate, a bridge, a hole in the ground (for those super creepy subterranean hideouts!)
Map out your ideas
If you're not savvy with a map creation program, then grab a pencil and piece of paper, and put your ideas down. Having a visual reference during this process can be helpful, both to you and to the GM building your structure. Walk yourself through the map as if you had no idea what led where. See if the layout makes sense.
Designing Rooms
1) Only portals can be designated as "member only" - not rooms.
2) Does the room have cardinal directions? (Remember, anyone can enter those.)
3) Does the room need a special functionality? (Consider these options for every room.)
- Allow Familiars/Demons?
- Allow Animal Companions?
- Block locates?
- Fogging in/out?
- Allow hiding?
- Prevent theft and combat magic?
- Allow the use of magic?
4) Is your room indoors/outdoors? If it is indoors, does the room have a window or some other opening to see the outside? If yes, and your room text describes ambient lighting, please also submit nighttime text. (ie: you don't want descriptive sunlight after the sun has set.)
5) If your structure is within a town, should normal justice mechanics apply? (Default is no.)
6) Room descriptions are limited to 511 characters, including spaces. Sentences must have 2 spaces separating each. Objects/portals in a room are not counted as part of the 511 character limit.
7) Don't tell someone where they are or how they feel. Describe to them what they see (without saying, "You see...")
8) Don't forget your room titles, which are limited to 31 characters (including spaces) and should be in the format of: [Room Title, Area] (not including the brackets)
9) If you get stuck, take a walk in-game. Elanthia has some incredibly described rooms and areas. Think about what you're after, and find a similar in-game area. Go see how someone else did it, and use that as a guide. (Don't plagiarize though!)
Room Items
When designing your "touchable" items for the rooms, keep the following in mind.
1) All room items must adhere to the alter rules, including the 15/15/15 structure.
2) Any item can have a show (provided it doesn't have a long description.) This LOOK cannot include: LOOK ON or IN, unless it's an actual container, in which case the “LOOK IN” will be the contents, if any. This is not editable.
3) You may place unlimited food/drink in your structure, but each room can have only 12 total. Custom messaging is available if you would like to design it. You must submit the following:
Food/Drink name
1st person messaging (need 2)
a) Salty but not overpowering, the roasted peanuts release a burst of nutty flavor as you chew.
b) The flavor and accompanying crunch of the delicious peanuts leaves you wanting another handful!
3rd person messaging (optional)
a) <Player> just popped a handful of peanuts in his/her mouth.
4) If you have food/drink, you must also have a container to hold them. (IE: a bar, a refreshment table, a shelf, etc., which does count as 1 item.)
5) Step back and look at the room. Read the description. What makes sense to be a "touchable" item, if anything? It's okay to not have any "touchable" items in a room. It's not necessary to clutter things up unnecessarily.
6) Each room comes with two touchable items, at no additional cost.
Portals
1) Should this doorway (or stairway or arch) allow the general public or members only?
2) If you want to hide a portal, you have a couple options:
a) Create the object that the portal will be behind. (ie: a bookcase, or an armoire) Let me know where the portal will go and which object will be hiding it.
b) Have a truly hidden portal - no text referencing it. Will have to be SEARCHed to be found.
Hidden portals raise some additional questions to be discussed later, after the application is submitted.
3) Think about how your rooms connect via the portals. Try to remain consistent with them. For instance: if a door leads you INto a room, then it should be a door that takes you OUT of the same room. (There are some cases where it might work to have them different, but it requires consideration.)
Afterthoughts
1) Did you want any trashcans in the structure? (This counts as 1 item.)
2) Did you want a fireplace anywhere? (This counts as 2 items.)
3) Did you want a mirror? (This counts as 1 item.)
4) Did you want any of your objects to be containers? (ie: a table in the meeting room able to hold a finite number of objects)
5) Did you add food/drink? (Unlimited, doesn't count as an item, but you are limited to 12 items in any one room. Custom messaging is available for your food and drink.)
6) Do you have chairs (or a couch or pillows or something) for visitors to sit on?
7) If you placed a fishing dock, did you also want a place to cook the fish? (This counts as 1 item; the fishing area, as long as you have a dock in your room description, does not count as an item.)
8) Do YOU like the design? Read through it again and make sure it's someplace you will want to spend a lot of time.
I am happy to work with you on your structure, but I can't design it for you. The better prepared you are in the structure design process, the faster and more smoothly the process will go.
~ GM Haliste ~
All Things MHO
This document may be subject to change.
Created 09/2013