Overview

Reply Triggers

Reply Triggers are used to define an action, or list of actions, for a mob to perform, triggered by another action from either a player or another mob. These can be used for a variety of uses, and are very flexible.

Timed Triggers

Timed triggers are similar to Reply Triggers, only they use a specified mud-hour as the triggering event, as opposed to an inputted command. For example, these could be used to unlock city gates at a specfied time, etc.

Periodic Actions

Probably the most common of all area procs are the periodic actions, or actions taken at a regular user-defined interval. These are used most commonly for small things, like mobs that talk about cryptic things every few minutes, hookers pulling up their stockings every now and then, etc. Adding a good number of these little periodic actions can bring your mobs to life, giving them more personality than the average, silent-as-a-rock mobs.

Periodic Action List

Same as above, except instead of defining one action, or set of actions, you can specify a list of possible actions for the mob to take when the proc is called, and the code will choose *one* of the actions you specified. This is especially useful for zone echoes, and mobs with lots of personality. One would use periodic action lists to make mobs like the town fool, the town crier, or those especially talkative mobs in Ice Crag.

Paths

Paths consists of a vareity of methods in which to reliably move a mob along a series of rooms. Patrols are the most common use, but they can also be used within trigger sets for some interesting behavior. They are qutie flexible and as reliable as is possible to make them.

Notes

1. Tempting as it is, please do NOT make alot of mobs that cast high level quest spells (ie. Doom, swarm, etc). Most of these spells can wipe out a PC group with just one or two castings, so please limit these spells to VERY difficult mobs in high level zones. Also, set a low chance, or high delay, for these castings, so the mob doesn't cast it 10 times in a minute or something.
2. Try to limit your use of triggers, as in, don't put a trigger on a mob that loads 40 times in high traffic areas. This is because the proc works by evaluating EACH and EVERY action performed in the room, to determine if it's the trigger command. Excessive use like this can slow the mud down, so use your triggers wisely. Try and limit triggers to unique mobs in low-traffic areas.
3. Please don't go overboard with your periodic actions and zone echoes. Put a low chance, or a long delay between them to space them out. The objective of these is to add atmosphere to your zone, NOT to spam the player off the screen.
4. The World.Soc file has a tremendous amount of possibilities! Don't be afraid to experiment and try to do new things with it. For example, I've made a mob that runs and fetches help when it's attacked, another mob that plane shifts, then relocates to a player that attacks it, etc. Use your imagination!