Part of the fun of playing on a MUX is creating a place of one’s own and contributing to the playable space of others, and we encourage players to get creative and carve out just the right kind of game space for characters to scene in. Below are some very general guidelines for building private and public spaces on TowersMUX; this page will be updated periodically as new questions arise. Please also see Representational Space for our philosophical take on the game space we’ve provided.

Terminology of grid spaces

Boroughs: In the real world London has 32 boroughs (plus one), each with their own council and authorities managing local affairs such roads, schools, waste management, housing, libraries and other facilities and amenities. The borough is the base conceptual building unit for the TowersMUX grid and many of the game’s mechanics around Backgrounds function at the borough level. There are about a dozen boroughs making up what’s generally referred to as “inner London” along the Thames, the rest are known as “outer London” or “the outer boroughs.”

Areas: Each borough in our London is made up of general “area” rooms — these are often but not always based on combinations of the actual borough “wards” of real-world London. These are the largest actual built spaces on TowersMUX, and as such are often conceptual and generalized in terms of providing a snapshot of what can be a very large geographical area. Several linked “areas” make up the built space of each borough. Please see Boroughs of London for more information about boroughs and areas.

Neighborhoods: These are smaller nooks and crannies, grid rooms built inside a broader “area” room to more specifically describe a particular part of London. As often happens in an urban landscape, one might see multiple neighborhoods in the same “area” space each with a different look and feel — a stretch of shops along a main thoroughfare, a wealthy row of Victorian manors, a stretch of tenement housing and a large royal park might co-exist in the same area of London, each represented by its own “neighborhood” space. Generally speaking, this is the level of the grid in which staff will put a character’s place of residence or business.

Locations: This term is used variously but describes a particular RP venue or game space, whether it’s a public cafe, a caern heart, a nightclub or a privately-owned residence. A location is either built in an area or a neighborhood space as contextually appropriate.

Guidelines for character builds

While we will always try to accommodate reasonable requests, we ask that players understand that not every build may be a good fit for a certain part of London. The decision for where we will and will not place a character build may be as simple as relative Resource ratings or conflicting sphere interests, but may also be entirely contextual. This means that while you may want to have your sprawling Italianate mansion out in Hillingdon, or park your Garou character’s RV permanently in Vauxhall, we will need to redirect the build appropriately. When in doubt, please put in a job requesting guidance or clarity on the appropriateness of the grid location you have in mind — staff is more than happy to work with players to find (or make) just the right spot.

Each character object starts play with a default quota of five rooms or objects (excluding exits). Our guideline for player builds is that they should not total more than one room plus one room per dot in their character’s Resources. We feel this fairly reflects a character’s “spending power” against the realities of living in London. For a changeling freehold or a base of operations, the room quota is equal to the Size rating.

Guidelines for players helping out with public builds

Staff is still developing the public playable spaces — areas, neighborhoods and various locations — this is an ongoing project that will always be in progress. As such, we sometimes fall a little short on time to get a good range of playable locations and venues on the grid before we hustle off to the next borough, and we appreciate the help from players.

We also have a relative order of priority that we’re building things in, and we keep multiple lists of the locations we’d like to see on the grid sooner than later. Players wanting to contribute should reach out to staff or put in a job request before starting to build; we will happily take you up on the offer of your time and creativity!

That said, there are a few things to keep in mind:

• We use a two-paragraph format for all public London locations, excepting some neighborhoods.
• Descs should ideally not be fewer than 220 or too much longer than about 275 words total.
• Staff reserves the right of final edits on all publicly playable spaces. We encourage players to tour the spaces already built to get a feel for things in terms of narrative style and consistency.