RESTRINGS
What is a restring and why should you do them?
That is also a very good question. Wow, you really know how to ask the tough ones. Ok, first of all, restrings are simply a means of adding a little personality and uniqueness to your character. Imagine how boring life would be if everyone owned the exact same makes, models, and colors of everything they owned. With restrings, you can not only change the colors, but you can actually change the item itself to a different yet similar item. For instance, say you have a nice pitch black flaming long sword (PBFL). So what? So does the rest of the world, but you like what your PBFL does for you but want it to be more special, more accommodating to your own personality. So you would then have it restrung to meet your needs. Now, instead of the boring everyday PBFL, you have an iridescent, flaming long sword. Imagine the envy of your peers when you show them that. ;) This applies to armor, weapons, containers, jewelry, even trash. Anything you want to personalize to your personality or for a specific RP you are working on, you can usually do through restrings.
How do I get an item restrung?
First, you must come up with what you want the new descriptions to be. you will need to know at least three things, the fourth is optional.
1. The short description. This is what is seen when someone looks at you, or you look in your inventory. It is also what is seen when you drop an item, get an item, give an item, etc. It should always be preceded by an adjective: a, an, the, etc. (i.e. an {Ciridescent{x, {Rflaming{x long sword. The {C, {x and {R are all color codes.)
2. The long description. This is what you see when see an item on the ground. It should always be a complete sentence ending in a period. It should also reflect the short description. (i.e. An iridescent, flaming long sword lies here.) This is also the description you will see when you look at the item itself unless an extended description has been set.
3. The keywords, or names, of the object. These should always be taken from the short and the long description so anyone who looks at the item will be able to manipulate it without having to work out what keyword applies to it. In other words, the above example would have keywords or names like iridescent flaming long sword. You would be able to pick up the item with any of those four words.. Keywords like large fire blade, would be inappropriate. Though they do accurately describe the item, they would not be obvious keywords when looking at the item.
4. The extended description. Say the item you want restrung is to be a plaque with an inscription. The short could be "a plaque". The long could be "A plaque lies here with an inscription upon it." The keywords could be simply "plaque". So when the look at the plaque they see that there is an inscription on it. However, as of yet, they cannot actually read the inscription. So, you add an extended description to it. For this you will need a keyword for the extended description and the actual text you see when you look at the extended. In this case it would be something like (keyword) inscription (text) The inscription says, "To Grokle, for exceptionally good looks." Or something less obvious then that. ;) Again this is an optional restring component. The first three you must have before asking for the restring.
Second, you will need 5 diamonds, 1 blue diamond, or a restring voucher for each item you want restrung. This helps the imms by keeping restring requests at a reasonable level. If you want color, you will need an extra diamond for each additional color used. You must have the money or voucher on you at the time of your request. And before you ask, vouchers are given as quest prizes sometimes. It is also given for exceptional helpfulness to the imm staff. Please do not ask for the voucher. Imms like to surprise people and will most likely never give one when asked for it. Just like blood baths. ;)
Are there any rules to restrings?
Now you are being silly. Of course there are rules. Most are obvious, but for the sake of making a really long page, even longer, I will express the more important ones.
1. Never restring an item to something that is against it's actual purpose. In other words, Weapons must still be weapons, clothing and armor will still be worn items appropriate for where on the body they are worn, and containers will always be containers. A lot of people will try to get their containers changed to something like a fuzzy rock or whatever so they are less appealing to looters. That is not acceptable. It is a container, so should be restrung as such. Only trash items can be restrung to things other than their intended trash purpose. Not to weapons or armor or things like that, but to notices, ribbons, toys, whatever.
2. You cannot restring items to Jeweled Eggs or gold coins or anything monetary. No exceptions.
3. Nothing controversial. DSL is a family oriented mud, so the sex toys, nude paintings of yourself or of others, etc are not even to be considered.
4. You cannot put any of the mobgods names on any of your items without the consent of the mobgod in question.
5. Everything must be period. In other words, the period of the game is during the dark ages. No cell phones, sneakers, microwaves, handguns, electric motors, batteries, or anything that does not belong in the medieval period.
6. Only use descriptive terms (descriptions you can see or hear) on your restrings. Do not put things like an evil sword or a Dragonslayer sword, or anything along those lines. Items with those type names would have to be gained through a quest if at all. All you are doing by restringing is describing your item, not naming it.
Any other rules are common sense. If for some reason they aren't to you, then simply take the IMM saying no as an extension of these rules. Keep in mind, the IMMs are busy in IMM land and are not ignoring you. If they are slow to respond to your requests for a restring, it is not a conspiracy to make you miserable or impede your RP. They will get to you when they can. With that said, happy restringing.